Buried
The technical exercise that is Buried, a film directed by Rodrigo Cortes from a script by Chris Sparling, has polarized critics who have either loved the way the director has met the challenges of the tight constraints he imposed on himself, or found the devices improbable and the ideological baggage that the film carries annoying. The only face we see in the film is that of Ryan Reynolds, who plays a non-military contractor working in Iraq. He wakes up to find himself buried alive in a coffin with a cellphone and a lighter, and the subject of ransom demands from terrorists. The marvels of modern communication technology are his only way out, if anyone can be bothered to listen to what he has to say.
Paranormal Activity 2
Following on from the first movie released in 2007, Paranormal Activity 2, which relies on many of the same techniques to shock — though not, unfortunately, to awe — suffers from sequelitis. A clever narrative device links this second film closely with the characters of the first, but although frights are delivered effectively, Paranormal Activity 2 seems to have little to add. The first film generated a huge audience response, and many reviewers have commented on how both the original and the sequel are effective as a communal experience, especially in nighttime screenings. There are plenty of creepy effects and a couple of megawatt shocks, but both in style and content, it’s just more of the same.
Happy Tears
An unhappy mix of social realism and offbeat comedy, Happy Tears attempts the difficult feat of presenting the lighter side of dementia. The subject of this condition is Rip Torn, father to two daughters of contrasting personalities. There is Parker Posey, as Jayne, a twitchy socialite, and Demi Moore as an older sister who is a resentful hippie. Then there is Ellen Barkin, a paid companion/lover to the gradually disintegrating father. The movie combines gross-out images, the bitterness of family dysfunction, a lack of narrative development and numerous unsuccessful attempts at light comedy in a sad mess of a film that does credit to none of its talented cast members.
My One and Only
A pageant of 1950s Americana that is made remarkably attractive by the presence of a back-to-form Renee Zellweger as a Southern belle who has walked out on a husband, played by Kevin Bacon, and with two children in tow, is looking for a new man. This is, essentially, a road movie that is lifted by its strong cast and effortless and deeply nostalgic re-creation of 1950s America, symbolized above all else by a 1953 Cadillac Coupe de Ville convertible, the vehicle in which Zellweger sets off on her journey. The faintly feminist subtext is lightly worn, and the deft dialogue, beautiful costumes and sheer love of the theatrical make My One and Only a winner.
Letters to God
An inspirational film with a heavy-handed religious message that might inspire many not dedicated to the more evangelical fringes of Christianity to head for the door.
With its cardboard cutout characters, including a leading role for a child suffering from a rare type of cancer and an alcoholic postman who finds salvation through a child’s innocence, even critics writing for publications with an explicitly Christian agenda have been less than enthusiastic about this production by director David Nixon. For those who like to be battered into submission by their sermons.
Bearcity
And from the sacred to the profane. Bearcity is a rambunctiously gay take on Sex and the City, set in New York’s gay “bear” scene, frequented by heavyset hirsute men. Covering a wide range of emotional territory, Bearcity may be commendable for dealing with a variety of modern-day relationship issues, such as resisting peer pressure and weighing hedonism against commitment, but it tries too hard to seduce a mainstream, Sex and the City-esque audience, which blunts its appeal. Blurry gropes and sanitized bathroom sex are not enough to make Bearcity the bit of rough it wants to be.
Giulia Doesn’t Date at Night
(Giulia non esce la sera)
Italian art house drama that deftly walks the line between moody melodrama and formal cinematic exercise. The film follows successful writer Guido Montani, who suffers from writer’s block and strikes up a relationship with his daughter’s swimming instructor, whose personality, may, or may not, be overlaid with a veneer of Guido’s own literary imaginings. Whatever the case, the teacher, the Giulia of the title, has her own dark secrets, hinted at through a nuanced performance by Valeria Golino. A thoughtful and well-shot film with a low-key delivery that deserves to be seen.
It Begins With the End
(Ca commence par la fin)
Almost a caricature of a French art movie, It Begins With the End boasts some very beautiful cast members, including Emmanuelle Beart and actor/director Michael Cohen, engaging in very exotic sex, but their antics don’t bring them happiness. Variety describes It Begins as “overwrought,” which judging from the trailers, is something of an understatement. The film strives for la grande passion, but seems to end up with little more than a pastiche of passionate Gallic declarations and fraught erotic encounters.
Unstoppable
Directed by Tony Scott, the brother of Ridley Scott, Unstoppable packs plenty of big action, and even a big star in the shape of Denzel Washington, who continues his association with train-based action movies following the mediocre remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, also directed by Tony Scott. While Tony Scott is a major film industry player (mostly as executive producer), his record as a feature movie director does not rival that of his brother. Unstoppable, whose tale about a runaway train carrying toxic chemicals is supposedly inspired by real events, manages to achieve an artificial quality that gives the film a hollow ring more clanging than many purely fictional stories. For a proper film about trains heading for disaster, watch Andrey Konchalovskiy’s Runaway Train (1985).
The Incite Mill: Seven-Day Death Game
A Japanese film by Hideo Nakata, best known as the director of the Ringu series, and for cult classics such as Kaidan and Deathnote. The story is adapted from author Honobu Yonezawa’s novel of the same name, and features Nakata regular Tatsuya Fujiwara. Ten people, responding to a too-good-to-be-true job ad, find themselves in a Big Brother-type situation, but with weapons, and getting voted off is a terminal condition.
The primaries for this year’s nine-in-one local elections in November began early in this election cycle, starting last autumn. The local press has been full of tales of intrigue, betrayal, infighting and drama going back to the summer of 2024. This is not widely covered in the English-language press, and the nine-in-one elections are not well understood. The nine-in-one elections refer to the nine levels of local governments that go to the ballot, from the neighborhood and village borough chief level on up to the city mayor and county commissioner level. The main focus is on the 22 special municipality
In the 2010s, the Communist Party of China (CCP) began cracking down on Christian churches. Media reports said at the time that various versions of Protestant Christianity were likely the fastest growing religions in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The crackdown was part of a campaign that in turn was part of a larger movement to bring religion under party control. For the Protestant churches, “the government’s aim has been to force all churches into the state-controlled organization,” according to a 2023 article in Christianity Today. That piece was centered on Wang Yi (王怡), the fiery, charismatic pastor of the
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