Shula, the watchful heroine of the quietly stirring “On Becoming a Guinea Fowl,” doesn’t seem cut out for bold gestures. She’s reserved, at times to the point of standoffishness and given to introspective silences. There’s admirable grace to her composure but also an air of practiced caution. The only really obvious thing about Shula is … Read more
A Berlin nightclub habitué of my acquaintance has admonished me, more than once, not to go to concerts or parties without earplugs; too many D.J.s now crank to dangerous decibels, so have your fun and save your hearing. I forgot his advice ahead of “Doom: House of Hope,” an evening-length spectacle of attitude and abjection … Read more
Did the casting call for “Picture This” state that those without dimples needn’t apply? Most of the actors in this British rom-com — directed by Prarthana Mohan — have them. Especially the men orbiting Pia (Simone Ashley of “Bridgerton”), a talented photographer in London who is the hard-pressed business owner at the film’s center. There’s … Read more
Roy Ayers, a vibraphonist who in the 1970s helped pioneer a new, funkier strain of jazz, becoming a touchstone for many artists who followed and one of the most sampled musicians by hip-hop artists, died on Tuesday in New York City. He was 84. His death was announced on his Facebook page. The announcement said … Read more
Reveling in galactic absurdity, “The Empire,” the latest from the fiercely unconventional French filmmaker Bruno Dumont, plunks us down in a fishing village in Northern France to witness an extraterrestrial war for control of humankind. What that looks like, however, is less a space opera than a banal, metaphysical farce — a “Star Wars” parody … Read more
The dystopian action movie “In the Lost Lands,” based on a short story by George R.R. Martin, is a threadbare film that barely resembles an idea. Dave Bautista plays Boyce, a taciturn body hunter hired by a sorceress named Gray Alys (Milla Jovovich) to pursue a shape-shifter for their kingdom’s young queen (Amara Okereke). Boyce … Read more
The underdog sports drama receives a wholesome twist in “Rule Breakers,” a movie based on the experiences of Afghanistan’s first competitive robotics team. This is a story of heartening firsts: Roya Mahboob, who spearheaded the initiative for schoolgirls, is the first woman to own a tech company in Afghanistan. The director Bill Guttentag and his … Read more
The philosopher Immanuel Kant once said, “out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made.” Arguably, then, old age warps us even further. This certainly seems to be the case at the Royal Pine Mews Care Home, the fictional New Zealand setting for much of “The Rule of Jenny Pen,” a … Read more
Only the Canadian writer-director Atom Egoyan (“Exotica,” “The Sweet Hereafter”) could have made the movie “Seven Veils.” His signature obsessions — the ripple effects of trauma, the use of video as evidence, private anguish played out in public view — pervade every frame. The film centers on a theater director, Jeanine (Amanda Seyfried), who is … Read more
