'The Opening Act': Film Review

With Halloween and Friday the 13th falling just weeks apart this year, horror fans may feel the pang of an epically missed opportunity as Hollywood’s exhibition options remain constrained by reduced capacity in many theaters and still-shuttered screens in some major markets.

A 30-year-old “salaryman” — the Japanese equivalent of an office employee — is getting bored with his two girlfriends at work when a dangerous, unpredictable femme fatale overturns his life. Originally produced by Japan’s Nagoya TV as a 10-part series, this comic book adaptation directed by acclaimed filmmaker Koji Fukada was edited down to a mere 233 minutes for its theatrical release in Japan in October.

Reza Dormishian is one of the most original directors in Iranian cinema, and No Choice (Majboorim) is another example of his ability to enthrall with hard-hitting social critique.

Christmas movie that can charm adults into looking past its flaws while turning delighted children into lifelong fans.On the heels of his charming ensemble comedy “Almost Christmas,” writer-director David E. Talbert fearlessly marries whimsy and steampunk, sentimentality and science fiction, with big musical numbers composed by Philip Lawrence, Davy Nathan and Michael Diskint, plus one from John Legend (who executive produced the film).

Sony's trailer for The Craft: Legacymakes the film look less like a sequel than an updated remake of the teen fantasy that drove legions of us to worship at the dark altar of demonic sorceress Fairuza Balk.

If you take a look at Forbes’ annual list of the highest paid athletes in the world, at least two or three of the top five spots are usually occupied by soccer players — and usually the same ones: Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar.

There's a fertile history of technology as a conduit for evil in horror, notably in films like Poltergeist and The Ring. Those predecessors are among the more obvious influences of writer-director Jacob Chase's gripping family-in-peril chiller, Come Play, expanded with great assurance in both craft and storytelling from his imaginative 5-minute short, Larry.

A heartfelt, handsomely made but unconvincing tonal mash-up, Thomas Bezucha's Let Him Go begins as a family drama embodying the no-nonsense smarts of its early-'60s heartland setting before veering into wild Gothic menace and ill-advised vigilantism.

Another in a string of restorations that in recent years have benefitted fans of wuxia legend King Hu, Raining in the Mountain is one of two pictures the late Hong Kong- and Taiwan-based auteur (most famous for Come Drink with Me and the Cannes favorite A Touch of Zen) made in South Korea. Considerably shorter and more direct than the other Korean project (Legend of the Mountain, which got its first U.S.

Only some of Italian footballer Francesco Totti’s 334 career goals (307 scored with Roma, the only team he ever played for outside the nationals) are shown in Alex Infascelli’s bio-doc My Name Is Francesco Totti (Mi chiamo Francesco Totti). Nor is there very much aboutthe icon’s private life; there are no attempts at intimate revelations or powerful insights.

Promotional materials bill Tyler Taormina's Ham on Rye as a "coming-of-age comedy," comparing it to Dazed and Confused and John Hughes films. That's as misleading as calling Eraserhead a reluctant-groom rom-com.

It's summer in New York, and for 20-something Ben, bisexual and newly out, the city, it seems, is his oyster. And his snail — to quote Hollywood's most famous coded exchange about sexual preference.

This month, stay-at-home moviegoers can watch Sacha Baron Cohen be a political prankster who delights in provoking opponents into exposing their worst sides. They can enjoy his career-best performance and marvel at the subtleties he finds in a character whose reputation has suffered from years of caricature.

"We don't have much in the way of Obamacare down here," says Eloise (Loretta Devine), the hoodoo-practicing matriarch who serves as the chief villain of Spell. That it's the most ominous line of Kurt Wimmer's screenplay provides some indication of the dearth of genuine thrills in the new horror film directed by Mark Tonderai that provides an African-American riff on themes rendered much scarier in Misery.

Kelly Oxford’s debut feature Pink Skies Ahead is the kind of coming-of-age comedy that is destined for cult status, if not full-on indie success. It has all the necessary ingredients of an upper-middle-class coming-of-age comedy: a young woman trying to find herself, a pair of worried, coddling parents, and a crew of comical friends.

Can a repentant law-breaker find forgiveness in the blind prejudice of provincial America? Although the slow-starting drama Home never really catches fire, it patiently draws the viewer into the story of a young ex-con struggling for normalcy and acceptance, thanks to emotionally convincing turns by leads Jake McLaughlin, Kathy Bates and Derek Richardson.

Two complete strangers trying to scrape by in the sprawling metropolis of Lagos are at the heart of Eyimofe (This is My Desire), a promising, quietly moving first feature from the directing duo of Arie and Chuko Esiri.

Thriller author Gillian Flynn didn't invent the "cool girl," but she did codify her.

Whether you call it classic or generic, the coming-of-age story of Sparkle, the fittingly named 17-year-old at the center of She Paradise, follows a familiar trajectory. She's a teen with drive, talent and an independent streak, defying parental disapproval and breaking away from childhood.