'Viena and the Fantomes': Film Review

Lisa Kennedy In a swank house, a man and a woman engage in amorous acrobatics before a large, glowing fireplace. The blaze seems a little ominous.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticStuck together in close quarters, usually at a remote house somewhere, a small group of people tell truths, play mind games, and watch their relationships (and lives) gradually unravel.

Jessica Kiang “I’ve never been to Lebanon,” Lebanese-American high-schooler Marjoun (Veracity Butcher) tells us in voiceover. “Just here: Arkansas.” There’s the slightest uninflected irony in her delivery of that last word, suggesting that her story will archly observe the conundrum of many a second-generation immigrant: belonging to a place that often fails to recognize you as one of its own.

Maggie Lee Chief Asia Film CriticImagine a Japanese version of “Pygmalion” in which the sculptor continues to caress slabs of marble even after Galatea has come to life. That is the unusual premise of “Romance Doll,” a marital drama in which a sex doll maker’s rapt obssession with his new prototype, leads to rejection of his human muse.

“At each stop throughout this comedically heartfelt journey, Patel is joined by a friend or family member, with whom he shares a big conflict or question about life. He travels to Mexico with his parents to discuss retirement and aging; Japan with his wife to explore parenting and gender roles; Korea with his entrepreneur friend to confront their issues with work/life balance; Denmark with his Muslim friend to explore an immigration crisis not unlike ours here in America.

Identifying Features, from first-time director Fernanda Valadez, is like water in the desert for the mostly myopic genre of "la frontera" action films that depict the migration crisis at the southern border of the United States. Shot on location in rural Guanajuato, Mexico, this poignant film (which scooped two awards in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year's Sundance fest and will be distributed in the U.S.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticA cigar is never just a cigar where Sigmund Freud is concerned.

Lisa Kennedy Four Vietnam vets reunite for a mission, one that will lean on their wartime exploits but also expose more than a few old tensions.

Dennis Harvey Film CriticSnarled loops of time travel have proved a surprisingly versatile and rewarding fantasy-cinema trope in recent years, from the big-budget likes of “Edge of Tomorrow” to such enterprising indies as “Predestination,” not to mention comedies (“Palm Springs”), horror (“Happy Death Day”), romance (“Before I Fall”) and more.

For a debut feature, writer-director Charlène Favier’s powerful coming-of-age sports drama Slalom couldn't come at a more timely moment.

truth and beauty, too, it’s safe to say that “Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets” finds a bit of both of those things.Also Read: 'Palm Springs' Film Review: Andy Samberg Puts an Indie Rom-Com Spin on 'Groundhog Day'The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, went to the Berlin and True/False Film Festivals and had a series of virtual screenings on July 8 to celebrate National Dive Bar Day, with a virtual rollout scheduled for July 10.

Guy Lodge Film CriticIn “Archive,” an isolated scientist methodically pursues an artificial-intelligence ideal, developing a sequence of human-android beings and recycling their various parts until the ultimate prototype is achieved.

"They say that when you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes. I wish it were that simple," says James, the main character, in his voiceover narration at the beginning of Volition.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticWhen you look at the face of Danny Trejo, you see the creases and hollows and pockmarks, the eye pouches like saddlebags, the badges of a life so well-worn that, at first, that’s just about all you see. Yet the more you look, the more you notice a paradox.

Dennis Harvey Film CriticBeing released during an epidemic lends additional if unintended frisson to “The Beach House,” a cryptic yet reasonably involving thriller in which vacationers find themselves under threat. The nature of that threat remains ambiguous, but in its partially-airborne inescapability, it definitely hits a note of creepy relevance.

Jessica Kiang In 2013, Daniel Rye, a Danish photographer in his mid-twenties, went to Syria to document the plight of civilian refugees and was kidnapped by ISIS. Ransomed and held captive for 13 months, Rye was psychologically and physically tortured, starved and beaten by his captors, first on his own and then alongside several other international hostages, among them U.S.

Also Read: Andy Samberg Loved 'Palm Springs' Script Because It Was 'A Little More F- Up' Than Traditional Rom-Coms (Video)We meet Samberg’s character, Nyles, when he wakes up on the morning of the wedding and halfheartedly ogles the leg of his girlfriend, Misty (Meredith Hagner).

A bright and shiny character-driven drama that begins as another send-up of social media madness, Sweat at some point turns a dark, unexpected corner. Ultimately, writer-director Magnus von Horn allows that there may be some personal redemption for his heroine, a self-obsessed fitness star and influencer played with breathless muscle-flexing and almost comic self-confidence by stage thesp Magdalena Kolesnik.

The timing couldn't be more fortuitous for the release of Mary Mazzio's uplifting documentary about the nation's first African American high school rowing team, which feels almost like a tonic for these troubled times. Narrated by Common and including NBA greats Grant Hill and Dwyane Wade among its executive producers, A Most Beautiful Thing, scheduled to open in theaters, powerfully demonstrates the healing potential of sports and the ways it can help bridge societal divides.

Where did the universe, humanity, our planet and chocolate ice cream come from? They were all created by a giant, all-powerful being made of spaghetti, with two googly-eyes on raised stalks and a pair of meatballs where cheeks would bulge. This is the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM), and if there were any justice in the world, His story would stand as good a chance of being taught as fact in American schools as the anti-evolution narrative called Intelligent Design.