United States. 2009. Directed by Woody Allen. (92 mins.) Rated PG-13.
"After fleeing to London and Barcelona for film financing, Woody Allen's back in Manhattan where he belongs, reviving a screenplay he first wrote more than 30 years ago for Zero Mostel. After Mostel's death, Allen shelved the script but decided to retool it specifically to fit the talents of Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm). 'I'm not a likeable guy and this is not a feel-good movie,' misanthropic Boris Yellnikoff (David) confesses directly into the camera as the story begins. He's a recently divorced, former physics professor who was once 'almost nominated' for the Nobel Prize for Quantum Mechanics. Having miraculously survived a suicide leap from the luxurious uptown apartment belonging to his now-ex-wife (Carolyn McCormick), slovenly Boris lives in despair in a hovel near Chinatown, grudgingly teaching chess to 'imbecilic' children and hanging out with his cronies (Michael McKean, Conleth Hill) who put up with his cantankerous pontifications. One night, a hungry, rain-drenched, teenage runaway, Melody St. Ann Celestine (Evan Rachel Wood), seeks shelter in his dingy apartment. She's escaping from Mississippi and the repressiveness of the Deep South. Admittedly dim-witted, this cheerful, dewy-eyed innocent insinuates herself into Boris' life, calming his panic attacks by watching old Fred Astaire movies on television with him and cooking crawfish dinners. But when it becomes obvious that lonely Melody has a crush on Boris, he urges her to find someone her own age, only to realize he really loves her. So they get married and live contentedly until her mother (Patricia Clarkson) and then her father (Ed Begley Jr.) unexpectedly show up. Capricious complications occur as partners change and form amusingly unanticipated, far-fetched alliances. Larry David makes a terrific alter-ego for Woody Allen, complete with his uniquely skewed, hypochondriac's view of the universe, love for classical music and disdain for rock 'n' roll, and Evan Rachel Wood is a charmingly credible foil. WHATEVER WORKS is familiarly farcical, advocating a non-judgmental attitude about the diverse choices people make to find happiness." - Susan Granger

France. 2008. Directed by Olivier Assayas. (103 mins.) Not Rated.

"Hats off to Olivier Assayas’s plain yet hauntingly beautiful SUMMER HOURS , a true -- albeit nonsecular -- meditation on art and eternal life. The first half hour belongs to a time-honored genre, the country-house reunion drama. A 75-year-old widow, Hélène (Edith Scob), welcomes her three children and their families to the estate outside Paris she inherited from her loving (perhaps in both senses) uncle, a famous artist. We can tell she’s dying -- death is in the air. The question hovers: What will happen to the house, the Corot paintings, the nineteenth-century glassware, the etched silver, the Viennese armoire? Frédéric (Charles Berling), the eldest sibling, assumes it will all remain in the family so his children and their children can swim, climb trees, and live among the works of art -- simply displayed but pervasive in their aura. But businessman Jérémie (Jérémie Renier) plans to relocate to China with his wife and kids and needs money; and Adrienne (Juliette Binoche), a designer, has little use for France, dividing her time between Japan and New York, where she lives with her boyfriend. Binoche, the least actressy of great actresses, shows Adrienne’s restiveness by indirection -- by never seeming rooted enough to make a scene. Despite Frédéric’s sorrow, there isn’t much to debate. With its harsh coming of a new social order and passing of one that’s lovely but essentially useless, great forces are at work -- globalization, the disintegration of a culture, and the triumph of economic forces over art. But masterpieces make their own rules, and SUMMER HOURS is spare, glancing, tactile. Assayas' touch is alert but relaxed, his frames loose yet vivid. I fear I’ve made SUMMER HOURS sound heavy when, in actuality, it’s lighter than air." - David Edelstein, New York Magazine

In English as well as French with English Subtitles.

United States. 2009. Directed by Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden. (120 mins.) Rated R.

"In 2007 Ryan Gosling earned an Oscar nomination for HALF NELSON, an astonishingly good debut by the writing-directing team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. With the moving, absorbing drama SUGAR, Boden and Fleck not only avoid the sophomore slump, they demolish it, delivering a film of rare intelligence, beauty and compassion. The film's title refers to its main character, Miguel 'Sugar' Santos, a teenage baseball player in the Dominican Republic, who, early in the film, is recruited to a Class AAA ballclub in rural Iowa. Living with a devout elderly couple and striking up a tentative friendship with their granddaughter, Sugar navigates an entirely foreign life, including ordering food in English, coping with the pressures of big-league scouts and competitive teammates, and finally coming to terms with the American dream he's been so doggedly pursuing. Read More...

United States. 2009. Directed by Rian Johnson. (113 mins.) Rated PG-13.
"Part con-man romp, part screwball comedy, THE BROTHERS BLOOM begins with lyrical, mopey charm as two youngsters fend for themselves in ways that suggest they have a gift for the grift. Stephen is author and architect of labyrinthine ruses. Bloom is his partner, as well as a character in his designs. From the get-go, the younger Bloom seems ambivalent about suckering the suckers. Running cons makes it hard to stay in one place. And this movie trots the globe. When we find Stephen and Bloom grown, they're living in Berlin. They're older, though not necessarily wiser. They're still running elaborate cons. Only Adrien Brody's Bloom has grown tired of the games. Read More...