Milestone Films’ restoration of Margot Benacerraf’s Araya commemorates the 50th anniversary of the film’s first showing at the Cannes Film Festival, where it shared the Cannes International Critics Prize with Alain Resnais’s Hiroshima, Mon Amour. Despite the shared win, Araya never received widespread distribution. Nevertheless, director Margot Benacerraf, now in her 80s, is a legendary figure in world cinema. Although she’s made very few films, her work is compared to that of Robert Flaherty, Luchino Visconti and other better-known masters of cinema. Read more>>

Inspired by the true story of the 1953 “Last Great Air Race,” this is the fictionalized tale of a trio of young, Dutch women who, eager to escape from the flooding in post-WWII Holland, emigrate on a 13,000-mile historic KLM flight from London, England, to Christchurch, New Zealand, for what they envision as a better life. Read more

In Bertrand Tavernier’s revisionist dramatization of Madame de La Fayette’s novel about a princess torn between two lovers, it’s the odd customs of 16th century French aristocrats, along with two other characters besotted by the princess, that keep things interesting. Read more>>

British comic Richard Ayoade (”The Mighty Boosh”) reinvigorates the coming-of-age movie with this dryly hilarious postmodern comedy about a word-and-film-mad teenager romancing a sullen bully while trying to save his parents’ marriage. Read more>>

It took real willpower to sit through this entire mess, and even my granddaughter (age 10) said, “That was a terrible movie, Grandma; I didn’t like it.” Read more>>

Perhaps the “Cars” franchise is so inexorably tied to Paul Newman that it should have been part of Newman’s Own. Newman’s Doc Hudson was Owen Wilson’s Lightning McQueen’s mentor in Radiator Springs, and his passing has left a big emotional hole in Carburetor County that cannot be filled. Instead, there’s lots of sound and fury, signifying very little.

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In the language of clothes, what does the Green Lantern’s CGI unitard say? Read more>>

Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) knows how to make a movie, and he’s made the best-looking comic-book movie since Watchmen, but conquering one’s superhero fatigue is another matter.
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During a lengthy CGI prologue, an unseen narrator explains that Emerald Energy is Will Power, the strongest force in the universe. The Green Lantern Corps is an elite, intergalactic federation that polices 3,600 sectors under the command of an ancient race of Yoda-like immortals, called Guardians, residing on the planet Oa. But now a menace known as Parallax (voiced by Clancy Brown) threatens to destroy the balance of power, exuding the yellow power of fear. Read more

Jim Carrey is actually enjoyable to watch in Mr. Popper’s Penguins as he goes through several character arcs. Children will adore this funny film and parents who must tag along will get some laughs out of it as well. Read more>>