Anime Feature Film Review – Whisper of the Heart (1995)
by HELEN GEIB
The anime feature Whisper of the Heart, directed by Yoshifumi Kondo from a script by Hayao Miyazaki (based on a manga series by Aoi Hiragi), is the coming of age story of a girl named Shizuku. Shizuku lives with her parents and older sister in an apartment in Tokyo. She attends school, reads a lot (she’s a real bookworm), and hangs out with her best friend. When she can tear herself away from her beloved books, she studies for her high school entrance exams. She meets a boy who becomes her first love and forms a friendship with the boy’s grandfather, an old man who owns a curio shop filled with wondrous objects. Read more 
DVD of the Week – “Silent Ozu – Three Family Comedies” Box Set
by HELEN GEIB
Today’s DVD pick is a box set of three silent films by renowned Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu. The set, titled “Silent Ozu – Three Family Comedies,” was released by Criterion under its Eclipse label and includes Tokyo Chorus (1931), I Was Born, But… (1932), and Passing Fancy (1933). Read more
Movie Review – Last Holiday (1950)
by NIR SHALEV
George Bird (Sir Alec Guinness) is an ordinary man who makes a routine visit to the doctor and is told that he’s contracted Lampington’s Disease, which is fatal. Then, acting on his doctor’s advice, he buys new clothes, takes out all his savings from the bank, and heads over to a seaside resort where he had booked a room. Read more
Movie Review – Public Enemies (2009)
by HELEN GEIB
Public Enemies is foremost a biopic of John Dillinger, public enemy no. 1 at the height of his short, notorious career as a professional bank robber. As biopic the film is an impressionistic survey of the last year of Dillinger’s life. The last year was the big one, the year that made him a Depression-era folk hero, made him the subject of a nationwide manhunt, and ultimately got him killed – gunned down by federal agents on the sidewalk outside Chicago’s Biograph movie theater. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
So you take the good, you take the bad, you take them both – and there you have another week at the movies in Indiana. Yes, one area movie theater will be closing this week, and several films (Food,Inc. and Rudo y Cursi) were postponed at the Landmark, while two other films (Lemon Tree and Little Ashes) might not be coming to the Landmark at all (for more on that, see “next week and beyond,” below). Then again, Moon (which sounds like a real must-see) starts Friday at the Landmark, and the 2009 Indianapolis International Film Festival kicks off Wednesday night at the Indianapolis Museum of Art – and as if that weren’t enough, a number of other interesting movies will be shown hither and yon in the coming week as well. For all that and more, read on… Read more
DVD of the Week – Review of Push (2009)
by HELEN GEIB
The sci-fi thriller Push is a mix of good parts and clunky parts. The good parts include Paul McGuigan’s high-energy direction, top-notch special effects, and some of the acting, especially Chris Evans’ charismatic lead performance and vivid character turns in too-small roles by Cliff Curtis, Ming-Na, and Neil Jackson. The clunky parts are the title, some weak story construction, and flat performances- unfortunately in major roles- by Camilla Belle as the hero’s romantic interest and Djimon Hounsou as the villain. Read more
Thinking Outside the Multiplex
by MIKE MACCOLLUM
The fact that this Saturday is the Fourth of July probably has a lot to do with why this is such a slow week with regards to arthouse films and other movies covered in this column. Whatever the reason(s), we get Woody Allen’s latest, Whatever Works, at the Landmark, while Kambakkht Ishq started Thursday night (July 2) at the Georgetown 14. For more on these and other titles, read on… Read more
Movie Review – The Crow (1994)
by NIR SHALEV
The Crow opens with narration: “People once believed that when someone dies, a crow carries their soul to the land of the dead. But sometimes, when something so bad happens that a terrible sadness is carried with it and the soul can’t rest. Then sometimes, just sometimes, the crow can bring that soul back to put the wrong thing right.” Read more
Hollywood Releases Preview – July, 2009
by HELEN GEIB
At least Public Enemies comes out this month. Fans of Harry Potter, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Judd Apatow also have reason to be excited.
July 1 (Wednesday)
Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs – Ray Romano, Queen Latifah, John Leguizamo, and Denis Leary return in the voice cast for the third Ice Age film. The first trailer I saw is a funny short cartoon of the squirrel-like animal being outwitted by a female flying-squirrel-like animal in a contest for an acorn. The second trailer, the one that brings in the rest of the characters and gives away most of the plot, did not make me smile. Read more
