A rather dark Argentine film that is part psychological thriller and part portrayal of a corrupt society. Pablo (Joaquin Furriel)
is an architect in a studio that starts receiving threats from a Mr Jara (Oscar Martinez)
on the basis that their construction site is causing cracks in his walls in the next door property and that they have not proceeded with due diligence in the matter and are just paying lip service to the local bylaws, etc.
The head of the studio, Borla (Santiago Segura) 
wants an easy and cheap way out as does the senior architect Marta (Soledad Villemil) who has a somewhat hysterical attitude to the whole affair. 
Almost without his wishing so, Pablo gets caught is a sequence of actions that challenges his value system and also finds that he starts questioning his marriage and family. His relationship with his wife (Laura Novoa) is not good and the temptation of a fling with someone he meets through work is strong. 
Nicolas Gil Lavedra and the screenplay writers have chosen a flashback approach to the film which gets a little tiring and unhelpful even though it is designed to keep us guessing between reality and imagination throughout. So, although the acting is good, the end product feels like a bit of a let down and less pungent than it could have been.
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Arriving late on the first day at uni, a lecturer treats her badly in front of the class and is called up for his racism.
His punishment is to prepare her for the Eloquence competition, a sort of oratory competition between law faculties all over the country. 
The two get to work, each with their own prejudices and each learning something in the process
in a duel of personalities. Interesting enough in its homage to a sort of elite academic practice, the film is lifted by the performances of Daniel Autueil
and Camélia Jordana (a singer)
as the leads. Hers is especially convincing and led to her winning a César award. Yvan Attal directs.
One day, an elderly lady appears
seeking work and bringing her bean paste which is excellent and goes perfectly with the pancakes. 
Grudgingly, he takes her on.
Tokue, the woman, has secrets too, mainly that she is a leper and has only recently been able to leave her compound. She is old and infirm now but takes delight in all the little things of nature and life.
She and her boss become friends as does Wakana, a teenage girl who hangs around the kiosk looking for the affection that is missing in her home life.
Tokue has plenty of wisdom for the cook and both of them open up. Masatoshi Nagase and Kyara Uchida do a great job
supporting veteran and recently deceased Kirin Kiki who plays the role of Tokue (apparently toned down from her usual performances). The acting is good, the script has its moments and the photography is poignant but the pacing of the film is slow and some of the points could have been made more succinctly. I quite liked it and felt that the last third was the best, though some critics hated it.
who has emotional outbursts at will, a girl she cannot give time to and a husband who is either working too hard or limited in what he can give.
What should be a joyous event, the arrival of the third just leaves her exhausted, depressed and without sleep.
Her brother gifts her the services of a night nanny who looks after the night shift only waking the mother to feed and thereby allowing her to recharge her batteries. This girl Tully (excellent Mackenzie Davis)
is like an angel, cleaning up, baking and helping Marlo psychologically. Marlo feels like a weight has been lifted off her and returns to her old self.
Tully is like a great friend even though she seems to overstep her job description.
A twist occurs near the end which leads us to reconsider what has gone before. Many critics disliked the ending. I felt it did show up some fairly glaring plot holes but on the other hand the film set out to comment on the role and reality of being a mother today. In that it makes some very pertinent observations, many of which are sexist and unrealistic.
and letting herself look rundown and dowdy. She is the weary, somewhat burnt mother soul who wishes things were different, to a tee.
and part sports chronicle, it does seem long at times and suffers from some rather dull scripting and overly pat speeches. Jack Lowden
as the talented young turk and Peter Mullen
as his golf course designing father do a good job in the lead roles set against a scenic Scottish coast. Ophelia Lovibond plays the love interest from the wrong side of the tracks
for young Tommy. Perhaps most interesting is the scenes of gambling 
and fighting on the golf course, though if golf is not your sport, you probably wouldn’t care so much. Jason Connery directs but while the film is competent
and professionally made
, it somehow doesn’t reach any great heights for golfers
who still hold records today.
Both have a couple of flings and each have one relationship that turns out to be more meaningful than they imagined.
Then there is an important subplot regarding a gay couple in which one wants to adopt or have a child and the other doesn’t. All cases of permission of sorts. Some of it is clichéd, some of it is not very credible but some does work, especially the bad moods and the emotional responses. Rebecca Hall,
a much underrated actress, is fine in the film, Gina Gershon
convinces in a supporting role that could have been overacted and Dan Stevens, Morgan Spector and the other men do a reasonable job.
To its credit, the ending is left up in the air. Not as good as it could have been but ended better than expected.
about the Warsaw Zoo which upon the arrival of the Nazis sees the majority of the animals shot dead
and the place requisitioned for grazing pigs and a bison (auroch) breeding programme. Antonina and Jan start to hide Jews
in the spacious house as the Nazis start to dismantle the Warsaw ghetto and ship people to the camps. Antonina has to keep the local German officer Lutz
sweet which makes hubby jealous. There are the usual scenes of people having to keep quiet while visitors are in the house, unplanned betrayals, people captured and missing, many of which lack any special originality but are typical of the era.
And there are some scenes which are moving and shocking especially those involving the animals, rather than the humans. The ending is somewhat pat. Jessica Chastain holds the movie together well with Johan Heldenbergh
and the ubiquitous Daniel Bruhs
as hubby and undesired lover respectively. Niki Caro recreates Warsaw pretty well in Prague, the photography is good but the music is rather too obtrusive at times and Angela Workman’s screenplay seldom rises above the obvious despite the originality of the situation.
More editing would have been welcome too. A qualified success as a movie which is a pity.
who ends up being driven to Paris from Cannes by a colleague of her husband.
Jacques (Arnaud Viard)
is a bon vivant so we have a vintage car, alfresco picnics, expensive hotels
and restaurants
in what is really a travelogue cum promotion for France as purveyor of the good life. Diane Lane
is an intelligent actress who does what she can with a rather clichéd part,
an uninspiring script (some lines are wooden) and a lack of chemistry with Viard. She manages to lift the film somewhat, otherwise it comes across as a flimsy indulgence. Baldwin has five minutes at the start. Forgettable.
plays a young woman with low self-esteem regarding her looks
who hits her head in a gym and wakes up believing she is beautiful. Result: she ends up getting a top receptionist job in a fashion house, hobnobbing with characters played by the likes of Naomi Campbell and Lauren Hutton.
She gets a nice boyfriend, leaves behind her geeky friends
and workmates until the day it all comes tumbling down. The message being that regardless of your looks you can do anything if you believe. 
Well, the message is conveyed somewhat erratically and dubiously in parts and does overwhelm any realistic character development.
Is it fun? In parts, yes. There are some amusing scenes but again it lacks consistency and for me the jury is also out on Schumer. She haspresence and character but this is another film in which I have seen her act and been less than ecstatic with the finished product. Good but…. Here, Michelle Williams is a riot
as the vapid granddaughter of the cosmetics house
and Rory Scovel as Ethan,
the boyfriend is a sympathetic lead. A satisfactory easy on the eyes comedy.
called The Shimmer into which a meteorite fell. The zone is undergoing changes on different energy and biological levels.
Moreover, of all the teams that have gone into explore, only one person has come out alive. He is Kane (Oscar Isaac) and his wife Lena (Natalie Portman) 
finds him unrecognizable. When he gets sick, the two of them are whisked off to a secret base and she learns the truth about the place.
It all ends up with her joining the team led by Jennifer Jason Leigh and they enter this post-Chernobyl like area. 
From here on, it becomes a case of survival of the fittest, but not without some interesting philosophical discussions on the way. We get to see some amazing mutated forms of life,
some thrills and some stunning light shows.
These images and the whole questioning of life on Earth, aliens, etc will stay with you for a long time after. 
Some points are left ambiguous and will also spur discussion.
It may not be a masterpiece but this is a very solid addition to the genre.
passionfilm 