Grand Hotel: Where Nothing Ever Happens

Greta Garbo and John Barrymore. Photo: MGM In the 1930s, the Nazis decided that the Austrian author Vicki Baum’s novels were amoral and had to be banned. By then, Baum…

Under the Volcano

A vacationing Ukrainian family is left stranded in Tenerife after Russia’s invasion of their country in February, 2022. A good idea for a drama that makes you ponder what you…

Vermiglio

In 1944, a young deserter (Giuseppe De Domenico) arrives in a small village in the mountains of northern Italy, where he falls in love with the daughter (Martina Scrinzi) of…

The New Year That Never Came

In this sprawling drama, writer-director Bogdan Muresanu wants to remind his fellow Romanians of what it was like to live in a totalitarian state, something people tend to forget whenever…

Safe House

On Christmas Eve, during the civil war in the Central African Republic, a Muslim soldier hides in a field hospital, subjecting everyone there to danger. A drama made in cooperation…

Nr 24

In 2008, Max Manus was a huge hit in Norway, and this film is a companion piece, another well-made portrait of the seminal figures of the resistance movement that fought…

Unstoppable

Oscar-winning editor William Goldenberg made his directing debut with this biopic about a remarkable athlete, Anthony Robles, who was born without a right leg but still became a wrestling champ.…

How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies

When Mengju (Usha Seamkhum) is diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, her grandson (Putthipong Assaratanakul), who’s dropped out of university, suddenly begins to show an interest; he’s hoping to inherit her…

The Bells of St. Mary’s

Father O’Malley (Bing Crosby) arrives at a parish where he has to work with a group of nuns, headed by Sister Mary Benedict (Ingrid Bergman); their run-down school is in…

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody

After taking on Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody (2018), Anthony McCarten wrote a script about another superstar with a troubled personal life. Sadly, it feels entirely uninspired, as if McCarten…