New releases
Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (PG-13)
Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore
Directed by Francis Lawrence
This is a do-it-yourself review. Pick one of the following as the one-word synopsis of the third in the “Hunger Games” quartet: 1. Grim, 2. Dark, 3. Dull, 4. Foggy, 5. Worthless. Whichever you chose, it is a fair summation of a film designed as a money-stealing, for-fans-only, time-waster (as well as for movie-goers who believe jumpsuits are fashion’s future and a bow and arrow can bring down a hover-copter).
1 1/2 pieces of made to pick the fans’ pockets toast.
The Way He Looks (PG-13)
Starring Ghilherme Lobo, Fabrio Audi, Tess Amorim, Lucia Romano
Directed by Daniel Ribiero
The characters in this adolescent love triangle are a blind, classical- music-loving teen who realizes he is gay, the new boy at school who kindles his sexual interest and his longtime friend - who is a girl. Their relationship grows more complex and culminates when they go on a school-sponsored camping trip. This delightfully simple yet original Brazilian-made film avoids Hollywood clichés and makes us wonder what the trio will be up to after the movie is over.
3 pieces of great tale of Brazilian adolescence toast.
The Theory of Everything (PG-13)
Starring Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Charlie Cox, Emily Watson, David Thewles
Directed by James Marsh
Since most of us are familiar with British physicist Stephen Hawking in his wheelchair, this biography of his youthful days on his quest for a theory of everything is a delightful surprise. Based on his wife’s memoir, we meet Hawking as a geeky Cambridge student whose klutziness gets increasingly worse, but whose love for life and brilliance of mind only grows stronger.
3 1/2 pieces of Eddie Redmayne is an astounding Stephen Hawking toast.
(Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast mini-reviews appear in the Argus-Courier every week. E-mail comments to gilmansergh@comcast.net.)
New on DVD
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (R)
Starring Josh Brolin, Mickey Rourke, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Eva Green
Directed by Robert Rodriguez, Frank Miller
The gruesomely bloody stylized comic book of artful mayhem and madness in “Sin City: A Dame to Kill For,” has prompted me to create a new warning acronym - WEP (Wear Ear Plugs). This is because the visuals of gouged out eyeballs and samurai sword decapitations are brutal enough, but the slurrshy, sliccy sound effects takes things over the top. Apparently created for a niche audience of nihilistic young men, the story is told in a series of chapter-like tales held together by the setting - a seedy, smoke-filled strip club. It’s been nine years since the first Sin City collaboration, and the technical aspects in this one are even better, but the blood-fueled story is decidedly not for everyone. Note: The MPAA has banned one poster for the film prominently featuring Eva Green’s breasts.
2 pieces of WEP (wear ear plugs) toast.
If I Stay (PG-13)
Starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Jamie Blackley, Lauren Lee Smith, Mirelle Enosa
Directed by R.J. Cutler
This Kleenex fueled movie is aimed squarely at teens who have recently become aware of their own mortality. It is a told-through-flashbacks tale of a young cellist in a coma because of a horrific auto accident. We discover that she is awkwardly in love for the first time ( the adolescent sex scenes are off screen), that her loving parents abandoned their rock-drummer and groupie careers to take a 9-to-5 job and take care of their baby daughter, and that coma victims have the power to decide to stay alive, or go (presumably) to heaven.
2 1/2 pieces of essentially a faith-based film toast.
(Gil Mansergh’s Cinema Toast mini-reviews appear in the Argus-Courier every week. E-mail comments to gilmansergh@comcast.net.)
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