Memo to bombastic directors who come up with ill-digested “Philosophy for Dummies” concepts on the nature of love and life in hardly watchable films (e.g. Terrence Malick’s “Tree of Life”): Don’t. Unfortunately, chances are they won’t listen and will continue to come up with these half-baked offerings to convey a message so obscure we don’t get it. Case in point, “The Congress.” But before talking about that movie, note to self: Never assume that a director who gave us a masterpiece as first film will follow up with something half as good. High expectations set us up for big disappointments. So we’re mad when Florian Von Donnersmarck, author of the superlative “The Lives of Others,” hits us with a dud like "The Tourist"

According to interviews which he gave afterward Werner Herzog was shaken up by it, and it's understandable why. When shooting for "The act of killing", which he co-executive-produced, began, it's likely that he did not know such a major upheaval was about to occur in documentary filmmaking. Just like Joshua Oppenheimer, who lensed this film, did not expect to shoot such a documentary upon returning to Indonesia.

2013 has been the summer of vulgar auteurism (VA), a critical catch phrase blooming around the online film sphere. "White House Down" comes at a perfect time.

VA is a recent critical movement that seeks respect for movies (particularly action movies) that don’t scream “artsy.” Inspired by the French New Wave reconsideration of Howard Hawks and Hollywood B-movies

Pedro Almodovar’s “I’m So Excited” received a largely underwhelming response earlier this year in the director’s native Spain, as well as a few cranky complaints here; IndieWire, for instance, called it his worst film. Notably absent are the standard Almodovar themes of a sexual predator preying on the powerless (“Talk to Her,” “The Skin I Live In”), or murderous sexual jealousy playing itself out in tragic ways (“Live Flesh,” “Bad

I think we can all agree that whoever says blockbuster doesn't necessarily mean subtlety and intelligence. That's a fact. On the other hand, he who speaks "Christopher Nolan" speaks resurection, restoration and myth reinvented. "The Dark Knight" trilogy behind him, Nolan has been re-emerging as producer and screenwriter, on "Man of Steel," which to have added some zest and some pep. And who better than Zach "300"

At a time when filmmakers are getting lost in a fog of 3-D conversions and assorted digital shenanigans there’s a resistance forming: small DIYers, emerging poets of the film negative, those who make their voices heard through simple yet effective movies. Jan Ole Gerster is such a filmmaker. "Oh boy" recounts the absurd, touching and melancholy wanderings of a young German through a Berlin that would have made

About the restored “Desert of the Tartars” (“Tartar Steppe” in the English title) screened at the last Cannes Film Festival as part of Cannes Classics, Beatrice de Mondenard quotes in the “Cannes Festival Daily” Angelo Cosimano of Digimage Classics, the company that carried out the restoration:

"From the first tests, the richness of the content on the negatives deeply astonished us, almost

Having begun his career as a TV scribe Tobias Lindholm got co-writing duties on Thomas Vinterberg's "Submarino" (2010) and "The Hunt" (2012). He collaborated with Michael Noer ("Northwest") on scripting and directing, in 2010. These efforts seem to have naturally led Lindholm to direct "Hijacking," his first solo effort.

Danish cargo ship M.V. Rosen

"World War Z" may be the first film in which the cast exceeds the actual population of the planet. There are huge citywide vistas of rambling crowds. Most of these people are infected with a zombie virus that turns them into rattlesnakes with overbites and clammy hair.

These elements pay off quickly in a fantastic opener set in a traffic jam in downtown Philadelphia. Amid startling car-smashing, Brad

This photo of James Gandolfini waving suddenly looks eerily ominous. Gandolfini who just died far too early at age 51 will be sorely missed. If ever there was a natural, he was it. No matter what the part, no matter if an entire series like the Sopranos or a Broadway play rested on his shoulders or if he appeared onscreen or onstage in a supporting role, he occupied the space so stupendously—and not because of his girth—that anyone one