Pieta, a shocking new work by Korean filmmaker Kim Ki-Duk about a small-time crook’s attempted redemption after he rediscovers his humane side in a society corrupt by money won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the 69th Mostra last night. “I wish to thank all those who contributed to this film as well as the Venice Festival and Italian audiences, and, finally, the members of the jury,” the filmmaker said upon accepting his prize. Next

To properly discuss David Cronenberg’s “Cosmopolis,” we need to discuss something that film reviews rarely touch: the relationship between film and literature, in a general and historical sense. The challenge that cinema placed upon the primacy of literature in the last century has resulted in marketplace rivalry. Like any good products, the two began to differentiate. Film became the reserve of action, plot, emo-

Last year “Bridesmaids” showed that women could do crude humor. When did that stop? Didn’t Cameron Diaz expertly handle a “hair gel” scene more than a decade ago? Anyway, now here is Lauren Miller and Katie Ann Naylon’s “For a Good Time, Call”. It’s got laughs, it’s got heart. Looks like crude women are 2 for 2, so far.

In addition to sharing screenwriting duties

Every kid has that movie that’s going to scare the crap out of them for the first time. The stop-motion animation studio Laika, which was behind 2009’s fantastic “Coraline” and now this Tim Burton-meets-low-rent monster movie mash-up “Paranorman,” again manages a good first step for scary movie virgins.

Norman (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a young kid living in Blithe

Can a bunch of long-in-the-tooth action stars still substitute muscles, guns, and wisecracks for super heroes and special effects? Sylvester Stallone & Co. respond to that question with a resounding “hell yeah.” “The Expendables 2” is a “go-bigger” sequel that works and it does so because of exciting familiar faces.

This time a debt Barney (Sylvester Stallone) owes to Mr. Church (Bruce Willis) leads him and his

Those hoping “The Campaign” would be an economic-political satire will probably be a little disappointed, but for those ready to laugh at some Dog-Gate 2012-like absurdity with two comedic heavyweights behind the wheel, this Will Ferrell-Zach Galifianakis comedy hits the mark. Ferrell is Cam Brady, on his way to another term as congressman for Hammond, NC, while Galifianakis is Marty Huggins, the effeminate, disappoint-

Watching a Bourne movie not starring Jason Bourne is like watching the Harlem Globetrotters starring the Washington Generals. Over the past months, writer of the last three, and now director of this one, Tony Gilroy and Matt Damon have feuded over the future of this franchise. Gilroy has stated that this is a companion piece which ties into the Bourne storyline, but other than telling us that there’s more than one C.I.A. program (a fact we

It isn’t every day you get the likes of Meryll Streep and Tommy Lee Jones in a romantic comedy, even the very idea seems like two actors doing a bit of slumming, but instead they make “Hope Springs” really pop with an honest, funny, and moving portrayal of a marriage on the rocks. They play Kay and Arnold, a couple married thirty-one years who have hit a bit of a rough patch. They’ve been sleeping in separate beds. When Kay tries to remedy this, Arnold uncom-

“Total Recall”, the unnecessary remake starring Colin Farrell, Jessica Biel, and Kate Beckinsale, proves that all the computer-generated imagery in the digital world cannot simulate a believable storyline. This movie stands proudly in the company of “Transformers”, “G.I. Joe”, and every other action flick with gossamer believability. The story involves a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (the pectoral Mr. Farrell) who struggles

Rashida Jones ("The Social Network") was funny when she appeared on shows like “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation.” I had to keep reminding myself of this when I discovered her in her first starring role in “Celeste and Jesse Forever” (Jones co-wrote the screenplay in collaboration with Will McCormack), a movie like “(500) Days of Summer” although not as good. Jones plays Celeste to Andy Samberg’s Jesse. Together they form a young