In U.N. Me, a new film currently playing in theatres, director Ami Horowitz (pictured) asks: is the United Nations living up to its founding ideals? The answer, rightly so, is “no.” Ever since it replaced the League of Nations in 1945 the United Nations, founded to stop wars and establish a dialogue between countries, has grown too big, too expensive, too wasteful a place where a lack of accountability and transparency has created a

Rock of Ages, this week’s hair metal spandex singalong, asks a basic question: what’s the point of a musical? More specifically, it asks a pair of underlying questions about musicals: is enjoyment a worthy artistic goal? Is sentimental simplification acceptable in the name of fantasy and fun? On one level Rock of Ages does to the metal years of the late eighties no more or less than what Singin' in the Rain did to the twenties or Grease to the

What is there about social climbers that makes their stories irresistible? Guy de Maupassant’s Bel Ami, published in installments in nineteenth century-France, enthralled readers and has been adapted for the screen a number of times. The present version stars Robert Pattinson as Georges Duroy. It is filled with descriptions of the world of journalism, politics and banking which Duroy skims for maximum profit in his ascent

Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus” raises some interesting questions, "where do we come from, how did we get here, and what future is there for mankind?" and other, unintended ones: can sharp, entertaining cinema ever thrive in an industry which allows this much money to be thrown at a failed film like this one? When so many filmmakers in need of funding abandon their ambitions it is dismaying that Mr. Scott can raise $130M. I also ask myself

It’s official, Cannes’ jack-in-the-box title by France’s Leos Carax "Holy Motors" has found a distributor. Indomina, which produces the “Cabin Fever” series, has bought the rights; no theatrical date as of this writing. This was one of the most anticipated film at Cannes this year and one of the top three films preferred by the press. Here's the official press release: Cannes, France (May 27, 2012) --- It was announced today that The Indomina

Rallying behind an insurgency borne out of the Arab Spring and emboldened by the fall of Muammar Kaddafi, helping to install a democratic government, those were the missions of French author and philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy’s (B.H.L.) as he traveled between France and Libya last year cameras in tow. As revealed in “The Oath of Tobruk” (a co-directed project shot entirely with Canon's EOS 5D camera) B.H.L.’s involvement

The winners have been announced and this 65th edition of the Cannes Festival is officially over. Slim pickins for the U.S., with the American Benh Zeitlin winning the only prize in the Official Selection, the Camera D'Or (for feature films being presented at Cannes for the first time). Let's hope for a stronger showing next year in Cannes. One of the surprises of the evening included the "A separation" actress Leila Hatami coming up on

Eight years may not be that long to turn into film that most iconic of iconic novels, Jack Kerouac's "On the Road," the book that has launched many into sustained bouts of daydreaming. Because eight years is the time it took for the project to mature. Plus, the film was lensed by one of our better filmmakers and is based on the ultimate American myth, the road story (the open road is there for the taking, there’ll always be someone motoring

A fishing boat in which Senegalese men from different ethnic backgrounds will have to huddle for two weeks during an ocean crossing. Filmmaker Moussa Touré ‘s “La Pirogue,” currently shown in the Un Certain Regard section, wants to incite a dialogue between people confined in a small living space. But the stakes are very high, and the fiction film is very much based on reality. Thirty men (a mixture of Peuls, Guineans, and Muslims

For the Bondurant gang, purveyors of apple brandy in the depression-era south, legend--their own, that is--is the stuff that makes the world turn; their illegal business thrives on it. That they are viewed as invincible by foes helps keep the deck stacked in their favor and keeps the moonshine dollar flowing in, the occasional shootout with a rival notwithstanding. When Forrest (Tom Hardy), the eldest of the Bondurant brothers gets