The Death and Life of John F. Donovan doesn’t play like a work from one of the most confident filmmakers in the world today. It comes across more like three films of varying quality stuffed uneasily and unconvincingly into a single package.
Natalie Portman
An ambitious, abrasive, overwhelming, and sprawling look at the dubious link between tragedy and popular culture, writer-director Brady Corbet’s Vox Lux is bound to be looked back on as one of the most fruitful, but divisive films of the year.
Alex Garland’s trippy, elliptical, and often purposefully evasive sci-fi thriller Annihilation envelops unsuspecting viewers not only into a world they’ve never witnessed before, but a state of mind that’s rarely been experienced in cinema outside of Kubrick or Tarkovsky.
Although the lion’s share of praise for Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín’s Jackie will be rightfully shone on lead actress Natalie Portman’s tremendous leading performance, it’s an all around exceptional look at how people in the public eye fight to grieve over the loss of a loved one in private.
A Tale of Love and Darkness, the directorial debut of Oscar winning actor Natalie Portman and adapted from the memoirs of notable Israeli novelist and essayist Amos Oz, is an ambitious step towards feature filmmaking for the actress, but also a work that’s often at odds with itself.
Arriving this week on DVD and Blu-ray: the classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s debuts on Blu-ray starring Audrey Hepburn as the one-and-only Holly Golightly; Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph joke it up in the comedy, Bridesmaids; Disney’s animated classic, Dumbo, celebrates its 70th anniversary; plus reviews of Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal and Thor.
Enter for a chance to win one of five copies of the comedy Your Highness, courtesy of Universal Pictures, starring Danny McBride, James Franco and Natalie Portman, which is now available on DVD and Blu-ray.
This week’s new releases on Blu-ray and DVD include: Paul, the tongue-in-cheek alien comedy starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost; the animated Disney film, Mars Needs Moms; and the stoner comedy, Your Highness.
New releases on Blu-ray and DVD this week include: director Ivan Reitman’s romantic comedy, No Strings Attached, starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher; the intense drama, Blue Valentine, featuring Michelle Williams’ Oscar-nominated performance opposite Ryan Gosling; plus a look at Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, and the 25th anniversary release of Legend on Blu-ray.
Opening across Canada at a theatre near you: a teenage girl takes on the CIA in the modern action fairy tale, Hanna; Russell Brand plays a lovable man-child in Arthur; medieval times get a bit dopey in the comedy Your Highness; and a girl gets back on her surf board after a shark attack in Soul Surfer.
