Noticias

Ben Kingsley has embodied Jewish heroes as iconic as Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal (“Murderers Among Us”), Anne Frank’s father Otto (“Anne Frank: The Whole Story”), and businessman Itzhak Stern (“Schindler’s List”). In “Operation Finale,” he adopts another perspective altogether, portraying the ultimate villain in Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann.

The innately intense Kingsley isn’t an ideal match for the mild-mannered murderer who inspired philosopher Hannah Arendt to coin the phrase “the banality of evil.” But like the rest of the cast, he holds our attention even when the movie buckles under the burden of earnest intentions.

Once you get past the jarring collection of mismatched accents, it’s a pleasure to be in the company of pros like Oscar Isaac, Mélanie Laurent (“Beginners”), Nick Kroll, and Michael Aronov (“The Americans”). But as Mossad agents, their characters find little pleasure in the task designed by their intimidating boss...

What's contemporary Europe got that we ain't got? Powerful, serious filmmaking like that by Christian Petzold, starring the impressive Nina Hoss. Their sixth collaboration is a loaded narrative that takes some pretty wild narrative themes -- plastic surgery, hidden identities -- and spins them in a suspenseful new direction. Phoenix Blu-ray The Criterion Collection 809 2014 / Color / 2:39 widescreen (Super 35) / 98 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 26, 2016 / 39.95 Starring Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld, Nina Kunzendorf, Imogen Kogge. Cinematography Hans Fromm Film Editor Bettina Böhler Original Music Stefan Will Written by Christian Petzold, Haroun Farocki from ideas in the book Le retour des cendres by Hubert Monteilhet Produced by Florian Koerner von Gustorf, Michael Weber Directed by Christian Petzold

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

I had seen only one Christian Petzold feature before this one. 2012's Barbara is an excellent Deutsche-Millennial thriller starring Barbara Hoss as an East German doctor trying to do...

For anyone interested in foreign films, one of the most interesting periods of German filmmaking was the post war period between 1946 to the mid 1960’s. In effect, only two types of films were being made: pure escapist film such as musicals and comedies that were designed to make the audience completely forget the ugly events of the recent past. And then there were films like "The Lost One," "Germany Year Zero," and "Murderers Among Us" which explicitly dealt with the aftermath of the horrors of World War II and Germany’s guilt and repercussions. But of all the films, one of the most fascinating, and worthy of rediscovery, is the 1952 film...

The Notebook is the North American home for Locarno Film Festival Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian's blog. Chatrian has been writing thoughtful blog entries in Italian on Locarno's website since he took over as Director in late 2012, and now you can find the English translations here on the Notebook as they're published. The Locarno Film Festival will be taking place August 3 - 13. In line with a long established dramaturgical mechanism, film criticism has shaped a history of cinema conceived in terms of discontinuity, one of dark ages followed or preceded by golden eras. Yet the habitual emphasis on the winds of change blowing in with the“nouvelles vagues,” although correct, has often ended up obscuring the cinema that came directly before it, charged with provincialism, not being very creative, and dominated by the requirements of the market. The “independent cinema = auteur cinema” equation may seem as natural as it is obvious but,...

In this week’s episode of American Horror Story: Freak Show, Stanley was determined to make a killing by selling Jimmy’s claws, Paul the Illustrated Seal got himself added to Elsa’s hit list, Ethel threatened to do away with Elsa, and Dandy aimed to make missuses of Dot and Bette. But who — if anyone — was struck in the titular “Bullseye” painted on them? Read on and find out!

Wheel Of Misfortune | As this installment began, birthday girl Elsa had her spinning wheel moved into the big tent and imagined throwing knives at half the freaks to practice for her TV show.

For anyone interested in foreign films, one of the most interesting periods of German filmmaking was the post war period between 1946 to the mid 1960’s. In effect, only two types of films were being made: pure escapist film such as musicals and comedies that were designed to make the audience complete forget the ugly events of the recent past. But then there were films such as "The Lost One," "Germany Year Zero," and "Murderers Among Us" which explicitly dealt with the aftermath of the horrors of World War II and Germany’s guilt and its repercussions. But of all the films, one of the most fascinating, and worthy of rediscovery, is the 1952...

For anyone interested in foreign films, one of the most interesting periods of German filmmaking was the post war period between 1946 to the mid 1960’s. In effect, only two types of films were being made: pure escapist film such as musicals and comedies that were designed to make the audience complete forget the ugly events of the recent past. But then there were films such as The Lost One, Germany Year Zero, and Murderers Among Us which explicitly dealt with the aftermath of the horrors of World War II and Germany’s guilt and its repercussions. But of all the films, one of the most fascinating, and worthy of rediscovery, is the 1952 film Toxi co-written and directed...

Just yesterday, Empire posted a photo of Tom Tykwer and Lana and Andy Wachowski surrounded by novelist David Mitchell and producers Uwe Schott, Philip Lee, Stefan Arndt and Grant Hill. The occasion? They'd just wrapped shooting at Studio Babelsberg on the most expensive German film since the days of Ufa, Cloud Atlas. Babelsberg, practically on life support after the fall of the Berlin wall, is thriving once again. And in February, the legendary studio celebrates its 100th anniversary.

To celebrate, the Berlin International Film Festival, running February 9 through 19, will be awarding the studio a Berlinale Camera and presenting a special series, "Happy Birthday, Studio Babelsberg." The lineup:

Fw Murnau's The Last Laugh (1924) Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel (1929/30) Josef von Báky's The Adventures of Baron Munchhausen (1943) Wolfgang Staudte's The Murderers Are Among Us (1946) Kurt Maetzig's The Rabbit Is Me (1965) Konrad Wolf's Goya (1971) Roland Gräf's...