Culture

some flowers are just funnier than others. The Visitor is tough to categorize. On one hand it's a straightforward story of a lonely guy who finds meaning in life, and on the other it's so deadpan and simple that it makes you remember why they make movies: Because real life depicted as real life can be boring.
 
The movie stars Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) as Walter Vale, a withdrawn, forlorn professor gliding through life in isolated emotional pain. Jenkins (an underrated actor) proves to be absolutely proficient in this role, broadening his range to new heights or in this case, lows. Gone are his usual comedic wise-cracks and/or witty flamboyance.
When Walter is sent from Connecticut to New York City to give a lecture and visits an apartment building he owns, he finds a couple of illegal immigrants, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman) and Zainab (Danai Gurira) living there. He reluctantly befriends them and his life begins to change. Tarek plays an African conga-drum and entices the prof into giving it a whirl. Next thing we know, Walter's beating the darn thing while wearing his underpants. Soon they are playing in a drum-circle in Washington Square Park. Trouble ensues in a subway when cops apprehend and arrest Tarek for supposedly jumping a turnstile. The rest of the movie is the slow-burn-saga of Walter trying to come to grips with saving someone else's life, therefore saintly redeeming his own. The film's tricky title will provoke discussion as to who's the visitor: Walter charting new territory or Tarek whose immigration status is challenged.

Hey, aren’t you han solo?The unabashedly campy Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull takes us on yet another retro, whirlwind adventure, this time led by an older, slightly mellowed, but still dashing "Indy." The latest installment of the four Indiana Jones films taps into '50s nostalgia-beginning in a malt shop in Cambridge, Mass. - and winds up in the Amazonian Jungle of Peru. Once again, we get to tag along with our favorite rogue archeologist, while in this episode he fends off several near-fatal attacks by Russian KGB operatives turned treasure hunters, and an onslaught of computer generated ants.
The plots of the Indiana Jones movies are always somewhat ridiculous; but who cares when in a span of under three hours the audience gets to trek to Nepal and Cairo, Shanghai and India, Venice, or the Amazon Jungle, all in the name of discovering treasure (which always bears some supernatural power), while preventing evil-doers from getting there first? The Crystal Skull, possibly the most schmaltzy of the bunch, is no exception.

Wait a minute, you’re not frodo. As a fan of the C.S. Lewis book series, The Chronicles of Narnia, in which fantasy and adventure are underlain with greater conflicts, I truly wanted to fall under the spell of the second installment of its film franchise, Prince Caspian. Ten minutes into it, when the four Pevensie children land back in Narnia-this time perched atop a stunning New Zealand beach-I thought the film might be spectacular in both setting and emotional scope. And although certain aspects of the film prove awe-inspiring, the piece as a whole does not leave me longing for a return voyage to Narnia.
 
Flying griffins, fearless mice, Narnian dwarves, and other mythical woodland creatures steal the show in Prince Caspian. This is due partly to the fact that the acting and the emotional depth of the human characters remain shallow. Lucy, Edward, Susan and Peter all return, but produce disappointingly wooden performances. Only Lucy (Georgie Henley) and Edmund (Skandar Keynes) show some spunk, with Edmund occasionally able to convey subtlety imbued with a spark.

something about a whipper snapper. I defy anyone to not like this movie. Young at Heart will run your emotions through the gamut of joy, sorrow, anticipation and hilarity with affirmations of life, death and yes, even sex…you get it all.
 
This documentary is about the "Young at Heart" senior citizens chorus whose average age is in the 80s, conducted by a 53-year-old taskmaster and musical genius named Bob Cilman. Focusing on the rehearsals for their "Alive and Well" tour, the film follows the development of three diverse new numbers: Sonic Youth's "Schizophrenia," James Brown's "I Feel Good" and Allen Toussaint's "Yes We Can-Can." The songs are chosen by Cilman, as the performers' personal tastes range from classical to opera with only a vague knowledge of rock. After performing "Should I Stay or Should I Go, " 92-year-old singer Eileen says, "I dunno, I think it's the Crash?"