AMERICAN  DREAMER--First-time director Paul Dektor's appealing dramedy stars "Game  of Thrones" MVP Peter Dinklage as Phil, a twice-divorced adjunct  economics professor at a New England college whose dream of becoming a  homeowner turns into a nightmare. After cashing in his life savings,  Phil accepts ownership of a $5-million waterfront mansion from eccentric  widow Astrid Fanelli (88-year-old screen legend Shirley MacLaine) for a  piddling $240,000. The caveat? He has to let her continue living in the  house until she dies. Although his shady realtor (an amusing Matt  Dillon) assured him that his new roomie was childless and at death's  door, the remarkably spry Astrid actually has a surplus of adult  children keeping close tabs on her. And one of them, a tough-as-nails  lawyer (Kimberly Quinn), is determined to evict Phil from the premises.  The fact that Phil and Astrid become BFFs--he even saves her life on two  separate occasions--is less surprising than the note of wistful  melancholy Dektor chooses to end his film on. (B.) https://youtu.be/rEgOoPgUm7c?si=QjhF1ulXUCnLyRkR

THE  AMERICAN SOCIETY OF MAGICAL NEGROES--Poised inelegantly between  "American Fiction"-style racial/social satire and conventional rom-com,  Kobi Libii's directorial debut is a missed opportunity that fritters  away the leading man potential of Justice ("Dungeons and Dragons: Honor  Among Thieves") Smith. After being recruited by the titular top-secret  society, Smith's struggling artist Aren is tasked with helping fragile  white people feel better about themselves. Ensconced at a tech start-up,  Aren befriends nerdy Jason (Drew Tarver from MAX's "The Other Two") and  plays Cyrano to his new workmate's interoffice crush (Ani-Li Bogan's  Lizzie). But since Aren and Lizzie themselves have genuine romantic  chemistry, what's a "magical Negro" to do? Although the ostensible goal  of the American Society is to help save Black lives, Libii fatally  shortchanges the built-in irony of his potentially amusing high concept  premise. Smith, Tarver and Bogan are all appealing performers, but the movie feels like an overextended--and laugh-deficient--SNL skit. (C.)  https://youtu.be/JLrqQyHeVHk?si=_RSP-E6SRXxI6glu

ARTHUR  THE KING--"Inspired" by a true story, Mark Wahlberg's stolid  performance helps anchor director Simon Cellan Jones' feel-good movie  about an over the hill Colorado jock competing in the Dominican  Republic's Adventure Racing World Championship. (Think MTV's "The  Challenge" minus T.J. Lavin.) Michael Light (Wahlberg) and his  box-checking team--Simu Liu, Nathalie Emmanuel and Ali Suliman--brave  the 435-mile trajectory with the morale-boosting support of a stray mutt  mascot they dub "Arthur the King." If you've seen one underdog sports  movie (or any pooch-centric kidflick), nothing that transpires over the  course of the film's rather sluggishly paced 107 minutes will remotely  surprise you. It's not "terrible," just ploddingly predictable and,  accordingly, just a wee bit dull. (C.)  https://youtu.be/wjDJNEPghNY?si=gQ2UdlS1FL9SJA7U

FEAR  AND DESIRE--In interviews, Stanley Kubrick described his feature debut,  "Fear and Desire," as "lousy" and a "bumbling amateur film exercise."  The "2001" auteur even tried to prevent theatrical screenings when a  print briefly resurfaced in the 1990's. Regardless of Kubrick's public  disavowal of the movie, it's managed to pick up a sizable following over  the years, probably because it's been so difficult to see. Accordingly,  KL Studio Classics' new 4K/Ultra HD Blu-Ray is cinephile nirvana,  including both the 62-minute 1953 theatrical cut and the original  version withdrawn from distribution by Kubrick that runs eight minutes  longer (both include separate audio commentary tracks by historians Eddy  Von Mueller and Gary Gerani respectively). An existentialist combat  flick that takes place "outside history," the bare bones narrative  revolves around four soldiers (Kenneth Harp, Frank Silvera, Stephen Coit  and future "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" director Paul  Mazursky) trapped behind enemy lines, and their Sisyphean efforts to  reach base camp. During the course of the "Heart of Darkness" journey,  they abduct a local woman (Virginia Leith), ultimately killing her. Shot  in California's San Gabriel Mountains, "F&D" has an ersatz  documentary flavor which might explain why it premiered in the doc  section (!) of the 1952 Venice Film Festival. Written by future Pulitzer  Prize-winning playwright Howard ("The Great White Hope") Sackler, it's a  movie that somehow makes virtues out of its budgetary limitations and  minor technical flaws, e.g. not-great dubbing. Sackler and Kubrick's  metaphoric allusions--the military conflagration is described as "not a  war that has been fought, nor one that will be, but any war"--give it a  timelessness that make it as relevant today as it was in post-WW II  America. Three early Kubrick shorts (1951's "Flying Padre" and "Day of  the Fight," and 1953's "The Seafarers") round out the impressive two  disc set. (A MINUS.) https://youtu.be/rDy7E6pNBSc?si=JVEyFuJYikFbAt5B

A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE;  THE LONG RIDERS--These two revisionist westerns--by Sergio ("The Good,  the Bad and the Ugly") Leone and Walter ("The Warriors") Hill--were both  financed and released by United Artists, then considered the most  director-friendly studio in Hollywood. While neither made much of a  splash with audiences or critics at the time of their release (in 1972  and 1980 respectively), both have since become major cult films.  Alternately known as "Duck, You Sucker" and "Once Upon a Time..a  Revolution," spaghetti western master Leone's "A Fistful of Dynamite"  has been described as the first "Zapata Western," probably because of  its South of the Border setting. Framed against the backdrop of the  Mexican Revolution, it stars Rod Steiger as philanthropic bandit Juan  Miranda who teams up with James Coburn's I.R.A. explosives specialist  John Mallory to rob a Mesa Verde bank. Probably the first (only?)  Hollywood-financed production to open with a quote from Chairman Mao,  co-screenwriter Leone only stepped in to direct after Sam Peckinpah and  Peter Bogdanovich passed. Former New York Times critic Vincent Canby  best summed up Leone's ethos when he described his films as "an Italian  director's dream of what Hollywood movies should be like, but aren't."  Sadly, it would also be Leone's final western, as well as his  penultimate film ("Once Upon a Time in America" followed it twelve  years 

later).  When "The Long Riders" opened a week before "The Empire Strikes Back"  in May 1980, it seemed curiously out of step with contemporary  sensibilities. Except for the occasional Clint Eastwood western, the  genre was pretty much played out in the post-New Hollywood "Event Movie"  era. By choosing to tell a story that had already been told multiple  times, Hill was definitely bucking fashionable tastes. But his epochal  rendering of the fraternal James, Younger and Ford outlaw gangs remains  one of the key modern westerns. All the pre-release attention was  devoted to the stunt-like casting of real-life acting brothers (James  and Stacy Keach; Randy and Dennis Quaid; David, Keith and Robert  Carradine; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest), but their performances,  especially David Carradine's Cole Younger, proved Hill's instincts were  dead-on.

Dusty,  grimy and assiduously deglamorized with a climactic slo-mo bloodpath,  Hill was definitely borrowing a page from Peckinpah (who he previously  worked for as a second unit director on "The Getaway"), but he  definitely made the material his own. My favorite parts of the movie are  the scenes between Cole and Belle Starr (Pamela Reed who deserved a  Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her scene-stealing work)  which are unapologetically sexy and richly funny in equal measure. Great  Ry Cooder score, 

too. 

KL  Studio Classics has released both films (separately) in sterling 4K  restorations with beaucoup extras. "Dynamite"--restored to its original  157-minute run time--has two separate commentary tracks, one with  director Alex ("Repo Man") Cox and the other featuring historian Sir  Christopher Rayling. There are also six--count 'em--featurettes,  two image galleries and the theatrical trailer/radio spots. Besides the  "Riders" audio commentary supplied by historians Steve Mitchell,  Nathaniel Thompson and Howard S. Berger, there are also interviews with  Hill, Cooder, producer Tim Zinnemann, Keith and Robert Carradine,  Nicholas Guest, Randy Quaid, and Stacy and James Keach; a making-of  featurette; Hill's standalone tribute to mentor Peckinpah; and the  original theatrical trailer. (Both films:  "A.")  https://youtu.be/EccOlGxfwJI?si=TOCKUNlBqcW0uxQe

INSHALLAH  A BOY--The first Jordanian film to screen in competition at the Cannes  Film Festival, Amjad Al Rasheed's compelling social realist drama tells  the emotionally fraught story of a thirtysomething wife (Palestinian  actress Mouna Hawa's Nawal) whose life implodes when her husband  unexpectedly dies. Because of Jordan's misogynistic inheritance laws,  her brother-in-law Rifqui (Haitham Omari) is somehow legally entitled to  not only her apartment, but her late husband's pick-up truck. Trapped  in a steadily evolving bureaucratic maze, Nawal impulsively decides to  fake a pregnancy because she'll be allowed to remain in her home if she  has a son. While Rasheed owes an obvious debt to the justly celebrated  ouevre of Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi ("A Separation,"  "The Salesman"), his filmmaking debut is skillfully calibrated on a  narrative level--at times, it has the feel of a time-clock thriller--and  beautifully acted, especially by the formidable Hawa whose  heart-stirring performance deserves to be remembered at awards time. No  extras on the Greenwich/Kino Lorber DVD. (B PLUS.)      https://youtu.be/3-YK3Qi1wqk?si=JsygMTamC3lGR9ue    

KNOX  GOES AWAY--Michael Keaton plays John Knox, a steely contract killer  diagnosed with a rare form of fast-moving dementia (Cruetzfeldt  disease). With the clock ticking, he has just a few weeks to get his  house in order, including some unresolved issues with his ex wife  (Marcia Gay Harden) and estranged adult son (James Marsden). Helping  Knox liquidate his sundry assets is a money launderer pal, impishly  played by Al Pacino in a glorified cameo. Complicating matters is the  relentless cop (Suzy Nakamura) on Knox's tail after he fumbled his last  job. Not surprisingly, director-star Keaton's movie works better as an  actor's showcase than a noir-tinged melodrama: a subplot involving the  legal jeopardy faced by Marsden's character feels tacked on without  being satisfactorily resolved. Keaton has rarely been better, though,  and the film is worth seeing for his performance alone. (B MINUS.)  https://youtu.be/S4bWGRvDrOU?si=6yZrfixd5WfkrvQd

THE  LION IN WINTER--Stage-to-screen British period pieces about historical  figures ("Beckett," "A Man For All Seasons," "Anne of the Thousand  Days," et al) were a veritable mini-industry--and reliable Oscar  bait--in the 1960's. This 1968 Anthony Harvey-directed adaptation of  James Goldman's Broadway smash has always been my personal favorite. (I  first saw it as a precocious 10-year-old during its original theatrical  release.) Katherine Hepburn won her third Best Actress Oscar as Eleanor  of Aquitaine who's so despised and distrusted by her husband Henry II  (Peter O'Toole) that she's permanently locked away in her own private  castle and only brought home for the holidays. On the rare occasions  they're together, the couple spars relentlessly, using their children  (Nigel Terry, John Castle and a baby-faced Anthony Hopkins as Richard  the Lionheart) as pawns, bartering anyone and anything to gain the upper  hand. I love how Harvey depicts the 12th century setting for what it  really was:  not grand and elegant, but filthy and wretched even for  royalty. Goldman's delicious script is chockablock with intrigue,  manipulation, cruelty, seduction, backstabbing and betrayal, all in the  name of power and control. This family isn't passive-aggressive, they're  aggressive-aggressive. It's so splendidly acted (O'Toole should have  matched Hepburn's Oscar win) and acerbically witty that you barely  notice how it peters off in the third act without reaching a truly  satisfying conclusion. The KL Studio Classics' Blu-Ray includes Harvey's  commentary track, an interview with the film's sound recordist, Simon  Kaye, and the original theatrical trailer. (A MINUS.)

https://youtu.be/fKoYHKpCSc4?si=U0Y1UwLOfiBshgZA

NOW AVAILABLE IN THEATERS, ON HOME VIDEO AND/OR STREAMING CHANNELS: 

ANYONE BUT YOU--After an extended foray into kid-friendly fare (Jamie Foxx's 2014 "Annie" reboot; the "Peter Rabbit" movies), director Will Gluck returns to his "R"-rated, "Easy A"/"Friends With Benefits" roots for a predictable, if fitfully amusing trifle. In rom-coms, casting and chemistry is everything, and Gluck is blessed with two of the most photogenic and appealing young actors working today. Ben (Glen Powell from "Top Gun: Maverick") and Bea ("White Lotus" breakout Sydney Sweeney) are exes who discover to their mutual horror that they're headed for the same destination (Australia, mate) wedding. To avoid embarrassing questions, they agree to pretend they're still a couple for the event. It doesn't take a rocket scientist or rom-com connoisseur to deduce that their play-acting will turn genuine before the flight home. Powell and Sydney strike bonafide comedic and romantic sparks. They're like a junior league Clooney and Roberts and single-handedly make this formulaic programmer (almost) worth leaving the house for. (C PLUS.)  

THE APU TRILOGY--Viewed individually Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road)" (1955), "Aparajito (The Unvanquished)" (1957), and "Apur Sansar (The World of Apu)" (1959) are all indisputably great films. But viewed cumulatively as one nearly six-hour epic, "The Apu Trilogy" is among the greatest motion picture events of all time, a human document of timeless simplicity and exquisite beauty. In "Panchali," all the wonder and cruelty of nature and life itself are brought out in Ray's neorealist-inflected depiction of young Apu's childhood in a rural Bengali village. Full of memorable images (cinematographer Subrata Mira shot all three movies in luminous black and white) and sharply drawn characters, it was soon followed by "Aparajito" and "Sansar" which follow the adolescent Apu to Benares and ultimately adulthood in Calcutta where his wife and mother die, forcing Apu to raise his toddler son alone. Ray's trilogy marked a cultural breakthrough for Indian cinema (the three films won top prizes at festivals in Cannes, Venice and London), opening up a world of auteurist cinema far removed from Bollywood camp. They also helped establish Ray as the artistic equal to world-class international filmmakers like Roberto Rossellini, Yasujiro Ozu and Robert Bresson. The sumptuously produced new Criterion Collection box set includes both digitally restored 4K UHD and Blu Ray copies of each film; 1958 audio recordings of Ray reciting his essay, "A Long Time on the Little Road," and in conversation with historian Gideon Bachmann; interviews with Ray actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Shampa Srivastava and Sharmile Tagore, camera assistant Soumendu Roy, and journalist Ujjal Chaskraborty; a video essay, "Making 'The Apu Trilogy:' Satyajit Ray's Epic Debut," by Ray biographer Andrew Robinson; "'The Apu Trilogy:' A Closer Look" featurette with director/producer Mamoun Hassan; excerpts from the 2003 documentary, "The Song of the Little Road," featuring composer Ravi Shankar; James Beveridge's 1967 documentary short featuring Ray, actors/crew members, and critic Chidanada Das Gupta; a clip of Ray receiving his honorary Oscar in 1992; supplements on the painstaking restorations with director Kogonada; essays by critics Terrence Rafferty and Girish Shambu; and a selection of Ray's storyboards for "Pather Panchali." (A PLUS.)  

ARGYLLE--Matthew ("Kick-Ass") Vaughn directed this lumbering shaggy dog story about a mousy authoress (Bryce Dallas Howard's Elly Conway) whose spy novels suddenly turn very real when she's catapulted into a globe-hopping adventure. Fiction blurs with reality, and Elly is soon working side by side with her fictional protagonist/alter ego, Henry Cavill's Argylle. While Vaughn and screenwriter Jason Fuchs were clearly aiming for a riff on "Romancing the Stone" (or 2022's "Stone" homage "The Lost City"), their movie lacks the crackerjack pacing and screwball rhythms that made those hits click with audiences. Running a derriere-numbing 139 minutes--and saddled with leads who are either grating (Howard) or merely dull (Cavill)--it's left to the game supporting cast (including Sam Rockwell, Catherine O'Hara and Bryan Cranston) to provide the fleeting moments of amusement and/or pleasure. Vaughn was probably hoping this might lead to another tongue in cheek action franchise like his "Kingsman" trilogy. But since that's highly unlikely, he's best advised to return to the sort of idiosyncratic "small" films he cut his teeth on like 2004's "Layer Cake" which helped land Daniel Craig his 007 gig. (C MINUS.)     

THE BEEKEEPER--Decidedly not a film about apiaists, Jason Statham's latest starring vehicle--his fifth in the past year alone--is about an ex CIA operative (Statham's Adam Clay) who enacts scorched earth vengeance on weaselly miscreants behind an elaborate online phishing operation targeting senior citizens. (The title stems from the name of Kay's former covert paramilitary outfit.) Better than any January Jason Statham movie has a right to be, it was directed by masculinist auteur David ("Fury," "End of Watch") Ayer who knows his way around turbo-charged action setpieces. Costarring the always welcome Jeremy Irons and, as the designated Big Bad techie, Josh Hutcherson. 

(B MINUS.)

BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE--Disappointingly boilerplate musical biopic about the late reggae superstar exists principally as a showcase for Kingsley Ben-Adir who's nearly as good here as he was playing Malcolm X in 2020's "One Night in Miami." Opening in 1976 Kingston, Jamaica where Bob and wife Rita (Lashana Lynch in a mostly thankless role) are nearly killed in an assassination attempt before segueing to his exile in the U.K., director Reinaldo Marcus Green's movie is essentially a highlight reel of Marley's tragically abbreviated life. (He died in 1981 after a freak soccer injury.) Ben-Adir really shines in the electrifying concert scenes, but too much of the film is content to serve up hackneyed "Great Man" biopic cliches. (C.)    

DUNE:  PART 2--Picking up where 2021's world-building "Dune" left off, returning director Denis Villeneuve amps up the groaning board of exposition and groovy mysticism to an "11." Having fled to the desert after the slaughter of the House of Atreides by Jabba the Hut prototype Baron Harkonnen (Stellan Skarsgard), Paul (Timothee Chalamet) and his pregnant mother (Rebecca Ferguson) are given safe harbor with the Fremen tribe. Still rebelling against his mantle as "The Chosen One," Paul makes a love connection with Fremen warrior Chani (Zendaya) and learns to ride the planet's giant sandworms. (The worm's "spice" is much sought after by the ruling class because it gives them paranormal powers, the better to subjugate plebeians.) Among the new characters introduced are a crotchety Emperor (Christopher Walken), his ambassadorial daughter (Florence Pugh, very good) and sociopathtic Harkonnen heir-apparent Feyda Rautha (a virtually unrecognizable Austin Butler). The starry cast--including such heavy-hitters as Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Lea Seydoux--remains an embarrassment of thesping riches, and Aussie cinematographer Greig ("The Batman," "Rogue One") bathes the whole thing in such a glossy, iridescent sheen that the film's state of the art CGI looks relatively seamless. While my favorite "Dune" still remains David Lynch's under-loved 1984 Frank Herbert adaptation, Villeneueve deserves major props for having crafted the most fully realized fantasy tentpoles since Peter Jackson discovered Middle Earth with his "LOTR" trilogy 20+ years ago. (A MINUS.) 

ERIC ROHMER'S TALES OF THE FOUR SEASONS--After concluding his "Six Moral Tales" and "Comedies and Proverbs" cycles, French New Wave master Eric Rohmer inaugurated "Tales of Four Seasons," another series of morality parables centered on words, thoughts and emotions rather than plot and action. All four films have been lovingly restored and released in an exquisite new Criterion Collection box set, marking it as 2024's first truly indispensable addition to any true cineaste's home video collection. Besides being one of the most intelligent and original thinkers in the history of cinema, Rohmer was also an extraordinarily sophisticated and accomplished filmmaker. Using uncomplicated, economical, but fluid camera techniques, he succeeded in capturing not only the evocative imagery of his locales, but also the inner lives of his characters and the psychological atmosphere that grows from their encounters. Technically, he was a minimalist who maximized the effect of the modest means he allowed himself in the process of making his films. Long-time New York Times critic Vincent Canby--who, along with the Village Voice's Andrew Sarris helped turn Rohmer into a household name among arthouse habitues in the '70s and '80s--famously described his ouevre as the "movie equivalent of prose that dispenses with adjectives and adverbs," and the quartet of masterpieces that comprise "Four Seasons" once again demonstrate his genius at creating narrative from the slightest of substances. 
"A Tale of Springtime" (1992) pivots on the friendship between music student Natacha (Florence Darel) and philosophy professor Jeanne (Anne Teyssedre) that runs afoul when Natacha decides to play matchmaker for Jeanne and her dad (Hugues Quester).
1994's "A Tale of Winter" stars the enchanting Charlotte Very as Felice, the single mom of a five-year-old daughter who juggles two men (librarian Loic and hair salon mini-mogul Maxence) while still carrying a torch for the long-lost lover (Frederic van den Driessche's Charles) she thinks, hopes and prays will miraculously resurface one day. Along with 1988's "Boyfriends and Girlfriends," it ranks among Rohmer's most sublimely romantic films.
Although made in 1996, the quasi-autobiographical "A Tale of Summer" didn't open in the U.S. until 2014 (!?), four years after Rohmer's death at 89. Future star Melvil ("A Christmas Tale") Poupaud had a memorable early role as feckless student/aspiring musician Gaspard who, while on vacation at a Breton resort town, is pursued by three women (played by Amanda Langlet, Gwenaelle Simon and Aurelia Nolin), none of whom he's willing to commit to. The verbal chess game that ensues among the quartet is both richly amusing and achingly poignant.  
Rohmer reunited with his "Claire's Knee" star Beatrice Romand for "A Tale of Autumn" (1999) which could have been a blueprint for one of Nora Ephron's Hollywood rom-coms about middle-aged women searching for love. Romand is widowed vineyard owner Magali who's being set up with the ex flame (a retired philosophy professor played by Didier Sandre) of her son's girlfriend (Alexia Portal). Simultaneously, Magali's BFF Isabelle (Marie Riviere) tries snaring eligible bachelor Gerald (Alain Libolt) under a pseudonym. A series of reversals and coincidences bubble up deliciously. But since this is Rohmer, even the frothiest exchanges come with an undercurrent of rueful melancholy.   
Extras on Criterion's 2K Blu-Ray set include excerpts of radio interviews with the famously reclusive Rohmer conducted by critics Michel Ciment and Serge Daney; interviews conducted at Rohmer's house with long-time collaborators:  cinematographer Diane Baratier, producer Francoise Etchegaray, sound engineer Pascal Ribier and editor Mary Stephen; Etchegaray and Jean-Andrew Fieschi's 2005 documentary about the making of "A Tale of Summer;" two rarely seen Rohmer shorts (1956's "The Kreutzer Sonata" and 1968's "A Farmer in Montfaucon"); and an essay about "Tales of Four Seasons" by critic Imogen Sara Smith. (A PLUS.)  

MADAME WEBB--The wonderful Dakota Johnson and current "It Girl" Sydney ("Anyone But You") Sweeney are the main draws of another B-list Marvel origin story. Johnson plays NYC paramedic Cassandra who becomes endowed with a super power that enables her to see into the future--and possibly change it. Since this is 2024, Madame Webb's girl-power posse is predictably box-checked with blonde Julia (Sweeney), African-American Mattie (Celeste O'Connor) and Latina Anya (former "Dora the Explorer" Isabela Merced). The excellent French-Algerin actor Tahar ("The Mauritanian," "Napoleon") Rahim is resident Big Bad Ezekiel Sims, and Adam Scott, Kerry Bishe, Zosia Mamet and Emma Roberts round out the supporting cast. In her feature debut, tube director S.J. Clarkson makes the generic comic book nonsense slightly more bearable than usual thanks to a relatively pacy 116-minute run time and some very good actors. While it's unlikely to launch another Marvel franchise--box office tracking hasn't been great--anyone hankering for a big screen super hero fix could do a lot worse. (C PLUS.) 

ORDINARY ANGELS--Good time gal Kentucky hairdresser Sharon Stevens (two-time Oscar winner Hilary Swank) comes to the aid of financially strapped widower Ed Schmitt (Alan Ritchsen) whose 5-year-old daughter (Emily Mitchell) needs a liver transplant. In his directorial debut, "Jesus Revolution" and "American Underdog" screenwriter Jon Gunn somehow manages to make this improbable-sounding (yet true-life story) not only compelling, but deeply moving. As a recovering alcoholic who turns her dissolute life around by learning to help others, Swank is a veritable force of nature, and an excellent Ritchsen matches her every step of the way. It's also a testament to the wonders that can be achieved through internet crowdsourcing. (B.)   

WONKA--Paul King, director of the delightful "Paddington" kidflicks, was the perfect choice to helm this fantastical origin story of iconic chocolatier Willy Wonka. A sumptuously-appointed sugarplum fantasy that's a glorious throwback to 1960's family musicals like "Mary Poppins" and "Dr. Dolittle," it stars the perfectly-cast Timothee Chalamet as a twentysomething Willy still attempting to forge his candy empire in Dickensian England. While housed in the prison-like boarding house of Miss Hannigan-ish landlady Mrs. Scrubitt (Oscar-winner Olivia Colman having a larf), Willy teams up with orphan Noodle (an appealing Calah Lane) to combat Big Bad Slugworth (Paterson Joseph) and the nefarious Chocolate Cartel who will do anything to foil the new kid on the candy block. The fact that the Police Chief (an amusing Keegan-Michael Key) is on the Cartel's payroll only makes Willy's task more Sisyphean. But spurred on by Noodle's nudging and the divine intervention of a persnickety Oompa Loompa (Hugh Grant in a scene-stealing performance), Willy and his heavenly confections ultimately reign supreme. Nathan Cowley's spectacular production design, Park Chan Wook mainstay Chung Chung-hoon's dreamy cinematography and six Leslie Bricusse-worthy songs by Neil Hannon are merely icing on King's supercalifragilistic cake. (A.) 



---Milan Paurich