“Hotel Mumbai” is based on real events that took place in November 2008, when ten members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistani Islamic terrorist organization, carried out an insanely-bold series of attacks on Mumbai, starting from the rail station and making their way to the Taj hotel where a number of guests were staying, including American ones. A thriller directed by Anthony Maras and ... more >
ARCHIVES
HOTEL MUMBAI, walking back uneasy to the scene of the crime
Film premiered at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival
Armie Hammer, Dev Patel and Nazanin Boniadi
Directed by Anthony Maras
TALKING MOVIES | THE ROAD WITHIN, gentle comedy about affliction
[2014]
Zoë Kravitz, Robert Sheehan and Dev Patel
Directed by Gren Wells
On Friday Gren Wells's "The Road Within," a low-key dramedy about affliction adapted from the 2010 German film "Vincent Goes to Sea," opened in New York and Los Angeles. It stars the young, promising Irish actor Robert Sheehan as a teenager stricken with Tourette's, whose cold-hearted father (Robert Patrick of "Terminator 2": Judgment Day") installs him in a mental clinic after his mother dies. ... more >
An erratic but underwhelming “Chappie” hit theater screens
Low marks for Blomkamp's latest effort
Sharlto Copley, Dev Patel and Hugh Jackman
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
The opening of Neill Blomkamp’s “Chappie” sweeps across multiple stories in multiple places in early stage apocalypse-Johannesburg, South Africa. A helicopter fleet of robocops dives from the sky and blasts through a collection of menacing gangsters. It’s a lovely, frantic movement of action, editing and scoring. And then everything goes wrong after that. It’s common for critics to wish that ... more >
Slumdog Millionaire
A surefire crowdpleaser
Dev Patel, Freida Pinto and Irfan Kahn
Directed by Danny Boyle
At one point in the much-praised crowd-pleaser Slumdog Millionaire, the poor child siblings scratch out a small living by appointing themselves as tour guides at the Taj Mahal. For a small fee, the young Muslims lead white tourists through India’s most famous monument. They tell them what they know. When they don’t know, they make up. The reflecting pool, it turns out, has always been a nice place ... more >