Are you in the mood for an inspirational and often moving documentary about a great role model? Between the Mountain and the Sky might just be the film for you. Director Jeremy Power Regimbal shows how Maggie Doyne, his wife, took a gap year in Nepal and opened an orphanage, a school and a women's center. He sheds light on her financial struggles and emotional battles as she deals with setbacks and tragedies, i.e. a newborn who died. Maggie explains how feeding malnourished children isn't a simple task---they can't just be fed anything; there's a specific diet and level of care that they need to get their health back. Running a non-profit clearly isn't easy for her, but she perseveres despite the obstacles and struggles. The interviews with her are among the most heartfelt moments. She's a compassionate, kind and empathetic humanitarian which makes her a true inspiration. Kudos to her husband for providing an illuminating introduction to her. At a running time of 1 hour and 32 minutes, Between the Mountain and the Sky opens at IFC Center via Argot Pictures.

 

      No, Bound this isn't a remake of a cult classic starring Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gerson. It's about a teenager, Bella (Alexandra Faye Sadeghian), who runs away from her abusive stepfather, Gordy (Bryant Carroll), and her enabling mother, Yeva (Pooya Mohseni).  She arrives in NYC with no money, but luckily meets and befriends three kind people, Marta (Jessica Pimentel), Owais (Ramin Karimloo), and Standrick (Jaye Alexander), who provide her with a place to sleep, job and a plan to get away from Gordy for good.  Writer/director Isaac Hirotsu Woofter has made a gritty, but unfocused and overwrought dramatic thriller. The screenplay loses its footing when it adds a contrived, unnecessary twist that takes a plot in a different direction. The audience spends too little time with Bella and her toxic family at the trailer park. Before you know it, she leaves home without a clear plan for her future. Before you know it, she meets the kind strangers who have their own struggles. This is the kind of film where you can feel the screenplay turning every step of the way. A well-written screenplay should feel seamless and organic. The natural performances, especially by Alexandra Faye Sadeghian, who gives a breakthrough performance, add much-needed emotional depth that the screenplay sorely lacks. At a running time of 1 hour and 42 minutes, Bound opens at Cinema Village via Freestyle Releasing.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 2

      E. 1027: Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea is a dull and only intermittently compelling documentary/drama hybrid about Irish designer Eileen Gray. During the 1920s, she and her lover, Jean Badovici, an architect, designed and built a villa on the French Riviera which she called E. 1027. Jean's friend, Le Corbusier, another architect, seized the opportunity to make design changes to E.1027 and chose not to give Gray any credit for her work. Co-directors Beatrice Minger and Christoph Schaub squander the opportunity to turn all of that drama into a cinematic, gripping or illuminating experience. A truly great documentary should find the right balance between entertaining the audience and provoke them intellectually as well as emotionally. It should also feel as captivating as a narrative. This documentary ultimately fails to achieve both feats. The dramatic reenactments are stodgy with mediocre performances by the actors who portray Gray, Badovici and Corbusier. So it's just as bland as the recent docudrama Lilly, but without any strong performances to breathe much-needed life into the film. Audiences seeking to learn more about Gray's life beyond E. 1027 will be disappointed. That said, at least the French Riviera looks picturesque, but that's not enough to hold the audience's attention. At a running time of 1 hour and 33 minutes, which feels more like 2 hours, E. 1027: Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea opens at IFC Center via First Run Features.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

      In  Final Destination: Bloodlines, Stefani (Kaitlyn Santa Juana), a college student, returns to her hometown to figure why she's frequently experiencing nightmares about her estranged grandmother, Iris (Gabrielle Rose). Soon enough, she learns that her nightmares are actually premonitions and must save the lives of her father, Marty (Tinpo Lee), brother, Charlie (Teo Briones), aunt, Brenda (April Telek), uncle, Howard (Alex Zahara), as well as her cousins, Eric (Richard Harmon), Julia (Anna Lore), and Bobby (Owen Patrick Joyner). She also visits Iris who lives in a remote, fortified cabin. Co-directors Zach Lipovsky Adam Stein and his co-writers, Guy Busick and Lori Evans Taylor, have made a wildly entertaining, funny, witty and crowd-pleasing horror comedy. Sure, the basic concept will be familiar to audiences who've seen the previous installment, but this one still has more than a few clever surprises up its sleeve. The kills, which won't be spoiled here, are creative without holding back on the blood and guts. The visual effects and set designs look impressive, the cinematography and editing are slick, and the performances are pretty solid especially for the horror film.

      When a film opens with a very strong prologue that hooks the audience right away, it's hard to maintain that hook, but the filmmakers here manage to accomplish that feat with flying colors. Kudos to them for providing each of the characters with their own unique personality. Moreover, they find just the right balance between scaring the audience, intriguing them, keeping them at the edge of their seats and making them laugh during the comic relief. All of those elements combine with no tonal unevenness which is something rare these days. At a running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes, Final Destination: Bloodlines is one of the best horror comedies in years. It opens nationwide via Warner Bros. Pictures.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 1




 

      Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary is a mildly engaging and well-edited, but underwhelming and overlong documentary about The Zombies, a British rock band. Director Robert Schwartzman goes straight to the horse's mouth by interviewing some of the members of the band, namely, Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Chris White and Hugh Grundy, to hear the band's story from their perspective. This isn't a warts-and-all documentary biopic because it doesn't delve into the private lives of the band members. It focuses on how the band started, how the band split up and what its members have been up to since then. If you're already a fan of The Zombies, this might be a slightly more engaging experience than for those  who are unfamiliar with them. There's nothing about Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary that allows it to transcend as a documentary like superior music docs manage to o, i.e. Standing in the Shadow of Motown. At a running time of 1 hour and 56 minutes,  Hung Up on a Dream: The Zombies Documentary opens at Quad Cinema via Utopia.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 2




 

      In  Hurry Up Tomorrow, Abel (Abel Tesfaye, a.k.a. The Weeknd), a musician addicted to drugs and alcohol, loses his voice during a concert and instantly connects with a young woman, Anima (Jenna Ortega), whom he spots in the crowd. They spend the night together at a hotel, but when he tries to leave to continue on his world tour, she gets enraged and holds him hostage in the room before his manager, Lee (Barry Keoghan), arrives to rescue him. Writer/director Trey Edward Shults and his co-writers, Abel Tesfaye and Reza Fahim, have made a visually stunning and poetic, but repetitive, undercooked and overly edited thriller. It takes too long to get to the meat of the story and the elephant in the room: Anima confronts Abel about her trauma and the real reason why she has chosen to kidnap him. You'll have to wait until the last 20 minutes for that much-needed exposition and brief emotional depth, but it's too little too late. What's the movie really trying to say? There are shades of Dario Argento in the very dark and bloody third act, but, again, what's the point? Why add physical grit without emotional grit? Anima comes across as psychotic as though she escaped an asylum, not an abusive relationship with her ex-boyfriend. Moreover, the camerawork feels nauseating at times with too many close-ups, and there's too much editing which makes it feel like a choppy music video. At a running time of 1 hour and 45 minutes, Hurry Up Tomorrow is . It opens nationwide via Lionsgate.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

      Shedline (Raquel Pélissier), a college student, does search for her memoir on Haiti's President, Renel Moïse (Jimmy Jean-Louis), but it turns into a dangerous investigation when he gets assassinated in July 7: Who Killed the President of Haiti?. Her investigation brings her to Bilio (Evens Jn Baptiste), who's among the people associated with President Moïse who might be involved with his assassination or know the assassin's identity.  Director Robenson Lauvince and co-writers Paul Henry Athis and Gary Victor have made an unevenly paced and somewhat clunky, but provocative political thriller full of twists, turns and intrigue. To be fair the suspense feels more palpable during the last hour than during the first hour. The screenplay suffers from stilted dialogue and clunky, excessive exposition that somewhat diminishes the narrative momentum. Moreover, there are pacing issues because the first hour moves slowly and then the pace gradually picks up until the intense, fast-paced ending. The genre-bending third act compensates for the film's deficiencies by going bonkers in bold, dark and twisted directions that you'll have to see to believe. It's among the few modern political thrillers that has shades of Alan J. Pakula's The Parallax View. At a running time of 1 hour and 53 minutes, July 7: Who Killed the President of Haiti? is . It opens in select theaters nationwide via GVN Releasing.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 2




 

      In The Kiss, Anton (Esben Esmed), a cavalry officer, falls in love with Edith (Clara Rosage), the handicapped daughter of Baron Løvenskjold (Lars Mikkelsen). He questions whether or not he truly loves her and how his fellow infantrymen perceive him for romancing a woman who's handicapped. Set 1913 Denmark, the screenplay by writer/director Bille August and co-writer Greg Latter has a rich and complex narrative that sounds like it could be based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. . Baron Løvenskjold hopes to find a doctor who can cure her so that she can walk again despite no luck finding a cure from her current and past doctors thus far. The audience doesn't learn how she ended up handicapped right away, but eventually they do. The same goes for the exposition regarding Baron Løvenskjold's past, how he met his wife and lost her.  This is the kind of film that could've easily turned into a schmaltzy mess, but writer/director Bille August and co-writer Greg Latter wisely avoid those pitfalls as they show how Anton and Edith's romance blossoms and the obstacles that their relationship faces. The emotional depth derives mostly from the moving performances by Esben Esmed and Clara Rosage who have palpable chemistry together, so the beats land when they're together as well as when they're apart. At a running time of 1 hour and 56 minutes, The Kiss is a sweeping, engrossing and captivating love story. It opens at Quad Cinema via World Wide Motion Pictures Association and Juno Films.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 2

      Marianne (Andrea Bræin Hovig), a healthcare worker at an Oslo hospital, gets inspired by her colleague, Tor (Tayo Cittadella Jacobsen), to engage in casual relationships with more than one person in Love. Her friend, Heidi (Marte Engebrigtsen), a tour guide, sets her up on a date with Ole (Thomas Gullestad), a geologist. The screenplay by writer/director Dag Johan Haugerud is profound and genuinely heartfelt as it explores the intricacies of love, intimacy and relationships. Tor inspires Marianne to join Tinder which she uses to hook up with a guy she meets on a ferry on the way back from Ole's house. Her relationship with Ole is complicated because she doesn't really want to settle down, especially with a guy who has a daughter and an ex-wife who's living right next to him. She thinks that if she enters his life, he'll focus less of his attention on his daughter. Why? She explains to Heidi that she comes from divorced parents, so she knows what it's like to not be the focus of attention as a child.

      Kudos to writer/director Dag Johan Haugerud for seeing and treating Marianne and the rest of the characters as complex, introspective human beings and for knowing how to incorporate just the right amount of exposition without clunkiness or resorting to flashbacks. He avoids schmaltz, melodrama and contrivance. There's also some gentle humor that feels organic and provides some levity, but there are also moments of emotional frankness that cuts deep. pLove doesn't have any villains, big twists or action scenes---not does it need any for that matter because it's a slice of life. Like Eric Rohmer and Ingmar Bergman, Haugerud knows how to find the Spectacle within the Truth. He takes ordinary people going through emotional struggles and turns it into something that's both relatable and universal. Moreover, Andrea Bræin Hovig exudes warmth and charisma with her tender and nuanced performance. At 1 hour and 59 minutes, it opens at Film Forum via Strand Releasing.

Number of times I checked my watch: 1




 

      Milisuthando is a heartfelt, unconventional and illuminating documentary about the apartheid in South Africa and director Milisuthando Bongela's memory of it while growing up in the region of Transkei. What follows is a poetic recollection of the history of Milisuthando and her family, how the apartheid affected them and how the end of the apartheid affected them as well. This isn't a dull documentary per se, but it's not consistently engaging, it overstays its welcome, and sometimes feels experimental in its style. However, the director's introspection and candidness as she looks at a complex and traumatic part of South African history makes for an insightful and poignant emotional journey. At a running time of 2 hours and 8 minutes, Milisuthando opens at Anthology Film Archives.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

      Hornclaw (Lee Hye-young),a 65-year-old assassin, battles her rival, a younger assassin nicknamed Bullfight (Kim Sung-cheol) whose father she had killed when he was a child in The Old Woman with the Knife. Writer/director Min Kyu-dong and co-writer Kim Dong-wan have made a riveting, intense and exhilarating action thriller that delivers plenty of excitement and palpable suspense. Based on the novel by Gu Byeong-mo, The Old Lady with the Knife has a compelling story that's just wall-to-wall action nor does it have cartoonish characters. The opening scenes introduce the audience to Hornclaw during her younger years and explains how she became an assassin while earning the nickname "hornclaw." She's like an older female version of John Wick and just as bold as well as clever in the ways that she kills her victims. She doesn't just kill anyone---she targets people who are evil scum. The plot takes a dark and twisted turn toward the end with a major revelation that won't be spoiled here, but it adds more depth and complexity to the film.  Fortunately, the action sequences are well-choreographed, stylishly shot and thrilling. Lee Hye-young gives a bravura performance that's as powerful and heartfelt as Kim Hye-ja's powerful performance in Mother.At 2 hours and 2 minutes, The Old Woman with the Knife is one of the best action thrillers since John Wick. It opens in select theaters nationwide via Well Go USA.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 1

      Dale (Madelyn Dundon) accepts a job as an in-home caretaker for Olivia (Veronica Cartwright), a mysterious elderly widow who's suffering from dementia in Ruse. The previous nurse has gone missing and Veronica might have something to do with her disappearance. The screenplay by writer/director Stevan Mena is dull, shallow and contrived with an increasingly preposterous plot. Even the setting and cinematography fail to add much in terms of atmosphere. Moreover, the third act feels rushed, lazy and leaves more questions than answers, but it's hard to even care about the questions when the screenplay treats the characters as plot devices. It doesn't deliver any scares as a horror film nor suspense and intrigue as a thriller, so lethargy begins to seep in around the hour mark and never dissipates. Who would imagine that Veronica Cartright would go from co-starring in Hitchcock's classic The Birds to a movie like The Ruse that would make Hitchcock roll in his grave? At a running time of 1 hour and 45 minutes, The Ruse opens in select theaters nationwide via Seismic Releasing.

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

      Uma (Radhika Apte), a newlywed, remains stuck in a stale arranged marriage with Gopal (Ashok Pathak) in Sister Midnight. He doesn't meet her needs emotionally and sexually, so she's unfulfilled, bored and dehumanized. The screenplay by writer/director Karan Kandhari takes a long time to get to the meat of the story as it spends too much time going around in circles to show Uma's mundane life with Gopal. She befriends her neighbor, Sheetal (Chhaya Kadam), who validates her feelings about her husband. Does the audience really need to be reminded over and over that Uma feels unhappy, though? Very little happens that's compelling until around the hour mark when the film suddenly takes a dark and twisted turn into horror/sci-fi territory. However, despite the potential, Sister Midnight lacks palpable tension and suspense while aiming for an elliptical and understated approach that doesn't take its concept anywhere interesting, bold or imaginative enough. The pace moves too slowly most of the time, so Kandhari trusts the audience's patience too much. On a purely aesthetic level, the cinematography, lighting and use of music add plenty of style albeit not enough to compensate for the lack of substance. At a running time of 1 hour and 50 minutes, Sister Midnight is visually stylish, but underwhelming, repetitive and dull. It opens at Angelika Film Center via Magnolia Pictures.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 3




 

      Zack Anthony (Max Talisman) starts dating Zack Mandel (Joey Pollari) who turns out to someone he knew from his childhood when they were in theater camp together in Things Like This. Will their dating turn into a serious relationship? The screenplay by writer/director Max Talisman has its fair share of sweet and amusing moments, but, for the most part, it's contrived, cheesy and sugar-coated. As a romcom, the vaguely titled Things Like This doesn't take any risks as it follows a conventional romcom formula: guy meets guy, guy loses guy and guy tries to win guy over again. Their "meet cute" begins with something embarrassing that happens to Zack Anthony which involves a bloody nose. It's one of the most tender moments in the film because of how the other Zack shows compassion for him. But is it love? What is love? The two Zacks barely get to know each other and don't have much chemistry, not as much as the two leads in the superior A Nice Indian Boy have together.  Eric Roberts has a few brief scenes as Zack Mandel's father. More scenes with them would've helped the audience to get a better sense of their relationship. If Things Like This were either more unflinching, funnier or more refreshing in some way, it would rise above mediocrity. Instead, it feels bland and sitcomish with forgettable characters and a Hollywood ending that doesn't earn its uplift. At a running time of 1 hour and 48 minutes, Things Like This opens in select theaters nationwide via MPX Releasing.  

Number of times I checked my watch: 2