Opening Soon

HK PICKS
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
(USA) Jet Li plays an ancient Chinese emperor who returns from death to try and enslave the modern world, in another resurrection of the blockbuster which many critics believe should have been left buried. Opens Jul 31.

Opening

HK PICKS
Sketches of Frank Gehry
(USA) The late Sydney Pollack’s intimate venture into the mind and work of the visionary architect, which was five years in the making. Opens Jul 26.



Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead
(USA) See review, p.42. Opened Jul 24.

HK PICKS
The X Files: I Want to Believe
(USA) Overgrown high-school geeks have been drooling all over the blogosphere about the return of Mulder and Scully. It’s an unsolved mystery to the rest of us. Directed by Chris Carter. Starring David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson. Opened Jul 24.

Wall-E
(USA) See review, p.40. Opened Jul 24.

Continuing

The Dark Knight
(USA) See Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and the SAR at their darkest in the Batman film everybody’s been waiting for. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Also starring Aaron Eckhart. PPPPP AMC, BC, BEA IMAX, MCL, UA

Deception
(USA) In this erotic thriller with an all-star cast, Hugh Jackman lures a geeky Ewan McGregor into a high-class sex ring swirling with murder, blackmail and Maggie Q. Directed by Marcel Langenegger. Also starring Michelle Williams, Charlotte Rampling. PP BC, MCL, UA

Ensemble, C’est Tout
(France) Another bittersweet Parisian romance starring Audrey Tautou, this time as an aspiring artist who moves in with a young aristocrat and his womanizing roommate. Directed by Claude Berri. Also starring Guillaume Canet, Laurent Stocker. PPP AMC, BC, MCL

Hancock
(USA) Big Willie Smith stars in his annual summer blockbuster as Hancock, a down-on-his-luck superhero who gets a little boost of publicity from a PR professional. Directed by Peter Berg. Also starring Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman. P AMC, BC, MCL, UA

I Served The King Of England
(Czech Republic) Jiri Menzel’s Czech comedy about a provincial waiter determined to become a millionaire skewers the decadence of pre-war Europe. Starring Ivan Barnev, Julia Jentsch. BC, MCL

Keroro 3
(Japan) The platoon leader and his fellow alien/frog space invaders are back for another loopy anime adventure. Directed by Yusuke Yamamoto. AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Kung Fu Panda
(USA) Jackie Chan and Jack Black do the voices for this epic animation about a lazy panda who becomes the martial arts savior of his local village in ancient China. Directed by Mark Osborne, John Stevenson. PPPP AMC, BC, BEA IMAX, MCL, UA

Red Cliff
(China) John Woo finally returns with the most expensive Asian film ever. Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Zhang Fengyi battle it out at the heart of the AD 208 war that laid the borders of the Three Kingdoms. Also starring Chang Chen, Hu Jun. PP AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Nim’s Island
(Australia) Family film about a young girl who requests the help of a female adventure novelist and her fictional protagonist when her father goes missing at sea. Directed by Mark Levin. Starring Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster, Gerard Butler. PP AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Space Chimps
(USA) The grandson of the first monkey in space is sent to retrieve a wayward spacecraft in this bananas computer animation. Directed by Kirk De Micco. Starring Andy Samberg, Jeff Daniels. English version at UA Times Square only, Cantonese at AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Wanted
(USA) Angelina Jolie helps a young slacker become a killing machine in this balls-to-the-wall adaptation of the comic-book miniseries. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov. Also starring Morgan Freeman, James McAvoy. PPP,AMC, BC, MCL, UA

The Way We Are
(Hong Kong) Ann Hui’s mother-son drama set in Tin Shui Wai digs beneath the media gloss to portray ordinary people just trying to get by in the sensationalized “city of sadness.” PPP BC

Arthouse

bc Sunday
HK PICKS
Bend It Like Beckham
(UK, 2002) An aspiring female football champ defies her orthodox Sikh parents and chases her dream in this British feel-good film. Directed by Gurinder Chadha. Starring Keira Knightley, Parminder Nagra, Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Tickets $45 from Urbtix. Sun, Jul 27, 12:15pm. Broadway Cinematheque

German Film Forum
Monthly German films presented by the Goethe Institut. Tickets $50/$25 from Urbtix. Screenings at the Film Archive.

Ferien (Vacation)
(Germany, 2006) Thomas Arslan’s drama sees a family in the remote rural region of Uckermarck begin to unexpectedly crumble one summer. Fri, Jul 25, 7:30pm.

InDPanda
The annual international short film festival. Jul 25 – Aug 13. Tickets $55 from venue or www.cinema.com.hk. Screenings at Broadway Cinematheque.

HK PICKS
Best of the Oscars 2008 (1)
Three films: “The Tonto Woman” (USA), based on an Elmore Leonard short story, “The Substitute” (Italy), an existential comedy about adolescents and teachers, and “Freeheld” (USA), about a female detective diagnosed with cancer. Fri, Jul 25, 9:30pm.

Best of the Oscars 2008 (2)
Three films: “I Met The Walrus” (Canada), an experiment with a John Lennon interview, “At Night” (Denmark), about three girls hospitalized with cancer, “Even Pigeons Go to Heaven” (French), a theological animation, and “The Mozart of Pickpockets” (French), about two thieves taking care of a deaf child. Fri, Jul 25, 7:30pm.

To All The Boys In Love
Eight gay shorts, including stories about jealousy, expulsion from home, and internment in harsh psychiatric institutions. Sat, Jul 26, 7pm.

If You Were Me
Six animations about homosexuality, the disabled, motherhood, masculinity complexes, keeping up appearances and migrant women issues. Sun, Jul 27, 7:40pm.

The Unexpected Love
Five intimate shorts about relationships emerging in the most unlikely places. Wed, Jul 30, 7:40pm.

Lucky7
Seven Singaporean filmmakers play a game of exquisite corpse, each contributing a 10-12 minute segment to a full feature-length film. Thu, Jul 31, 7:50pm.

Better Together
Six gay and lesbian shorts about love and loss. Thus, Jul 31, 9:45pm.

International Children’s Film Carnival
Through Aug 17. Tickets $44 from Urbtix. See www.lcsd.gov.hk.

Bonkers
(The Netherlands, 2005) The story of a 9-year-old girl whose quirky single mother buys her a pet elephant. Sun, Jul 27, 4:30pm. Space Museum.

Little Soldier
(China, 2007) Animation following the journey of a young boy in WWII-era China who joins the Eighth Route Army to fight the Japanese invasion. Sat, Jul 26, 2:30pm. Film Archive

A Unique Schooling
(China, 2004) The story of a 12-year-old who may have to quit school because her mother can no longer afford tuition fees. Sat, Jul 26, 6:30pm. Space Museum.

Desmond and the Swamp Barbarian Tap
(Sweden, 2006) Sweden’s first stop-motion animation feature, about a pig and his friends living in fear of a nearby swamp monster. Sun, Jul 27, 2:30pm. Film Archive

Where is Winky’s Horse
(The Netherlands, 2007) The magical story of a girl in charge of looking after Santa Claus’ horse. Sun, Jul 27, 2:30pm. Space Museum