Opening Soon

Hancock
(USA) Big Willie Smith in his annual summer blockbuster. Hancock is a down-on-his-luck superhero who gets a little boost of publicity from a PR professional. Directed by Peter Berg. Starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman. Opens July 3.

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 out at sea. Directed by Mark Levin. Starring Abigail Breslin, Jodie Foster, Gerard Butler. Opens July 3.

Opening

Kung Fu Panda
(USA) see review, p.50. Opens Jun 28. 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. Opened Jun 26. 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. Opened Jun 26. AMC, BC, MCL

HK PICKS
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. Opens Jun 27. AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Reservation Road
(USA) The death of a child in a hit-and-run accident sends two families hurtling down a nightmare collision course in this dark drama with an all-star cast. Directed by Terry George. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Connelly, Mira Sorvino.Opened Jun 26. AMC, MCL, UA

Continuing

HK PICKS
21
(USA) Inspired by the true story of the MIT Blackjack Team, this nerdy thriller stars Kevin Spacey as a snarky professor leading a group of mathletes on a mission to take Vegas. Don’t try it in Macau. Directed by Robert Luketic. Also starring Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne. AMC, MCL, UA

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
(USA) The second Narnia film sees the Pevensy kids return to liberate Narnia and restore rightful heir Prince Caspian to its throne. PPPP AMC, BC, MCL, UA

City Without Baseball
(Hong Kong) “Besieged City” director Lawrence Lau delivers this gritty, coming-of-age drama, based on stories from the real Hong Kong Baseball Team about everything from sexuality to suicide. PPPP AMC, BC, MCL, UA

The Counterfeiters
(Austria/Germany) The Oscar-winning dramatization of Operation Bernhard, in which Jewish counterfeiter Salomon Sorowitsch was coerced into helping the Nazis with the biggest counterfeit money scam of all time. Directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky. Starring Karl Markovics. PPPP AMC, BC

The Happening
(USA) Mark Wahlberg and his family flee an apocalyptic nightmare tearing through America in this environmentally friendly horror. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan. PP AMC, BC, MCL, UA

The Incredible Hulk
(USA) Eat your green beans and steroids to look like the colossus of constipation in this summer’s long-awaited blockbuster, which pits Ed Norton’s Bruce Banner (aka The Hulk) against Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky (The Abonimation). Directed by Louis Leterrier. PPP AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
(USA) Forget the naysayers; this rousing throwback to the old-time adventure series proves all the shameless rip-offs over the years weren’t worth their weight in valuable artifacts by comparison. PPPPP AMC, BC, MCL, UA

The Missing
(Hong Kong) Starring Isabella Leong, Angelica Lee and Tony Leung Ka-Fei, Tsui Hark’s new romantic thriller follows a team of deep-sea divers down to the real-life sunken city of Yonaguni. Also stars Guo Xiaodong. AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Sex and the City
(USA) Been deprived for four years? Never fear, the bitches are back and sexier than ever. Directed by Michael Patrick King. Starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon. PPPPP AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars
(Sierra Leone) Documentary about the band of the same name, displaced from wartorn Freetown and entertaining fellow refugees from camp to camp in Guinea. Directed by Zach Niles, Banker White. BC

The Sparrow
(Hong Kong) See review, opposite. AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Superhero Movie
(USA) The would-be wits behind “Scary Movie” give us another unfunny satire aimed at stoned teens everywhere, this time sending up the superhero genre. P AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Arthouse

Film Panorama: Zhou Enlai
Documentaries commemorating the 110th anniversary of the famous premier’s birth. Tickets $40 from Urbtix. Jun 27-Jul 6. See www.southernfilmhk.com/zhouenlai.

The First of August
Telling the story of the founding of the first Communist army force. Fri, Jun 27, 7:30pm, The Grand Cinema; Sat, Jun 28, 5:30pm, Space Museum.

Zhou Enlai in China’s Foreign Relations
This award-winning documentary depicts Zhou’s diplomatic life with wisdom and charisma. Sun, Jun 29, 5pm, Space Museum.

Care For Our Community
Iconic films from the past 50 years revealing the changing face of Hong Kong communities. Tickets $30 from Urbtix. Jun 21–Jul 19. Screenings at the Film Archive. See www.lcsd.gov.hk. Read our coverage on the screenings on p.16.

Save Your Water Supply
(1954) This early realist drama depicts the effects of the infamous 50s drought on the poor occupants of a 3-story tenement building. Directed by Poon Bing-kuen. Sat, Jun 28, 2:30pm.

Father And Son
(1981) Director Allen Fong’s semi-autobiographical story about an only son whose father pins all hopes for the future on him. Sat, Jun 28, 5pm; Tue, Jul 1, 5pm.

Ah Ying
(1983) A non-professional cast populates this docudrama about a working class girl at a family fish-stall who wants to study film. Sat, Jun 28, 7pm.

Village Song
(1980) A look at changes in the New Territories over past decades through the poignant reflections of a village elder. Sun, Jun 29, 12:15pm.

The Investigation
(1977) Ann Hui’s production for the newly formed ICAC looks at its early investigation into the corrupt police force, and also unveils some of the lush privileges enjoyed by lofty expatriates during colonial rule. Sun, Jun 29, 12:15pm.

See You On The Other Side
(1981) A young Andy Lau appears opposite Chan On-ying and Prudence Lau in this film about two high-school bad girls reunited years later in prison. Sun, Jun 29, 2:30pm.

HK PICKS
Man on the Brink
(1981) Alex Cheung’s story of a cop who infiltrates the triad world. The film dramatizes the personal conflicts faced by cops going undercover twenty years before “Infernal Affairs.” Sun, Jun 29, 5pm.

Mud Child
(1976) This realist film about a destitute couple in the 70s serves as both a poignant drama and a heavy indictment of the bureaucracy and housing policies of the colonial housing policy at the time. Directed by Chen Jingbo. Tue, Jul 1, 12:30pm.

Queen of Temple Street
(1990) Sylvia Chang stars in this compassionate portrayal of local sex workers as an ageing prostitute trying to persuade her daughter (Rain Lau) not to join the industry. Tue, Jul 1, 7pm.

German Film Forum
Presented monthly by the Goethe Institut. Tickets $50/25 from Urbtix. Screenings at Film Archive.

Mein Bruder – We’ll Meet Again
(Germany, 2004) Documentary filmmaker Thomas Heise of the former GDR travels to France to visit his brother Andreas, who resides there with a friend that once spied on the two for the Stasi. Fri, Jun 27, 7:30pm.

Master of Provocation: Michael Haneke
Tribute to the controversial Austrian director. Jul 2-20. Tickets $40-$75 from cinema or www.cinema.com.hk.

HK PICKS
Funny Games US
(US, 2008) Get sickened and offended in English this time. Starring Naomi Watts and Tim Roth as the couple tortured in their holiday home by two strangers, Haneke’s shot-for-shot Hollywood remake of his twisted Austrian horror promises to make you squirm. Also starring Michael Pitt. Wed, Jul 2, 9:40pm, Palace IFC; Sat, Jul 5, 5:40pm, Broadway Cinematheque.
bc Sunday

La Vie En Rose
(France, 2007) Mario Cotillard gives an Oscar-winning performance in this biopic of Edith Piaf, the French singer with an amazing voice and one helluva miserable life. Directed by Olivier Dahan. Tickets $45 from Urbtix. Sun, Jun 29, 11:45am. Broadway Cinematheque.