Opening Soon

Keroro 3
(Japan) The platoon-leader and his fellow alien/frog space invaders are back for another loopy anime adventure. Directed by Yusuke Yamamoto. Opens Jul 10.

HK PICKS
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 208 AD war that laid the borders of the Three Kingdoms. Also starring Chang Chen, Hu Jun. Opens Jul 10.

Opening

Hancock
(USA) See review, above. Opened July 3. 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. Opened July 3. AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Continuing

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

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

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. AMC, BC, MCL

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

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

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. PP AMC, 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

The Sparrow
(Hong Kong) Johnnie To gets French New Wave on us with this stylish crime film starring Simon Yam as a master pickpocket and Kelly Lin as a seductive damsel in distress. PPP AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Wanted
(USA) See review, p35. AMC, BC, MCL, UA

Art House

Film Panorama: Zhou Enlai
Documentaries commemorating the 110th anniversary of the famous premier’s birth. Tickets $40 from Urbtix. Through Jul 6. For full listings see www.southernfilmhk.com/zhouenlai.

Zhou Enlai in China’s Foreign Relations
An award-winning documentary depicting Zhou’s diplomatic life with wisdom and charisma. Sat, Jul 5, 3pm, Film Archive.

The First of August
The story of the founding of the first Chinese Communist army force. Sun, Jul 6, 5:30pm, Film Archive.

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.

The Call Girls
(1973) Patrick Lun Kong’s story of five sex workers shines a light on the prostitution industry of the 70s and how it thrived with police collusion. Fri, Jul 4, 7pm.

HK PICKS
Cageman
(1992) Jacob Cheung’s update of the classic “House of 72 Tenants” story depicts the real-life situation of local men driven to live in cages by urban overcrowding and alienation. Fri, Jul 11, 7pm.

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

Hidden
(France, 2005) Haneke won Best Director at Cannes for this ultra-creepy film about a Parisian couple who start receiving videotapes of themselves from an unknown tormenter. Starring Daniel Auteuil, Juliette Binoche. Fri, Jul 4, 9:40pm. Palace IFC.

Benny’s Video
(Austria, 1992) The second film in Haneke’s “Glaciation Trilogy” revolves around a thirteen-year-old with a video camera and a violent mind. Fri, Jul 4, 7:40pm. Broadway Cinematheque.

The Time of the Wolf
(France, 2003) A disaster fable about a mother and daughter struggling to survive the collapse of civilization of a nameless Western society. Sat, Jul 5, 7:40pm. Palace IFC.

Funny Games
(Austria, 1997) Viewers at Cannes famously walked out in disgust at Haneke’s original experimental horror about a wealthy family being tortured in their holiday home. Sat, Jul 5, 9:40pm. Broadway Cinematheque.

Funny Games US
(US, 2008) Get repulsed 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 (above) promises to make you squirm once again. Also starring Michael Pitt. Sat, Jul 5, 5:40pm. Broadway Cinematheque.

HK PICKS
The Piano Teacher
(Austria/France, 2001) Haneke’s most critically acclaimed film stars Isabelle Huppert as the outwardly straight-laced protagonist with a secret penchant for pornography and sadomasochism. Also starring Benoît Magimel. Sun, Jul 6, 7:30pm. Palace IFC

Lemmings, Parts I and II
(Austria/Germany, 1979) Haneke’s early post-war drama depicts the repressions and psychological damage of his own generation of bourgeois teenagers in 50s Austria. Sun, Jul 6, 2pm and 4pm. Broadway Cinematheque

The Castle
(Austria, 1997) Kafa’s nightmarish work couldn’t find more perverse, paranoid hands than Haneke’s to transfer it to the big screen. Mon, Jul 7, 7:30pm.  Broadway Cinematheque

bc Sunday

Waterboys
(Japan, 2001) A silly Japanese comedy about a male high-school synchronized swimming team. Directed by Shinobu Yaguchi. Sun, Jul 6, 12:30pm. Broadway Cinematheque.