Opening Soon

HK PICKS
Wall-E
(USA) Critics everywhere are going all warm and fuzzy over Pixar’s latest animation, about a relationship between two futuristic robots with more humanity than most Hollywood romances these days. Directed by Andrew Stanton. Opens Jul 24.

Sketches of Frank Gehry
(USA) The late Sidney Pollack’s intimate venture into the mind and work of one of the world’s most famous architects, which took 5 years in the making. Opens Jul 26.

HK PICKS
The X Files: I Want to Believe
(USA) Those internet photos of Mulder and Scully getting jiggy with one another were fake. Nobody knows yet what the two get up to in the big screen comeback that freaks and geeks everywhere have been waiting for. Directed by Chris Carter. Starring David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson. Opens Jul 24.

Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead
(USA) Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke play two brothers who organize a jewel robbery that sends them hurtling towards disaster, and worse. Directed by Sidney Lumet. Also starring Albert Finney. Opens Jul 24.

Opening

The Dark Knight
(USA) See review, p.32. Opened Jul 17. AMC, BC, BEA IMAX, 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. Opened Jul 17. 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 Opened Jul 17. BC

Continuing

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

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

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

Red Cliff
(China) See review, opposite. 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

Arthouse

Care For Our Community
Iconic films from the past 50 years revealing the changing face of Hong Kong communities. Tickets $30 from Urbtix. Now til Jul 19. Screenings at the Film Archive. See www.lcsd.gov.hk.

HK PICKS
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. Fri, Jul 18, 7pm.

The Diviner
(1983) Lawrence Ah Mon depicts the life of a fortune teller among the downtrodden drifters of Temple Street. Fri, Jul 18, 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.

HK PICKS
Who Was Edgar Allen?
(Austria) An adaptation of Peter Rosei’s novel, about an art-history student obsessed with a mysterious American who becomes his double and criminal counterpart. Starring Paulus Manker, Rolf Hoppe. Sat, Jul 19, 2:10pm.  Broadway Cinematheque.

Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys
(France/Germany/Romania, 2000) Juliet Binoche stars in this collection of 27 vaguely connected scenes from the perspectives of an actress, an African immigrant and a war reporter from Bosnia, highlighting the immigration dilemmas facing contemporary Europe. Also starring Thierry Neuvic. Fri, Jul 18, 9:40pm. Broadway Cinematheque.

bc Sunday
HK PICKS
Marathon
(Korea, 2005) The true, inspiring story of the life of Bae Hyeong-jin, the autistic marathon runner who holds the record for the world’s fastest triathlon. Directed by Jeong Yoon-chul. Starring Seung-Woo, Kim Cho Mi-Suk. Tickets $45 from Urbtix. Sun, Jul 20, 12:15pm. Broadway Cinematheque.