Easter weekend’s selections are admittedly wafer thin, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t partake in any blessed offerings. Why there’s a trinity of films that should appeal to a mass audience. Such as the Foreign Oscar-nominated Incendies, Disney/BBC co-production African Cats and Morgan Spurlock’s The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. So go forth and prosper, my cinephiles.
U.S Indie
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Stake Land – Jim Mickle – IFC Films A stripped down road movie with fangs. This Zombieland/I Am Legend rip-off won an audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall and has (get this) garnered unlikely comparisons to the work of the director Terrence Malick. That alone should pique your interest. NYC>
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: 55% 
: 68.4%Foreign
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The Bang Bang Club – Steven Silver – Tribeca Film “White mans photos for white mans purpose,” utters one South African to Ryan Phillippe in this post Apartheid film based on the experiences of four combat photographers. The consensus is Silver (executive producer of Shake Hands With the Devil) treads around the moral ambiguities involved in documenting atrocities and settles for a macho boys game of war. Another TIFF preemed film opening in limited release.
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The Colors of the Mountain – Carlos Cesar Arbelaez – Film Movement
This excellent Colombian film is a little mirror in the life of those displaced by violence. Namely, the cruel reality for some farmers in this country where they try to live between the guerrilla and the paramilitary. Quad Cinema. New Directors Award – San Sebastian Int’l Film Festival.
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Dum Maaro Dum – Rohan Sippy – Fox Searchlight Pictures Lionsgate like their Latino market and Searchlight like this market. The only dancing you’ll see in this stylish Bollywood thriller will be on the sandy beaches of Goa. The film, told through three intermingling stories connected to the local drug trade, will leave viewers wanting to press the forward button. What should have
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Incendies – Denis Villeneuve – Sony Pictures Classics
A Greek tragedy wrapped in a white knuckle thriller. When twins Jeanne and Simon receive their mother’s last wish they’re
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The Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen – Andrew Lau Originally played by Bruce Lee (in Fists of Fury) comes this multi-genre story of the legendary character Chen Zhen, who, upon returning from the battlefields of WW2 Europe, is on a mission to take down the guy who killed his beloved teacher. This should put politicians on notice–you f**k with teacher, student will kick your ass. Variance/Wells Go USA distribute.
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The Warring States – Jin Chin – China Lion
Set in the ancient Warring States Period of China, the story concerns the complicated relationship between real-life military strategists Sun Bin and Pang Juan. As one critic put it “this busy attempt at merging large-scale CGI action filmmaking with outsized historical drama is unremarkable.” Hey there’s always John Woo’s Red Cliff. Limited.
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Docs
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African Cats – Alastair Fothergill and Keith Scholey – Disneynature A breathtaking wildlife documentary, where animals become characters with cute little names, is given a kid-friendly narrative hook that’s sure to amaze and educate its young audience. Opening wide in 1200 theatres.
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POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold – SPC
Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) returns with this “docubuster” that examines the world of product placement, marketing,
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Studio Films
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Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family – Lionsgate Another uninspired entry in the Madea franchise brings us more of the same from Tyler Perry. This time Madea must
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Water for Elephants – Francis Lawrence – 20th Century Fox
Widely panned by critics for their lack of passion in what’s supposed to be a love story, Pattinson and Witherspoon offer up snoozes in this three-ring melodrama. Here’s a suggestion….read the book because this movie version manages to lose both the mystique of the circus and the grimness of the Depression that captured readers in the first place.
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