Starring: Diane Keaton, Kevin Kline, Dianne Wiest, Richard Jenkins, Elisabeth Moss, Mark Duplass, Ayelet Zurer, Sam Shepard

Darling Companion

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The Story: An upscale family loses their pet dog while on vacation at their woodland cabin. The Lowdown: A not unpleasant, shambling little comedy-drama with a cast and director you expect more from.
Starring: Ingrid Bolsø Berdal, Dimitri Diatchenko, Olivia Dudley, Devin Kelley, Jesse McCartney, Nathan Phillips, Jonathan Sadowski

Chernobyl Diaries

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The Story: Six morons hire a sketchy guide to take them on an illegal tour of Chernobyl. It's an ill-advised decision. The Lowdown: Ugly, dull, tedious horror thriller involving a no-name cast running around in the dark while radiation-spawned mutants kill them off.
Starring: Federico Mazzoli, Francesca Botti, Augusto Gatti, Paolo Lodi, Giorgio Paltrinieri

The Duck Hunter

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In Brief: A sweetly sentimental tale about the life of a dreamer in a small town in Italy, mostly taking place just before and during WWII. It's small scale and a little on the cliched side, but not without its modest charms -- and with unusually striking cinematography that helps make up for its sometimes…
Starring: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, Brady Coleman, Richard Rochibaux, Brandon Smith

Bernie

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The Story: True-life crime story about the murder of a much-hated old woman, her killer and the very odd fall-out from the crime in a small Texas town. The Lowdown: Darkly funny, oddly touching, disturbing and surprisingly deep film that benefits from a very unusual approach. A must-see.
Starring: George C. Scott, Anne Bancroft, William Atherton, Roy Thinnes, Gig Young, Burgess Meredith

The Hindenburg

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In Brief: A speculative drama (based on largely discredited theories) about what really caused the fiery crash of the Graf Zeppelin Hindenburg at Lakehurst, N.J., in 1937. It has more in common with the disaster movie boom of the 1970s than history, but it's passably entertaining nonsense with nice performances from George C. Scott and…
Starring: Peter Lorre, Colin Clive, Frances Drake / Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, David Manners

Mad Love / The Black Cat

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In Brief: A double dose of classic horror with Karl Freund's Mad Love (1935), the film that first presented Peter Lorre in a horror picture, and Edgar G. Ulmer's The Black Cat (1934), the first onscreen teaming of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. The former -- a remake of the silent The Hands of Orlac…

Cranky Hanke’s Weekly Reeler May 30-June 5: Bernie and the Undefeated DD Huntsman UPDATED

It’s a two and two week — two mainstream titles and two art titles (there’s a flood of art titles just now), and all in all, it looks like the art titles are the better deal, though it’s just possible that one of the mainstreamers will be a pleasant surprise. The other one? Far less likely. In fact, it’s so less likely that no one booked the lesser one after all. However, something else is!

Cranky Hanke’s Screening Room: The Strangest Serial Ever Made

I’d seen The Lost City once before, so I knew just how seriously deranged it was, but it had been a while. So this past weekend I decided to check it out a little — mostly to be sure it played OK, which is often a dicey proposition on these public domain titles. That’s really all I planned on doing. Honest. And I know that these things tend to become wearisome if you watch too much of one in one sitting. (The rule should be two episodes max.) Imagine my surprise when I ended up watching all four hours worth of barely coherent and totally unhinged nonsense.

Starring: Bing Crosby, W.C. Fields, Joan Bennett, Gail Patrick, Queenie Smith, Claude Gillingwater

Mississippi

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In Brief: W.C. Fields and Bing Crosby co-star for the only time in this musical comedy where Fields runs a show boat on which Bing finds a job singing. A more-or-less forgettable story gives way to some terrific Fields comedy, some great Rodgers and Hart songs for Crosby, and absolutely glistening cinematography and production values.
Starring: Enrique Rambal, Abel Salazar, Martha Roth, Ofelia Guilmáin, Ana Laura Baledon

The Man and the Monster

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In Brief: A pianist sells his soul to the devil in exchange for becoming the greatest pianist in the world. The downside is that he tends to turn into a kind of dopey looking werewolf. Mayhem of that peculiar Mexican kind ensues -- as does a good deal of entertainment.
Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, Jason Mantzoukas

The Dictator

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The Story: The despotic ruler of a fictional North African country goes to America while his duplicitous uncle replaces him with his idiot double. The Lowdown: More structured -- and much better paced -- than Sacha Baron Cohen's "reality show" movies, but just as outrageous and offensive -- and maybe funnier.
Starring: Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Dev Patel, Celia Imrie, Ronald Pickup, Penelope Wilton

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

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The Story: A group of old-age pensioners go to India and the affordable hotel of the title, only to find it's not exactly as described in the brochure. The Lowdown: Warm, funny, touching, completely winning film that does right by a cast that in turn does right by it.
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, Chace Crawford, Brooklyn Decker, Ben Falcone, Anna Kendrick, Matthew Morrison, Dennis Quaid, Chris Rock

What to Expect When You’re Expecting

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The Story: Mish-mash of stories about people having babies. The Lowdown: Overlong, overstuffed, generally unfunny rom-com centered on pregnancy.
Starring: Pyotor Zaychenko, Mikhail Protsko, Sergey Novikov, Lidiya Bairashevskaya, Sonya Ross

Siberia, Monamour

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In Brief: A stark but compelling drama about life in rural Siberia, mostly centering on an old man and his grandson living a precarious existence in an isolated shack, but with a secondary plot that will eventually figure into their story. Altogether worthwhile, despite some flaws and cultural gaps.
Starring: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson, Jim Broadbent, Thomas Kretschmann

The Young Victoria

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In Brief: Though it may sound pretty awful and like Masterpiece Theatre stuff on the big screen, The Young Victoria proves to be a cinematic, stylish and entertaining historical romance that shakes the dust off our images of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Starring: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep, Mabel Rivera, Montserrat Carulla, Geraldine Chaplin

The Orphanage

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In Brief: A couple and their adopted son move into the old orphanage where the wife spent her early childhood, planning to turn it into a school for children with special needs. However, the son disappears at a party -- in a manner that suggests his possibly not-so-imaginary friend was involved -- and things turn…
Starring: Johnny Depp, Michelle Pfeiffer, Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green, Jackie Earle Haley, Johnny Lee Miller, Bella Heathcote, Chloë Grace Moretz, Alice Cooper

Dark Shadows

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The Story: Tim Burton's take on the old TV series, which is equal parts tribute, spoof and a rethinking. The Lowdown: A super stylish, lovingly comedic take on the TV show that also functions as a nostalgic -- though not uncritical -- look at the early 1970s.
Starring: Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Ernest Truex, John Qualen

His Girl Friday

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The Story: A charmingly unscrupulous newspaper editor will stop at nothing to keep his star reporter -- and ex-wife -- from quitting and marrying another (and much duller) man. The Lowdown: It's the classic newspaper comedy -- a fast-paced story with dialogue delivered as if fired by a machine gun. Add two glamorous stars --…
Starring: James Spader, Holly Hunter, Deborah Kara Unger, Rosanna Arquette, Elias Koteas

Crash

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In Brief: David Cronenberg's supremely disturbing film -- based on J.G. Ballard's novel -- is about a sub-culture that derives sexual kicks from car wrecks. Occasionally, it topples over into unintended laughs, but even those are slightly nervous. Compelling, but very much not for everyone.