Critic’s Pick: A taste of restored films at Loyola Marymount University mini festival
Italy’s Cineteca di Bologna, one of Europe’s top restoration facilities, gets to showcase some of its treasures in a mini-film festival on the campus of Loyola Marymount University.
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On March 14, the extended, uncut, four-hour and 15-minute version of Sergio Leone’s gangster epic “Once Upon a Time in America” will open the fest. Tuesday will showcase Satyajit Ray’s “Pather Panchali” and Luchino Visconti’s “Rocco and His Brothers.” Wednesday will conclude with Robert Rossellini’s “Journey to Italy” and Ray’s “Aparajito.”
Admission is free, but reservations are necessary at sftv.lmu.edu/programs/special/ilcinemaritrovato.
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Movie recommendations from critic Kenneth Turan and other reviewers.
Adam McKay, with the help of Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Brad Pitt, has made a very funny film about a very serious situation, 2008’s global financial collapse. (Kenneth Turan) R.
Impeccably directed by John Crowley, feelingly adapted by Nick Hornby from Colm Tóibín’s fine novel and blessed with heart-stopping work from star Saoirse Ronan and the rest of the cast, “Brooklyn” is about love and heartache, loneliness and intimacy, what home means and how we achieve it. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13.
Impeccably acted by Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara as two women in love, with an exquisite look captured by cinematographer Ed Lachman, “Carol” has been made under the complete and total control of Todd Haynes, a director who always knows what he’s doing. (Kenneth Turan) R.
In the hands of director Ryan Coogler and star Michael B. Jordan, what is nominally a spinoff of the celebrated “Rocky” series plays like a spiritual remake of the 1976 film that retells the original story in the kind of involving way one would not have thought possible. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13.
It is antic and unexpected as well as homiletic, rife with subversive elements, wacky critters and some of the most beautiful landscapes ever seen in a computer-animated feature. (Kenneth Turan) PG.
A droll Coen brothers tribute to and spoof of Hollywood past that amuses from beginning to end with its site specific re-creation of the studio system and the movies that made it famous. (Kenneth Turan) PG-13.
Maggie Smith stars in this sharp British comedy — written by Alan Bennett, based on his play and directed by Nicholas Hytner. A delicately written, boisterously performed movie about the difficult people who dare us to care about them. (Rebecca Keegan) PG-13.
Isao Takahata’s classic of Japanese animation about a young woman and her younger self, was made 25 years ago but never before released in this country. To see it now is to understand both the reason for the delay and why the wait has been very much worth it. (Kenneth Turan) NR.
Brie Larson excels in a film able to give full weight to both sides of the emotional equation as it tells the story of a young woman imprisoned for years in a tiny shed and the young son who was born to her there and knows no other world. (Kenneth Turan) R.
The saga of how the Boston Globe won a Pulitzer Prize in 2003 for uncovering sexual abuse by Catholic priests, the film is mightily impressive not only because of the importance of the story it tells but also because of how much effort and skill went into bringing it to the screen. (Kenneth Turan) R.
Robert Eggers’ impressive debut feature sows suspicion into nearly every frame, so intent on a darkening mood that the stillness of trees at the edge of a wood, or a child’s face in demonic thrall, even an ambling goat, carries the same capacity to unnerve. (Robert Abele, Feb. 19) (1:30) R.
Bursting with a rich blend of timely themes, superb voice work, wonderful visuals and laugh-out-loud wit, Walt Disney Animation Studios’ latest is quite simply a great time at the movies. (Gary Goldstein) PG.
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