Reel-View Ratings: The Bigger The Beard, The Better The Movie
DRAGON BALL Z: RESSURECTION ‘F’
It’s been 31 years, and Dragon Ball‘s Goku is still one of the most iconic anime characters of all time — no wonder he’s still getting feature films. The resurrected “F” in question is Frieza, who has returned from the dead to exact revenge on Goku and Earth. A lot of fighting ensues, as Goku’s friends convene to defend Earth until Goku and Vegeta (who are training on another planet) come home to face off against Frieza.
Dragon Ball Z relies mostly on its tried-and-true humor and action to carry the spectacle, but hey, it’s a pretty damn good formula. Why reinvent the wheel now? Also, this film introduces the Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan. Actual name. Seriously. Plays at 7 p.m. Aug. 4 and 5, and noon Aug. 8 at Ward Theatres
TANGERINES
This anti-war film focuses on a little-known (to American audiences) snippet of history: the post-Soviet Union independence struggle in Abkhazia against Georgia. Two injured soldiers find themselves recuperating in the small country home of an Estonian crate-maker, who negotiates a temporary truce. The futility and senselessness of war lingers on in the background. With such a strong pacifist message, it’s easy to see Tangerines as moralizing, but the quiet film does its best to steer away from overt preaching. The ending is a natural outgrowth of the theme, and yet it is slightly dissatisfying, like director Zaza Urushadze shied back from something more difficult than bloodshed.
Plays at noon and 6:15 p.m. July 30, and 1:45, 3:30 and 7 p.m. Aug. 2 at the Movie Museum
KRYPTONITE!
Nine-year-old Peppino is unmoored, drifting aimlessly in his family’s ocean of chaos. His father’s having an affair, his mother is devastated, his siblings and relatives aren’t sure how to raise him, and his cousin (who thinks he’s Superman) gets run over by a tram and comes back as a guiding spirit. Where this is all going is toward a message of self-acceptance. Probably. The result is an amusing, entertaining but unsteady amalgamation of characters and set pieces that don’t always jive emotionally or tonally. The film does, however, visually capture the essence of Italy in 1973 — bright, claustrophobic and restless.
