tabu Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Have you recovered from your holiday eating binge? Are you ready for some pie? Reviewing Waitress at Sundance earlier this year, Cinematical's James Rocchi described it as "a light, breezy romantic comedy with a crackerjack cast and a certain degree of faux-Southern charm that never descends to cornpone mawkishness, and also has a whip-smart comedic sensibility in every scene." The late Adrienne Shelly wrote, directed, and co-stars with Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion and Andy Griffith. The DVD includes several featurettes and an audio commentary with Russell and producer Michael Roiff.

The Namesake very much impressed our own Kim Voynar, who called it "a deeply felt look at the ties of family and birthplace, the loneliness of living far from your home, and the connections that hold everything together, sometimes in ways we don't appreciate until much later." Mira Nair directed; the film stars Irfan Khan, Tabu, Kal Penn and Sahira Nair. The DVD features an audio commentary by director Nair and several featurettes, plus deleted scenes.

Critics gave high marks (83% positive, per Rotten Tomatoes) to documentary Manufactured Landscapes. It's said to be an "investigation of photographer Edward Burtynsky's legacy, with its aesthetic studies of industrial landscapes. ... It uses the topic of Burtynsky as a springboard." Jennifer Baichwal directed. The DVD includes additional scenes, a stills gallery and a discussion with Baichwal and Burtynsky.

We can never get too many rebellious child prodigy dramas, can we? Vitus fairly well divided critics: 34 positive and 21 negative, according to Rotten Tomatoes. The veteran and versatile Bruno Ganz is the most recognizable name in the cast. The DVD features an interview with Ganz, a "making of" feature and an audio commentary by director Fredi M. Murer.

The Namesake, director Mira Nair's adaptation of the book by Jhumpa Lahiri, is a deeply felt look at the ties of family and birthplace, the loneliness of living far from your home, and the connections that hold everything together, sometimes in ways we don't appreciate until much later. Nair examines these issues by focusing her lens on two generations of the Ganguli family: husband Ashoke (Irrfan Khan) and wife Ashima (Tabu), a Bengali couple who immigrated to New York from India, and their children, Gogol and Sonia, who were born and raised in America.

Ashima moves halfway around the world to live with her new husband, Ashoke, following an arranged marriage. Leaving behind the warm, familiar climate of Calcutta, Ashima must adjust to life in New York in winter. Lonely, cold and depressed, Ashima nonetheless does her best to make her way in her new home, as she learns to love her new husband. Before long two children, son Gogol (Kal Penn) and daughter Sonia (Sahira Nair) have expanded their little family and bound them to their new country, and the Gangulis move to a house in the 'burbs in Nyack.