MYSTERIES OF LISBON (MISTERIOS DE LISBOA) (Portugal/Fr 2011) ****
Directed by Raul Ruiz

(Please note that this review is based only on the viewing of the first half of the movie.  Prior commitments prevented me from viewing the entire film.  My apologies!)

J. EDGAR (USA 2011) **
Directed by Clint Eastwood

There are obviously too many things going on here in Clint Eastwood’s biopic of John Edgar Hoover, the much revered FBI during many Presidential reigns.  And too many things that go wrong too in the film.

IMMORTALS (USA 2011) **
Directed by Tarsem Singh

If an all action, CGI effect, 3D, fight per minute film is your cup of tea (like 300), then Tarsem Singh’s (THE CELL, THE FALL) is the one that might likely blow your mind.

LE HAVRE (Finland 2011) ***** Top 10
Directed by Aki Kaurismaki

LE HAVRE is the name of the Normandie port in Northern France.  Dirty, lost in time and decrepit, the port is the perfect venue of a Kaurismaki movie.  Kaurismaki’s characters are similar losers, determined often to etch a better living but always kind souls with not a mean bone in their bodies.

BILLY BISHOP GOES TO WAR (Canada 2011) ***
Directed by Barbara Willis-Sweete

Shown on U.S. television but released in Canada theatrically, BILLY BISHOP GOES TO WAR is the famous Canadian musical 2-man play that premiered in Vancouver in 1978 and played also in London West End and Broadway.