One of Sundance 2007’s more confounding entrants, and a prize-winner for its science elements, veteran opera director Chen Shi-Zheng’s tepid yet ultimately loathsome “Dark Matter” traces events in the life of a Chinese exchange student (Liu Ye) studying physics on an American campus. His disintegration leads to terrible violence, based on supposed events from 1991. “Dark Matter” was made before the slaughter at Virginia Tech, but brings little light to the darkness of such events. With Meryl Streep, Aidan Quinn. The choice of song covers by the Beijing Angelic Choir makes for strange notes. 90m. (Ray Pride)
Seeing The Elephant: A Review Of Babylon The boisterous, brawling yet melancholy "Babylon," is a variation on film history, but more drawing for drama. It's gaudy and mean, celebratory and sorrowful.
Heart: A Review of Soul The real world is soulful, too, in Pixar's bountiful life of the mind.
Uncanny Ally: A Review Of M3GAN "M3GAN" sells itself in its first handful of seconds in how it introduces the handiwork of roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams, "Get Out") and her present product, PurrPetual Petz from Funki.
