Opening:

I, FRANKENSTEIN—Italy’s nominee for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film, an homage to La Dolce Vita in which an aging journalist (Toni Servillo) takes stock of his life in Rome, a city of absurd, exquisite beauty. Directed by Paolo Sorrentino (Il Divo). Eastern Hills

LABOR DAY—Adaptation of Joyce Maynard ‘s novel about a depressed woman (Kate Winslet) who falls in life with a wounded prison escapee (Josh Brolin). With Tobey Maguire, Gattlin Griffith and Brooke Smith. Directed by Jason Reitman (Juno). Reviewed this issue. Amherst, Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

THE OSCAR NOMINATED SHORT FILMS 2014—So you can make an informed prediction in these categories for this year’s Academy Awards. There are separate programs of live action and animated short films. Reviewed this issue. Eastern Hills, Market Arcade

THAT AWKWARD MOMENT—Young people troubled by their hormones. Starring Zac Efron, Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan and Imogen Poots. Directed by Tom Gormican (Movie 43). Flix, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

ETC:

AU GALOP (IN A RUSH)—A middle-aged writer’s life is put into turmoil by three younger women in this comedy, inaugurating a series of recent French cinema. Starring Valentina Cervi, Marthe Keller, and Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, who also directed. Screening Room

IMAGO—A young woman searching for her missing brother encounters otherworldly, Lovecraftian creatures in this entry from the recent Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival. Directed by Chris Warren. Screening Room

LOST ILLUSIONS—Directed by Guillaume Gallienne and choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky. Live from the Bolshoi Ballet. Amherst

ORPHEUS (France, 1950)—From Jean Cocteau (Beauty and the Beast), a dreamlike updating of the myth to contemporary France, where a troubled poet (Jean Marais) follows a mysterious princess to the kingdom of Death. Presented as part of the Buffalo Film Seminars. Market Arcade

PAULINE DETECTIVE (France, 2012)—Comedy starring Sandrine Kiberlain as a woman on a Riviera vacation to get over being dumped by her boyfriend who gets involved in the investigation of a murder. Directed by Marc Fitoussi (L’éducation anglaise). Screening Room

ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953)—Get a head start on Valentines Day with this classic romantic comedy, a loose remake of It Happened One Night set in Europe with Audrey Hepburn as a runaway princess and Gregory Peck as a newspaperman after her story. Directed by William Wyler (Wuthering Heights). Screening Room