“Of Gods and Men”
*** (out of four stars) | Xavier Beauvois has made a deeply thought-out film based on the true story of nine Roman Catholic monks whose lives of peace, contemplation and service were disrupted by an outbreak of Islamic fundamentalist violence. They have to decide whether to flee, or to stay, or to do something in between — to relocate to a safer part of the country. Don’t pass this up. PG-13. 2 hours, 2 minutes. Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle.
“Hobo With a Shotgun”
* (out of four stars) | Violence and camp seem to have been the idea Jason Eisener had when he did the fake trailer for this Rutger Hauer film, part of the movie “Grindhouse” a few years back. But this is a grim, intermittently funny and occasionally preachy piece, with only the estimable Hauer — the titular hobo, to recommend it. He wanders through a cruel world, with corrupt cops, pedophile Santas and rich crime bosses getting their jollies off the graphic suffering of others. Then it’s sadism vs. no-holds-barred vengeance. Unrated. 1 hour, 26 minutes. Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
“13 Assassins”
*** 1/2 (out of four stars) | From its title to its battles to its moral stakes, it’s obvious what “13 Assassins” is aspiring to: the towering stature of Akira Kurosawa’s “Seven Samurai.” Epic in scope, ambition and execution, it’s a classic swords-and-samurai film with postmodern blood and guts, and it’s completely satisfying. Lord Naritsugu (Gorô Inagaki) is a sadistic young decadent who thinks nothing of raping and butchering lesser mortals, and because he’s the shogun’s younger brother, he can get away with it. A cabal of politicians hires the retired samurai Shinzaemon (Kôji Yakusho) for a carefully planned assassination. It all leads up to a long, astonishingly choreographed bloodbath in a roadside village that the assassins have turned into a death maze.
R. 2 hours, 6 minutes. Ty Burr, The Boston Globe
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