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Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
A Bag of Marbles
(MNIBUS Entertainment DVD)
Paris, shortly after it fell to the Germans: collaborationists were teaching the kids at grade school but outside, Joseph and Maurice, two young Jewish brothers, played marbles on the street and gave little heed to the occasional sight of SS officers. However, their parents and older siblings felt the increasing pressure of anxiety. When the order came to wear the yellow star identifying them as Jews, the family decided to flee, traveling in small groups to avoid detection. Joseph and Maurice went together by train to a Mediterranean town occupied by the relatively benevolent Italians.
A Bag of Marbles (2017), based on a memoir, depicts the odyssey endured by Joseph and Maurice, aided by the kindness as well as the greed of strangers on the way to Nice. Their respite was short lived. When Italy withdrew from the war, leaving the town to the Nazis, they must hide again. A Bag of Marbles is an endearing family drama of determination and resourcefulness in the face of catastrophe. (David Luhrssen)
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
(In Theaters March 31)
Over the past decade, Warner, Universal, Hasbro and Paramount disputed who owned Dungeons & Dragons film rights. During this period, various actors, writers and directors have come and gone. Ultimately, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley nailed down the job. Their highly anticipated adaptation is satisfying for the table-game’s acolytes, while remaining comprehensible for non-players.
Chris Pine anchors the cast as Edgin Darvis, a bard imprisoned with his best friend, tattooed barbarian Holga (Michelle Rodriguez). The pair were captured following a heist, having been betrayed by their partner, rogue Forge Fitzwilliam (Hugh Grant). Newly escaped from prison, Edgin and Holga seek a magical tablet that can resurrect the dead. Edgin is determined to reconnect with daughter Kira (Chloe Coleman), currently under Forge’s guardianship. With the defeat of supernatural evil forces also on the line, Edgin and Holga are joined by insecure sorcerer Simon (Justice Smith) and shape-shifting druid Doric (Sophia Lillis). Rounding out the troupe is Xenk (Regé-Jean Page), a paladin whose loyalty aligns with right and good.
Bursting with monsters, villains and snarky dialog, the film’s tone is similar to Raiders of the Lost Ark. Realizing that the PG-13, two-hour-15-minute result will be a massive hit, Paramount greenlit a television series, with film sequels looking to be a winning bet. (Lisa Miller)
The King of Laughter
(Film Movement DVD)
In 1904, Eduardo Scarpetta was a star in Naples, a popular comedian who kept audiences laughing through plays that—from our eyes—often resemble the family TV sitcoms that emerged later that century. His own family life could have been a sitcom, complete with a dominant wife, a mistress and several children forced to act in his theater troop. He came from modest circumstances and relished his hard-won wealth and status. In The King of Laughter, he’s even shown owning a refrigerator—a rare luxury at the time.
And then he clashed with Italy’s much esteemed playwright-poet-novelist-adventurer, Gabriele D’Annunzio. The King of Laugher (2021) recreates a battle fought in theater aisles (audiences really booed in those days) and the courtroom when D’Annunzio and his followers protested Scarpetta’s parody of one of his dramas. Left unspoken in this production by Italian director Mario Martone is D’Annunzio’s later role as inspiration for Mussolini (perhaps most Italian filmgoers know this and don’t need reminding?). He is represented in this brilliantly acted lavishly furnished film as a duplicitous aesthete who entrapped Scarpetta into a lawsuit he was certain he could win. Italianophiles will find much to love, including the role of philosopher Benedetto Croce in crafting a defense for the right of one artist to parody another. (David Luhrssen)
A Thousand and One
(In Theaters March 31)
After two years in prison and having lost her 6-year-old son Terry to the foster system, Inez (Teyana Taylor), kidnaps the willing boy and settles them in Harlem under new identities. The setting is the ’90’s. Marginalized NYC communities are being upended by neighborhood gentrification projects. Ex-con Lucky (Will Catlett), comes and goes as Inez’s love interest, but she keeps her focus trained on Terry. The years become a decade as the lad earns notice as an excellent student. When educational opportunities arise, their shared secret threatens Terry’s desire for independence and a better life. Written and directed by A.V. Rockwell, this R-rated drama premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it took the Grand Jury Prize. (Lisa Miller)
