“Possession” is the type of movie where miraculous events occur in the plot, but none of the characters bother to accurately reflect the wondrous gravity of the situation. It’s a stillborn chiller (a remake of the South Korean film “Addicted”) and an awfully silly picture, boasting screamingly inept performances and preoccupied direction that spends more time seeking out the perfect camera angle than tightening the story to appropriate nail-biting levels of suspense.
“Ajami” is an Israeli picture that closely mirrors the work of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu during his emotionally turbulent years with “Amores Perros,” “21 Grams,” and “Babel.” Observing the ominous nature of violence and its crushing aftermath, “Ajami” is a striking raw nerve of a feature film, holding to a steady path of dread, but keeping the story on its toes by jolting back and forth through locations and time. It builds patiently, but fascinatingly, providing a portrait of humanity struggling in one of the more volatile areas of the Middle East.
The Kona Café is one of those super-secret handshake restaurants inside Walt Disney World. While obviously open to the general public, the eatery’s reputation is perhaps most widely circulated through Disney superfans, a blindly passionate group that always speaks highly of the establishment, practically breaking down in tears when the name of a certain menu item is uttered. That’s right, I’m talkin’ Tonga Toast.
BRIAN ORNDORF 