Volver

Pros: Ensemble acting (especially Cruz), first 2/3s of film, score, photography
Cons: Doesn't add up to much

Spanish writer/director Pedro Almodóvar has created many terrific tributes to strong, dynamic women in his career, and with his latest, Volver (lit. “To Return”), he continues the tradition, adding at least five more standout ...

Pros: Almodovar's Direction/Script, Locations, Look, Music, Fart Joke, Editing, & Cast.
Cons: Nada.

While 2004's La Mala Educacion (Bad Education) wasn't another runaway hit like previous films that Pedro Almodovar did for 1999's Todo Sobre mi Madre (All About My Mother) and 2002's Habla con Ella (Talk to Her). ...

Pros: Fine cast, especially Cruz; deft blend of humour, drama; authentic characters, dialogue, situations; music; cinematography.
Cons: Nothing of real import.

In a small town in La Mancha, the black-clad Soledad (Sole) takes a last look around the empty house of her recently deceased Aunt Paula. Then she’s seized by a sudden fear as she thinks she spies a spectral shadow descending the stairs. Could it ...

Pros: It's Almodovar...
Cons: ...If you're new to him All About My Mother should definitely be your first stop.

The latest offering from Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar, Volver is a witchy, spacey piece dominated by women and the furtive ways in which they interact. Femaleness has always been the central refrain of Almodovar’s work; he seems to fetishise what ...

Pros: Penelope Cruz, Filming Location, Director, Cast, Soundtrack, Spanish Language
Cons: Some will never see it due to their hate of subtitles.

VOLVER.... also known as To Return For the most part, not all the best movies are made in Hollywood. Foreign cinema can be an exciting glimpse into a different world full of culture. Almost everybody has a favorite foreign movie. For some it ...

Pros: Decent enough writing, Color contrast, Moments of character
Cons: Predictable plot, Much of the acting, Quite a bit of exposition

Every now and again, a film is strongly recommended to me and I give it a fair viewing based on the strength of that recommendation coming from people whose views and opinions I usually trust and appreciate. In a conversation about actress Penelope ...

Pros: the entwined feminine relationships unfold sincerely
Cons: the masculine aspects are not sufficiently explained

With any Pedro Almodovar film one immediately knows that women will play the central roles and suffer greatly for it. No other contemporary director has fastiduously stuck with this stern feminine dissection nor has been as successful in wowing critics ...

Pros: Great performances, story, direction
Cons: None

This is Almodóvar's biggest international hit so far, and it's curiously reminiscent of Imamura's later films. Many of the thematic elements common to the elder filmmaker's stories can be found here: lust, betrayal, incest and murder in a familial ...