Another flaw is that we never get any real sense of what is driving and motivating the two central characters beyond the most basic notions about Ching’s all-encompassing greedy mentality and Lau’s earnest determination to find justice—the kind that aren’t markedly different from what one might have found in an old Monogram Pictures programmer from

In the wake of the film’s massively successful Christmas Day release, RogerEbert.com hopped on a call with Brooks and discussed Sofia’s leap from stage to screen, the encouragement Brooks received from Oprah Winfrey, and Brooks’ journey to ensuring the timeliness of this early 20th century character. Since some time has passed between portraying Sofia on stage and

Mark E. Anastasio, director of special programming at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Mass., says the theater’s recent, 70mm run of “Napoleon” did quite well. “I don’t think any showings were sold out, but we certainly had healthy-sized audiences for the primetime shows,” Anastasio said in an email. “The demographics definitely skewed a bit