Ben Kingsley and Penelope Cruz star in Elegy, the adaptation of Philip Roth's The Dying Animal (Red Envelope Entertainment)

Elegy (opened August 22 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas) is based on Philip Roth's book The Dying Animal and focuses on aging academic David Kepesh and his affair with a student. The character of Kepesh has appeared in two other Roth works: The Breast and The Professor of Desire. As with most of Roth's books, the focus and the perspective are distinctly male. But what gives the new film adaptation of The Dying Animal a fresh spin is that it has been brought to the screen thanks mainly to a pair of women: actress Penelope Cruz and director Isabel Coixet.

Barbara Mori, before and after in Ugly Me (Arcangelo Entertainment)

The Chilean comedy Ugly Me screened at this year's San Diego Latino Film Festival and now returns as part of the Festival's monthly film series Cinema Tu Idioma at the Ultrastar Mission Valley Theaters at Hazard Center. I passed on the film at the Festival because I had such a hefty list of titles I wanted to see that I let my bias against romantic comedies get the better of me and I crossed this one off to see something darker or more substantial. But I should have known that a romantic comedy from Chile would have more going on that the average Hollywood romantic comedy.

NOTE: Filmmaker Claudio Dabed will be present at the opening night screening on Friday, August 22. Founder and executive director of Media Arts Center San Diego and San Diego Latino Film Festival, Ethan van Thillo, states, "It's an honor to bring back Mr. Dabed and his fun film after its very successful screening at the recent 15th anniversary San Diego Latino Film Festival. The film is a great date film and Barbara Mori puts in a not-to-be-missed performance."

The three young stars of Water Lilies (Fox Lorber)

Water Lilies (opened August 15 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) opens against the fitting backdrop of the summer Olympics. As athletes compete in the oft-ridiculed synchronized swimming (remember the Martin Short SNL skit?), Water Lilies uses the sport as a focal point in its tale of sexual awakening among a trio of teenage girls. The film marks the feature-directing debut of France's Céline Sciamma.

For the moment, Woody Allen has left behind his native New York and his recently adopted England to venture off into the more passionate turf of Spain's Barcelona. Just as London inspired him to some of his best work in recent years (Match Point), Barcelona has gotten Allen's creative energies turning to new themes. So he leaves behind the moral dilemmas he began investigating in Crimes and Misdemeanors and more recently in Match Point and Cassandra's Dream, and instead turns to more romantic notions in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (opening August 15 in select theaters including AMC Fashion Valley 18, Grossmont Center, Horton Plaza 14, Landmark's La Jolla Village, Ultrastar Mission Valley at Hazard Center, AMC Mission Valley 20 and Edwards Mira Mesa). You can listen to our discussion about Allen's latest work on the KPBS Film Club of the Air.

Ben Whishaw and Matthew Goode star in a new adaptation of Brideshead Revisited (Miramax)

We get a break from superheroes this week as a new adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's 1945 novel Brideshead Revisited comes to the big screen. PBS adapted Brideshead Revisited back in 1981. The very popular mini-series concerned class and religion in pre-war England, and it launched Jeremy Irons' career. But a mini-series has the luxury of time that a single feature film does not. So that's the challenge facing Julian Jarrold as he revisits Brideshead Revisited (opened August 1 at Landmark's Hillcrest and La Jolla Village Theaters) and must decide what to cut and what to hold onto from Waugh's novel. So while the PBS series got to cover more of the actual text, this new film offers a truncated but more narrowly focused version of the book.

Set in 19th century France, The Last Mistress (opening August 1 at Landmark's Ken Cinema) is a steamy period drama that chronicles the love affair between a tempestuous Spanish mistress named Vellini (Asia Argento) and the well-bred Ryno de Marigny (impossibly beautiful newcomer Fu'ad Ait Aattou). The sultry, dark-eyed Argento (seen in the U.S. in Land of the Dead and xXx) brings her unique brand of feral sensuality to the role of Vellini. She creates a completely sexual being entirely consumed by her passions. She rivets viewers just as she beguiles Ryno.

Mamma Mia! takes on Batman at the box office this weekend. (Universal)

Mamma Mia! is a blast. I can't believe I just said that. As a fan of horror and Asian Extreme Cinema, I have a little trouble admitting how much fun I had at the bright, cheery ABBA musical Mamma Mia! (opening July 18 throughout San Diego). There's something irresistible in the way this film jubilantly embraces the movie musical tradition. So having Mamma Mia! open the same weekend as The Dark Knight offers the perfect yin and yang choices for filmgoers.

Francois Cluzet finds himself a suspect in his wife's murder in Tell No One (Music Box Films)

I don't envy any film opening against The Dark Knight. That's tough. But I hope the new French thriller Tell No One (opening July 18 at Landmark's Hillcrest and La Jolla Village Theaters) doesn't get completely over shadowed by the Batman. Based on American writer Harlan Coben's novel, Tell No One serves up an obsessive love story wrapped up in a thriller about murder and deception.

Elsa y Fred (DistriMax)

Last year, KPBS, V-me and the San Diego Latino Film Festival hosted a screening of the charming Argentinean/Spanish film Elsa y Fred (now opening for a theatrical run on July 18 at Landmark's La Jolla Village Theaters). Screened at 2006 Palm Springs International Film Festival, Elsa y Fred features two Spanish language veterans, China Zorrilla and Manuel Alexandre, as seniors who have lost their respective spouses and who unexpectedly strike up a romance. Despite the film's popularity with the Latino Film Fest crowd, it has taken more than a year to gain a theatrical release here in San Diego.

Fred (Manuel Alexandre) is a hypochondriac that Elsa (China Zorrilla) diagnoses as more afraid of living than he is of dying. Elsa, by contrast, has a lust for life and dreams of visiting the Trevi Fountain in Rome, the site of Anita Ekberg's famous dip in Fellini's La Dolce Vita. The film succeeds essentially on the charms of its two leads and the contrast their characters strike on screen.

Director Marcos Carnevale co-wrote the screenplay with Marcela Guerty and Lily Ann Martin. Together they craft a feel good film for the senior crowd. The basic message is that it's never too late to start living.

Elsa y Fred (rated PG for some mild thematic elements and language) displays mature appeal with Zorrilla bringing a joyous lust for life to the film.

Companion viewing: La Dolce Vita, Harold and Maude, Where's Poppa?

WALL-E and cockroach buddy. (Disney/Pixar)

If you are planning some family time this 4th of July weekend, there's actually a film that might make everyone happy - the latest Pixar/Disney venture WALL-E (opened June 27 throughout San Diego). The story is simple and sweet enough to keep the youngest family members happy yet the animation and storytelling is sophisticated enough to impress the adults. And, if I'm to go by what the KPBS Teen Critics have to say, WALL-E serves up a love story that teenage girls AND boys can both embrace. Now that's no easy feat.