Reviews

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Written by Sarah Boslaugh Thursday, 05 May 2011 20:05

Tavernier builds up a complex picture of social relations in 1560s France with a large cast and great attention to the details of costumes and other period elements.

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Written by Matthew F. Newlin Friday, 29 April 2011 07:54

Director Justin Lin has not set out to create landmark cinema. He knows what the audience wants, and he gives it to them.

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Written by Sarah Boslaugh Thursday, 28 April 2011 11:30

Winter in Wartime seems to be an ideal film for tweeners and young teenagers to see and then discuss with an interested adult.

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Written by Pete Timmermann Thursday, 28 April 2011 11:04

This film is way better than it has any right to be; film students of the world, prepare to be really jealous.

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Written by Sarah Boslaugh Thursday, 21 April 2011 23:21

A much larger group of potential ticket-buyers could have been tapped with a different title that I offer here for consideration: Twilight Under the Big Top.

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Written by Sarah Boslaugh Thursday, 21 April 2011 12:48

Instead, like the Magical Negroes so beloved of certain American filmmakers, they exist only to help members of the privileged classes get in touch with their humanity.

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Written by Sarah Boslaugh Thursday, 21 April 2011 12:34

What else would you expect from a film that in the surreally pastel opening scene shows two rabbits getting busy as Suzanne jogs past?

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Written by Pete Timmermann Friday, 15 April 2011 09:39

It finds most of its humor in how regular Frank really is—he’s dumb and sloppy and petty just like you and me.

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Written by Sarah Boslaugh Friday, 15 April 2011 09:30

Each story could be expanded to carry a movie by itself, and cramming them into just a few short scenes creates information overload without emotional identification.

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Written by Pete Timmermann Thursday, 14 April 2011 19:41

Everyone else could just get stabbed, and it wouldn’t (and didn’t) make any difference to me.

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Written by Sarah Boslaugh Thursday, 14 April 2011 11:04

At heart, Aladag’s is a story of clashing cultures whose values are exemplified in her characters.

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Written by Pete Timmermann Wednesday, 13 April 2011 21:33

His films find new and interesting things to say about the experience of being alive—and new and interesting things to do with cinema as an art form along the way.

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Written by Pete Timmermann Monday, 11 April 2011 07:00

As strong as Giamatti and Ryan are, the real find here is Schaffer, who nails Kyle’s almost manic-depressive switches between very sweet and scarily angry.

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Written by Adrienne Jones Friday, 08 April 2011 13:17

For every ‘falling down the stairs in a gummy bear costume’ moment there are about six more where you just want Arthur to be all right.

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Written by Sarah Boslaugh Friday, 08 April 2011 13:01

Seems composed of dialogue and scenes written and then discarded by writers working on better films.

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Written by Sarah Boslaugh Friday, 08 April 2011 12:35

This is a sort of high-level fudging that buys the production more than a few breaks because it leaves you uncertain about whether what you’re seeing is deep or shallow.

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Written by Pete Timmermann Friday, 08 April 2011 12:29

Like Secret Sunshine, the plot never goes where you expect it to, which I mean as a complement of the highest order.

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Written by Pete Timmermann Friday, 01 April 2011 07:11

Source Code holds its own and doesn’t rip things off so much as uses ideas as fertilizer in its garden.

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Written by Adrienne Jones Friday, 01 April 2011 07:05

Well, of course you can take your kids to see Hop—as long as they don't expect big laughs, and as long as you don't expect good acting or a vibrant, coherent story.

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Written by Pete Timmermann Thursday, 31 March 2011 22:16

Both are kind of bitchy, mincing, and passive-aggressively unpleasant, and they do not make good company for the film’s 106-minute running time.

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Written by Sarah Boslaugh Thursday, 31 March 2011 22:13

Despite being on a first-name basis with many of the stars of the fashion world (Anna Wintour famously remarked that "we all dress for Bill"), Cunningham retains his independence.

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Written by Pete Timmermann Friday, 25 March 2011 07:57

Character motivation here isn’t exactly a priority anyway; being able to tell the girls apart by sight is really all you need.