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Film Review

Time to Remember

by Laura Leon February 16, 2012

Maybe The Vow is the kind of chick flick that makes you embarrassed to be seen waiting in line for, but at the same time, it deserves props for respecting the genre and delivering its ...

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House of Shadows

by Ann Morrow February 9, 2012

Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) is in mourning for his deceased wife. His gloom is so unrelieved that it’s affecting his young son, as well as his career as a solicitor for a London law firm. ...

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We’ve come to expect nasty creatures or literal out-of-body experiences (complete with fluids of all types) in David Cronenberg’s movies. While A Dangerous Method doesn’t quite veer into Naked Lunch or Dead Ringers territory, it ...

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Sad Man

by Ann Morrow February 1, 2012

As a woman disguised as a man, Glenn Close is physically astonishing, her androgynous face subtly altered (with the slight use of prosthetics) to be completely masculine. Only her voice, at times, acts as a ...

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Fall of the Wild

by Ann Morrow February 1, 2012

Liam Neeson’s hypnotic, sensual baritone does more for The Grey than its metaphysical musings—imminent death being a surefire stimuli to those kinds of conversations—and more than the gripping plane crash that sets this survivalist tale ...

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They Fight

by John Brodeur January 26, 2012

The story of the Tuskegee Airmen is one of the great narratives of World War II. Trained near the end of the war, they were the first African-American pilots in a still-segregated military. The sole ...

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Going Nowhere

by Laura Leon January 26, 2012

The ridiculous notion that there’s such a thing as closure drives so much of our pop culture that’s it difficult to find anybody willing to admit that, for some things, there just isn’t any pat ...

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Kick Girl

by Ann Morrow January 26, 2012

“The motives are strictly professional?” asks Paul, a debonair contract killer (Michael Fassbender). “The motive is money,” responds an incredulous Kenneth (Ewan McGregor), the slippery manipulator behind a shadowy black-ops company. “The motive is always ...

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Sex Negative

by John Rodat January 26, 2012

Steve McQueen’s Shame might be as good as its hype—if, that is, you’re willing to accept certain prejudices about promiscuity or sexual behavior, generally. There are explicit indications that the lead character, Brandon (Michael Fassbender), and ...

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Maggie Right or Wrong

by Shawn Stone January 19, 2012

Meryl Streep’s performance as legendary British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is the entire point of The Iron Lady. The film is muddled history, hackneyed drama and a generally underwhelming entertainment—except that Streep brings the British ...

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Movie Movie

by Laura Leon January 19, 2012

Considering the onslaught of big-budget and 3-D extravaganzas that seem to be monopolizing the local cineplex, The Artist is a decided anomaly. For one thing, it’s in black-and-white. More significant, however, is the fact that ...

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Nifty Goods

by Ann Morrow January 19, 2012

The Icelandic novel Reykjavik-Rotterdam is probably a nifty little thriller, going by the American version of the Icelandic screen adaptation. Directed by Iceland’s Baltasar Kormákur, Contraband moves the action across the latitudes, to New Orleans-Panama. ...

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Civilized People

by Shawn Stone January 19, 2012

When the 10-year-old scion of the Longstreet family whacks the eldest son of the Cowan clan in the face with the end of a stick, the result is hurt feelings and missing teeth on the ...

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Frantic Fun

by Laura Leon January 12, 2012

Regardless of whether you made the joyful discovery of Herge’s Tintin comics as a child, or, like me, got hooked on the clear-line expressiveness of the stories much later in life, the series of books ...

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Master of the Game

by Ann Morrow January 12, 2012

The Cold War oeuvre of John le Carre is so redolent of the recent climate of obssessive intelligence gathering that it’s surprising that a new adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy didn’t come down the ...

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Left at the Gate

by Ann Morrow January 12, 2012

The great tactical advantage of men on horses doing battle against men who are not came to a gruesome end during World War I—a monumental change in technology that is shown in all its tragic ...

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Mild Animals

by John Rodat January 12, 2012

Cameron Crowe’s family dramedy We Bought a Zoo is entirely inoffensive, and may be as good a way for you to spend 124 minutes as another. But it really depends. The movie tells the story of ...

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Bigger,Better, Faster, Harder

by Shawn Stone December 21, 2011

If you don’t like big action movies, then the suggestion that Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol is the most enjoyable edition of the 15-year-old Tom Cruise franchise isn’t going to mean much. But if you do, M:I—G.P. ...

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Elementary

by Laura Leon December 21, 2011

Watching Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, it’s almost impossible to imagine that this sequel is only two years out from its first installment, so weary is its attitude and tone. One might think that ...

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Sociopaths in Love

by John Rodat December 21, 2011

I remember seeing Diablo Cody, writer of Young Adult, interviewed by David Letterman around the time her debut, Juno, won the Oscar for best original screenplay. She was entertaining Dave with a story about getting ...

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Lost in Translation from the Swedish

by Ann Morrow December 21, 2011

The Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo had the great good fortune of a lead actress who was unanimously considered to be the perfect counterpart to the ferocious anti-heroine of Stieg Larsson’s ...

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Apocalypse Please

by Ann Morrow December 14, 2011

“10 . . . 9 . . . 8 . . .” Oh why bother, it’s here now: New Year’s Eve, the worst movie of the year. Lamer than you’d expect from a movie about ...

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Doomed Prophet

by Laura Leon December 14, 2011

My youngest child loves to pepper me with questions about everything from the old days, of which I apparently am an expert. Lately, this includes Bible stories. He is particularly fascinated by the plagues that ...

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Lost and Found

by Shawn Stone December 7, 2011

Hugo began life as a graphic novel, and the intricate visual detail in director Martin Scorsese’s first foray into the 3D wonderland reflects this. Quite simply, Hugo is a gorgeous thing to look at. Scorsese ...

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I Feel Fine

by Shawn Stone December 7, 2011

More than a couple of critics have reported walking out at the end of Melancholia feeling energized, elated, even ecstatic. This would seem peculiar, if only because it’s a film about the end of the ...

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