Movie Reviews
I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that I always ask, “Why animate?” when I run into an animated feature. But good or bad, I do it. Jean-Loup Felicioli and …
In his book Democracy in America, French sociologist Alexis de Tocqueville claimed that in our fair country, religion had a greater influence on women than it did on men. This was well and good, he …
Let’s be honest: Battleship is Bullship. That honor is soon justified, when Lieutenant Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) steals a burrito to impress the va-voom daughter (Brooklyn Decker) of an admiral (Liam Neeson). A boozing screw-up …
Jack Black, a likeable actor, simply had to play the most likeable man in Carthage, Texas. He is Bernhardt Tiede II, currently in prison yet still loved in Carthage for having been a funeral director …
In what must be a final run at the bank, Men in Black III arrives a decade after the last installment. The first two MiB shows grossed over a billion worldwide, providing rich justification for …
Early reviews have argued that director Mary Harron has fallen below her previous level (American Psycho, The Notorious Bettie Page) with The Moth Diaries. They might better have emphasized the intelligent skill that Harron, who …
Sacha Baron Cohen, finding his face too familiar now (even in disguise) for the hijinks of movies such as Borat and Bruno, assembles a ragtag narrative, pilfered from the headlines of international news. He plays …
Filmmakers follow the lives of several aspiring ballet dancers from around the globe (ages 9 to 19) as they train for the Youth America Grand Prix, a prestigious dance competition in New York City that …
Director and co-writer Nanni Moretti presents us with a “what if” meditation on the passing of the papal torch. Following the death of the old Pope, the conclave of Cardinals elects Father Melville (played with …
The Third World is somewhere in almost every great city. It fills much of the Brooklyn of Restless City. This movie has a zip chance in the big market but will still be worth viewing …
Director Tim Burton might never equal his early pinnacle Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, with its tight budget and its design in splendid sync with weird little Pee-wee Herman. Burton came close with Beetlejuice and Ed Wood, …
The pieces of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel fit together enjoyably. Here is something for those who love Downton Abbey (and Upstairs Downstairs) and something for those who love Slumdog Millionaire. Add elements of Merchant …
Paris, 1999: Camille is besotted by Sullivan. He besots back, but she cannot understand why he wants to go to South America with two pals, minus her, on a long adventure. Maybe from fear of …
As Maggie, leader of an obscure cult in Sound of My Voice, Brit Marling has the radiant, unlined purity of a dream angel. Her beauty is so sexy but virginal, she could become a New …
No doubt it is better to be a young, pretty prostitute for moneyed Parisians than, say, an aging gutter slut in Tampico. But the human complications are not much reduced. Facing those complications in Elles, …
The trailer for The Raven made me fear that it would relate to Edgar Allan Poe about as much as a cement mixer does to Michelangelo. But the film is entertaining as author Poe (John …