Wreck-It Ralph Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Though Disney owns Pixar, the two animation studios work autonomously, and the latter has simply dominated the former over the last decade or so. Wreck-It Ralph—Disney’s latest—represents a giant, candy-colored momentum swing back toward Mickey Mouse and company. Disney still isn’t winning the battle; Pixar’s track record is just too strong. But […]
ParaNorman Review
RATING: (3 STARS) In what’s looking like a banner year for animated films, ParaNorman is without question the sweetest we’ve seen so far. The film’s acceptance themes are anything but subtle, but its story is clever, its animation is crisp, and its characters are really charming. A double feature with Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie would make […]
The Forgiveness of Blood Review
RATING: (3 STARS) With The Forgiveness of Blood, writer-director Joshua Marsten is two for two in depicting frightening and completely foreign cultures to willing American viewers. Maria Full of Grace (from way back in 2004) showed us the hardships of three Columbian drug mules on their way to America. His latest is a much more […]
Looper Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Looper represents a quantum leap forward for Rian Johnson as a filmmaker. Brick and The Brothers Bloom have their admirers, but these films are child’s play compared to what Johnson achieves with this trippy time-travel tale. It’s a genuine masterclass in storytelling, as not a single element in this sprawling story feels […]
Seven Psychopaths Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) In what’s turning out to be a banner year for uber-clever, original scripts, Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths has one of the very best. McDonagh’s In Bruges was merely a warm-up act for the violent zaniness that is his sophomore directorial effort. If you were a fan of that film, you’ll love this […]
Argo Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Ben Affleck’s Argo will make you rethink how much you complain about going through customs at the airport. It seems unfathomable that such a typically mundane and slow-moving event could lead to the tensest bit of American filmmaking so far this year, but that’s what Affleck does with this, his third film. […]
Butter Review
RATING: (2 STARS) Butter isn’t just for spreading on toast anymore; It’s also the title of a pretty weak independent comedy directed by Jim Field Smith. The film’s characters are stock, and its narrative is both unfocused and disappointingly safe. For what’s supposed to be 90 minutes of skewering the ridiculousness of small town America, […]
The Master Review
RATING: (3 STARS) The Master is a story about control, passion, repression, losing oneself, finding oneself, and yes, a cult. But above all, it is the story of a man, a hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you will be by the end of Paul Thomas Anderson’s sprawling puzzle of a film. While he coaxes two […]
Arbitrage Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Nicholas Jarecki’s Arbitrage takes the 2008 financial crisis and puts a conspiracy thriller twist on it. It’s unique in that the story is told from the point of view of a man who, in 95 percent of films, would unequivocally be labeled a villain. Richard Gere’s Robert Miller definitely isn’t one of […]
The Perks of Being a Wallflower Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) The Perks of Being a Wallflower is, at its worst, the best episode of Glee ever. No, there aren’t any musical numbers—though music itself does play an important part throughout the film—but the boyfriend/girlfriend (and boyfriend/boyfriend) drama is a little much. And the film’s message of acceptance is so sweet and gooey […]
Your Sister’s Sister Review
RATING: (2 STARS) Your Sister’s Sister is writer-director Lynn Shelton’s attempt to put an uber-realistic, mumblecore spin on a story that’s more than a little artificial. The end result is a film that wanders purposelessly toward a goofy conclusion. There’s talent on display—no doubt about it—but it never manifests itself into anything resembling a satisfying […]
Hope Springs Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) David Frankel (whose The Big Year was, improbably, both one of last year’s biggest surprises and worst films) must have quite a rapport with Meryl Streep. He directed her to an Oscar nomination in The Devil Wears Prada, and he somehow convinced her to star in his latest, Hope Springs—a film that […]
The Words Review
RATING: (2 STARS) Brian Klugman and Lee Sternthal—the writing-directing duo behind The Words—go through such pains to make their film (which is about novelists) feel like a novel that it loses sense of its more cinematic qualities. The Words moves at a glacial pace. It’s overwritten. Its stately score and incredibly formal look make the entire exercise feel […]
Compliance Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Late in Craig Zobel’s searing psychological drama, Compliance, one character remarks, “I did a bad thing.” It’s the kind of realization that would have been useful 30 minutes earlier, but also one only hindsight could make so clear. Zobel asks his audience to take a leap into a very weird world where […]
The Ambassador
As a film, The Ambassador is fascinating. Danish provocateur/journalist Mads Brügger embeds himself in the dangerous and twisted world of the African business diplomat. With sketchy, black market credentials, the character he’s playing moves from Monrovia, Liberia to Bangui, Central African Republic in search of blood diamonds but under the pretense of building a third-world-saving […]
Lawless Review
RATING: (3 STARS) It’s hard to think of a more appropriate title for John Hillcoat’s new Prohibition drama than Lawless (though the title of the novel the film is based on—The Wettest County in the World—is a close second). The film takes place in Franklin County, Virginia during the early 1930s—an area of the country […]
