Ballet 422 Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) There’s a sequence two-thirds into Ballet 422, Jody Lee Lipes’ hands-off documentary chronicling a wunderkind choreographer’s attempt to bring a ballet from idea to stage, that knocked my socks off. No, it’s not Lipes’ shot of the back of his protagonist Justin Peck’s head with dancers appearing to literally spool out of […]
99 Homes Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Ramin Bahrani is perhaps the quintessential maker of American films working today. That isn’t to say he’s the best filmmaker this country has to offer — great, yes, but not on that level yet — but rather that no one crafts movies that tackle aspects of our national tradition with such precision […]
Truth Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Truth‘s biggest misstep might be its title. James Vanderbilt wrote and directed this absorbing journalism drama about the CBS News scandal that brought an end to Dan Rather’s time as the network’s lead anchor, and it’s about so, so many things, but I’m not sure truth is one of them. It’s an […]
Me and Earl and the Dying Girl Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl has all the traits of a Sundance (and Sundance only) hit. A cast of young unknowns and veteran comedians tell the story of a quirky trio of angsty teens dealing with serious problems beyond their years and current levels of emotional maturity. Classic foreign films […]
Trainwreck Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Trainwreck is just the funniest Hollywood comedy in years. No big deal. It generates its laughs by subverting and embracing in equal measure the romantic comedy formula, and because it can do the former so well, it feels fresher than it ever ought to. Though the Amy-Schumer-penned film suffers from Apatow-itis—symptoms include […]
Ex Machina Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) In the last few years, we’ve seen a surge in both quantity and quality of films that question and dissect what it means to be human. Two obvious standouts are Spike Jonze’s Her and Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, which see Scarlett Johansson portray a loving operating system and ravenous Scottish alien, […]
Ant-Man Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) In Marvel’s Ant-Man, the wise father figure character informs our hero that the world of the quantum is totally unknown by man. Its real-life equivalent, then, might be Ant-Man‘s pre-production story. The great Edgar Wright wrote a screenplay for Marvel’s smallest superhero alongside Attack the Block‘s Joe Cornish. Wright was also attached […]
Amy Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) I remember where I was when I found out Amy Winehouse died. At a Subway in New Jersey, I can still picture what I was wearing, what kind of day it was, how the conversation went between my friends and I. It was an awful day. No contemporary singer affected me the […]
Inside Out Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) According to director Pete Docter’s Inside Out, the human mind is a colorful place. It’s also complicated, conflicted, and perpetually changing. In that respect, the film is about as true to life in its intent (if not its execution) as any Pixar movie in recent memory. (Color-wise, of course, it’s pure fantasy. […]
Results Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) It’s a narrow lane, but Andrew Bujalski owns it: the cinema of the weird shit people do when they’re alone. His last film, Computer Chess, touched on it, but Results goes there in a way that will make 95% of its viewers confused and uncomfortable. After all, the colorful posters with the […]
Furious Seven Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) The spectre of death hangs heavy over Furious 7, the latest in the mega-crazy-super-duper popular franchise based around the words “fast,” “furious,” and “family.” The big elephant in the room, of course, is the untimely death of Paul Walker, one of the franchise’s stars, which occurred off-set while filming was underway. His […]
The Loneliest Planet Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) There’s a moment near the midpoint of Julia Loktev’s The Loneliest Planet that turns a happy couple into a doubtful one. It changes an adventurous trek through the beautiful mountains of Georgia into a desolate, fearful, and truly hellish journey home. And it transforms a good-looking, unsetting film into something as complex, […]
A Most Wanted Man Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) The name John le Carré is to the spy genre as Tolkien is to fantasy. For more than 50 years, the man has thrilled fans with labyrinthine tales of hardened espionage agents trying to navigate morally murky waters—and he’s still going. Published in 2008, A Most Wanted Man is one of his […]
Two Days, One Night Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Two Days, One Night might be the Dardenne brothers’ best film yet. That’s a big statement considering the filmography in quesiton: La Promesse, Rosetta, L’enfant, The Kid with a Bike—not a dud in the bunch. But it’s a complex, rich film that earns such a label. Anchored by a phenomenal turn by […]
Gone Girl Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) There’s an interesting correlation that exists within David Fincher’s filmography: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button aside, the more shocking and memorable a film’s chief psychopath is, the better the film is as a whole. Kevin Spacey’s John Doe made Se7en one of the most horrifying films of all time, and characters […]
Obvious Child Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Obvious Child will always bear the distinction of being an “aborition movie” before a “romantic comedy” in the eyes of many because, well, movies about the termination of a woman’s pregnancy simply don’t get made in today’s risk-averse marketplace. It’s much easier to trot out Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler and make […]
