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 Girl Who Leapt Through Time Review
RATING: (3 STARS) You don’t need to be an anime connoisseur to appreciate Mamoru Hosoda’s 2006 film Toki o kakeru shôjo (or The Girl Who Leapt Through Time). Driven by a dense but consistently intriguing narrative, the film—like many other time-travel tales—touches on issues related to fate vs. free will and selfishness vs. sacrifice. Is […]
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 […]
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 […]
Premium Rush Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Pure adrenaline, it seems, is sometimes all one needs to sustain an entire motion picture. Take Premium Rush—the new bicycle messenger action movie directed by David Koepp and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The film hits a speed bump almost every time it stops for exposition. Thankfully, those instances are few and far between, […]
Bachelorette Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Leslye Headland’s Bachelorette chronicles the misadventures of three deeply flawed women on the night before their friend’s wedding. Comparisons to Bridesmaids are inevitable because of the subject matter and the sex of its main characters, but this film shares much more in common with something like Bad Santa, which presents a series […]
Friends with Kids Review
RATING: (3 STARS) The premise of Jennifer Westfeldt’s Friends with Kids is irritating and feels false. A pair of successful, attractive, and personable thirtysomethings can’t find their soulmates, so they decide to have a kid together before Father Time catches up to them. These two serial daters are Jason (Adam Scott) and Julie (Westfeldt), and […]
The Amazing Spider-Man Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Put simply, Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man is an entertaining superhero movie, and if that’s what you’re looking for during the sweltering summer months, you’ll get your money’s worth. Of course, the film has the added burden of proving to audience that its necessary to reboot the Spidey series just a decade […]
Brave Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Good-natured and well-crafted, Brave is everything a family film should be. Unfortunately, Pixar’s nearly flawless track record has saddled its twelfth feature film with expectations it’s unable to live up to. Its rich, character-filled animation and big heart unfortunately don’t distract enough from the film’s over-reliance on broad comedy, nor its disappointingly […]
The Do-Deca-Pentathlon Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Relatable characters, simple set-ups, deceptively complex emotions—these are calling cards of Jay and Mark Duplass, and those settling in to watch their latest, The Do-Deca-Pentathlon, should recognize these trademarks without much difficulty. It’s Mark’s (Steve Zissis) birthday, and he and his family are flying to his mother’s house for a party. Mark’s […]
The Shining Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Stanley Kubrick’s cinematic interpretation of Stephen King’s The Shining is … interesting. Technically, he’s on surer footing than perhaps ever before (I’d argue 2001 is a bigger achievement, but in terms of scope, The Shining does more with less). Thematically, some really challenging things are going down. But Kubrick’s ability to tell […]
God Bless America Review
RATING: (3 STARS) The way you respond to Bobcat Goldthwaite’s latest, God Bless America, might depend on your feelings toward 2010’s Kick-Ass. The two films have a lot of things in common—not the least of which is a murderous, and very nonplussed, teenage girl. In fact, the way both films deal with violence in general […]
The Avengers Review
RATING: (3 STARS) With five separate films, years of hype, and billions of dollars all leading up to this, how in the world can director Joss Whedon satisfy expectations surrounding his new film, The Avengers? Easy: Up the stakes as high as they’ll go and pack in as many glory moments as humanly (or, in […]
Lolita Review
RATING: (3 STARS) Lolita is a weird movie, even for Stanley Kubrick. The poster for it brilliantly reads “How did they ever make a movie out of Lolita?” It’s a fair question. One can’t help but think it would take a miracle to turn Vladimir Nabokov‘s blistering novel into a movie today—nevermind 1962. But if […]
Spartacus Review
RATING: (3 STARS) It’s been written by many that Spartacus was more the baby of Kirk Douglas than Stanley Kubrick, and whether that’s true or not, it’s easy to see why such an opinion still persists decades later. Despite featuring many touches that can only be described as Kubrickian, the film is formulaic to a […]
