Movie Reviews
Hidden addiction: 'Shame' evokes painful emotions Shame Director: Steve McQueenStarring: Michael Fassbender, Carey MulliganPlaying: Downtown~NC-17 - 101 min  There is a close-up in Shame of Michael Fassbender's face showing...read more Feb 22nd, 2012
No happiness: Close brings out Albert's sad little lifeI know a novel that begins: "This is the saddest story I've ever heard." Now here is one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. It is sad because a woman has chosen to lead her life in a way that is...read more Feb 15th, 2012
Relentless: Winter terror comes with fangs"The Grey" is an unrelenting demonstration that wolves have no opinion. When they attack, it's not personal. They've spent untold millennia learning how to survive, naked and without weapons, in...read more Feb 8th, 2012
'The Artist' surprises and delights without a word Is it possible to forget that "The Artist" is a silent film in black and white and simply focus on it as a movie? No? That's what people seem to zero in on. They cannot imagine themselves seeing such...read more Feb 2nd, 2012
'Red Tails' soars with entertainment but lacks meaning The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of African-American fighter pilots who were trained despite the racism entrenched in the U.S. armed services at the time, were deployed in action, and achieved fame...read more Jan 26th, 2012
Not so 'Joyful': Parton, Latifah miss the noteJoyful Noise is an ungainly assembly of parts that don't fit, and the strange thing is that it makes no particular effort to please its target audience, which would seem to be lovers of gospel choirs...read more Jan 19th, 2012
Who's the mole? 'Tinker Tailor' complex, atmosphericYes, we imagine, international espionage is probably pretty much like this. No thrilling car chases and no big action sections, but rather a series of weary men, smoking and drinking tea or whisky,...read more Jan 12th, 2012
Award whinnying? War Horse shows Spielberg talentThe closing shots of Steven Spielberg's War Horse will stir emotions in every serious movie lover. The sky is painted with a deeply red-orange sunset. A lone rider is seen far away on the horizon....read more Jan 5th, 2012
Mission accomplished: Fourth film 'cruising' for successMission Impossible: Ghost Protocol is a terrific thriller with action sequences that function as a kind of action poetry. The best one has Tom Cruise hanging more than 100 stories up on the glass...read more Dec 22nd, 2011
In 2011: The ten or eleven best filmsMaking lists is not my favorite occupation. They inevitably inspire only reader complaints. Not once have I ever heard from a reader that my list was just fine and they liked it. Yet an annual Best...read more Dec 22nd, 2011
Reitman's return: 'Young Adult' showcases talentThey must have closed their eyes and crossed their fingers while they were making this film. It breaks with form, doesn't follow our expectations, and is about a heroine we like less at the end than...read more Dec 14th, 2011
Muppet madness: Henson's handiwork back with panacheThe popularity of the Muppets is given new life in The Muppets, a funny, wickedly self-aware musical that opens by acknowledging they've outlived their shelf life. There's some truth in that; this is...read more Dec 8th, 2011
Clooney's best: 'Descendants' a four-star hitThe Descendants has a happy ending. Therefore technically it's a comedy. It takes place in the paradise of Hawaii. It stars George Clooney. That may lead you to expect a pleasant good time, but this...read more Dec 1st, 2011
Modern apocalypse: Von Trier's 'Melancholia' stares death downLars von Trier's "Melancholia" opens with music from Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde," mourning and apocalyptic, and disturbing images of a world not right. A woman dressed as a bride runs through a...read more Nov 24th, 2011
Gorgeous drivel: 'Immortals' delivers beauty, not storyImmortals is without doubt the best-looking awful movie you will ever see. Eiko Ishioka's costume designs alone deserve an Oscar nomination. "They weren't at all historically accurate," grumbled a...read more Nov 17th, 2011
Gere'd up: 'The Double' could use twice the plotIt takes The Double less than half an hour to reveal who the double is. That's if you're lucky enough to avoid the movie's trailer, which just comes right out and tells you. At that point, Peggy Lee...read more Nov 8th, 2011
High stakes: 'In Time' an intriguing premiseWe are all of us engaged in the trade of buying and selling time. When we stop smoking, we hope we are buying years. When we drink and drive, we are willing to sell a few years. But those are gambles...read more Nov 3rd, 2011
Big hit: But kinda stale taste in Para 3"Paranormal Activity 3" is a prequel, revealing that the characters in "PA1" and "PA2" had already been through the all-night video surveillance ordeal. At least in this film they are undergoing it...read more Oct 27th, 2011
Retread: 'Footloose' remake out of stepThere's one thing to be said for a remake of a 1984 movie that uses the original screenplay. This 2011 version is so similar – sometimes song for song and line for line – that I was...read more Oct 19th, 2011
Masterful thriller: Shannon shows gifts in 'Take Shelter'Here is a frightening thriller based not on special effects gimmicks but on a dread that seems quietly spreading in the land: that the good days are ending, and climate changes or other sinister...read more Oct 12th, 2011