Movies

All recent movie reviews

Review: The Dictator: Steven Rea: The man who brought us Borat takes us behind the palace walls of Wadiya, an oil-rich state with a leader who orders up executions the way other folks might order a pizza.
Will Smith goes ‘Black’ to the past: Gary Thompson: The time travel romp “Men In Black 3” returns us to a previous century, all the way back to that bygone era when Will Smith had yet to make a sequel.
'I wish': An affecting story of brothers: Steven Rea: 'Why is everyone so calm when the volcano is erupting?" a schoolkid wonders as he and a friend work their way through the town of Kagoshima, the ashes of an active volcano coating its streets in dust.
'Polisse': Cops coping with abused kids and their abusers: Carrie Rickey: Polisse, a riveting cop procedural, follows a year in the lives of agents attached to the Children's Protection Unit (CPU) of the Paris police. Based on actual cases, this is keenly observed fiction packing the force, and rough edges, of fact.
Review: Meeting Evil
'Losing Control': Career v. commitment, wrapped in comic absurdity: Steven Rea: If Losing Control has too much of a girl-com TV vibe about it - and it does, replete with wacky pals, bad blind dates, and perilously upbeat music cues - it also has smarts.
'Bernie': True-crime comedy with a Texas drawl: Steven Rea: Known as Bernie to most everyone - and played with just the right combination of earnestness and quirk by Jack Black - he's a skilled mortician who sings in the church, leads the amateur theater troupe, and has a good word to say for everyone.
'What to Expect When You're Expecting': Pregnancy meets reality TV: Carrie Rickey: Unlike its source material, "What to Expect" unfolds in a parallel universe where (almost) everyone has his or her own television reality show.
'Battleship' is silly but it doesn't sink: Gary Thompson: “Battleship” is an action comedy, with the emphasis on the comedy.
‘Mansome’: No hair to the throne of ‘Super-Size Me’: Gary Thompson: Years from now, children of documentary filmmakers will be diagnosed with a condition called documentia.
A dog and his people in 'Darling Companion': Steven Rea: Lawrence Kasdan's Darling Companion is a shambling and not exactly deep ensemble piece centered on a long-married couple (Diane Keaton, Kevin Kline) and the dog that comes into, and then out of, their lives.
'Surviving Progress': Documentary paints picture of civilization headed toward doom: A wake-up call of epic significance, Surviving Progress is one of those documentaries that everybody should see - and, alas, a documentary that many will dismiss as politically slanted, while others just won't know it's there.
‘Changing the Game’ filmed in Philadelphia: “CHANGING THE GAME,” the second feature from Philadelphia independent filmmaker Rel Dowdell, surely cannot be faulted for its scope or ambition. The movie is a literary, sprawling, age-of-globalization story about a North Philadelphia guy with a genius I.Q. who goes to Penn and then to high finance, and learns that Wall Street (surprise!) is no less treacherous than the mean streets he knew as a youth.
'Crooked Arrows' plays it straight: Gary Thompson: It’s billed as the first movie about lacrosse, the country’s fastest growing sport and also the continent’s oldest, played by the six nations of the Iroquois confederacy going back a thousand years or more — a heritage reflected in the underdog scenario that drives “Crooked Arrows.”
A superhero slugfest: Steven Rea: Directed by genre geek Joss Whedon, whose pulp sensibilities worked magic on TV with shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Avengers is a slickly packaged, effects-driven smashup.
'Dark Shadows': Vampire tale that bleeds retro: Steven Rea: Rip Van Winkle's 20-year snooze is a catnap compared to the time Barnabas Collins has spent buried in the ground, lying in a coffin shut tight with heavy chains.
'First Position' the real deal of dance competitions: Ellen Dunkel: Pushy parents, eating habits, injuries, and expenses. First Position takes a fascinating insider's look at seven ballet students training and competing at Youth America Grand Prix.
'God Bless America' is strictly Old Testament: Gary Thompson: God Bless America is a transgressive, edgy movie that doesn’t mind offending you in order to make its point. And the point? How's that for irony.
A Little Bit of Heaven: Steven Rea: It would be instructive, albeit torturous, to mount a double bill of A Little Bit of Heaven, the new cancer melodrama starring the perpetually bubbly Kate Hudson, and 50/50, last year’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt cancer melodrama.
‘City’ leaves critic restless: Gary Thompson: The immigrant saga “Restless City” is winning deserved praise for its stunning visuals, and some understandable gripes about its pokey pace.
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: Gary Thompson: It’s Eat, Pray, Love for the AARP — which, in a worst-cast scenario, might play like Eat, Complain, and Continue Eating.
Sound of My Voice: Steven Rea: Yes, it’s a cult movie — that is, a movie about a cult.
We Have a Pope: Steven Rea: There are crises of faith, and then there are crises of faith. In We Have a Pope, Michel Piccoli is having a doozy.