NOW Magazine | Andrew Dowler

'Ben X' Boresnew

First-time director Nic Balthazar has already worked this fact-based material as a novel and a play. At bottom, he seems to be making a plea for tolerance and understanding for the autistic; what he's put on the screen is a merely okay problem drama.

NOW Magazine | Andrew Dowler | 04-18-2008 | Reviews

Tags: autism, Ben X, Greg Timmermans, Laura Verlinden, Marijke Pinoy, Nic Balthazar, Drama

'The Forbidden Kingdom': A Thoroughly Enjoyable Action Flicknew

It's also a smart and loving tribute to the genre that unobtrusively enhances the fun for knowledgeable kung fu movie fans.

NOW Magazine | Andrew Dowler | 04-18-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Rob Minkoff, The Forbidden Kingdom, action, Collin Chou, Crystal Liu Yi Fei, kung fu, Li Bing Bing, Michael Angarano

Dumb 'Waiter'new

Alex van Warmerdam serves up boredom.

NOW Magazine | Andrew Dowler | 01-28-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Alex van Warmerdam, waiter

Uwe Boll Bores Againnew

In the Name of the King is long on visually confused, thrill-free action and short on everything else that makes a movie pleasurable. Except CGI-enhanced scenery.

NOW Magazine | Andrew Dowler | 01-11-2008 | Reviews

Tags: Uwe Boll, In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale

'Sunflower' is Both Universal and Specifically Chinesenew

The settings in a traditional Chinese home, institutional work, party meetings and modern apartments give us fascinating background and incidents that enhance the drama and highlight the interplay of traditional values in an increasingly Westernized world.

NOW Magazine | Andrew Dowler | 09-21-2007 | Reviews

Tags: sunflower, Zhang Yang

Ellis Can't Make the Leap from Comic to Novelnew

Pick up any of his Transmetropolitan graphic novels instead -- you'll get more entertainment for less money.

NOW Magazine | Andrew Dowler | 09-14-2007 | Fiction

Tags: Crooked Little Vein, Warren Ellis, Fiction Reviews

'The Hunting Party' Feels Like Two Different Moviesnew

One is a smart comedy about TV reporters, and the other is a fact-based story about those reporters hunting a war criminal in postwar Bosnia -- but the two never blend, and only a few of the scenes generate either laughs or tension.

NOW Magazine | Andrew Dowler | 09-14-2007 | Reviews

Tags: Richard Shepard, The Hunting Party

No 'Beauty' Here, Just Mathnew

Stewart's prose is clear, and he has a good story to tell and some fascinating ideas to present -- but he never quite brings his subject to life.

NOW Magazine | Andrew Dowler | 08-20-2007 | Nonfiction

Tags: Ian Stewart, Why Beauty is Truth: A History of Symmetry, Nonfiction Reviews

'Gym' Dandynew

Except for one, each of the 33 working novelists, short story writers and poets assembled by Clark delivers practical tips in plain English for the practicing writer.

NOW Magazine | Andrew Dowler | 07-20-2007 | Nonfiction

Tags: Eliza Clark, ed., Writer's Gym: Exercises and Training Tips for Writers, Nonfiction Reviews