AltWeeklies Wire
'Disgrace' Faces the Facts of Post-Apartheid South Africanew
This film adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's brilliant 1999 novel looks the chaos and hatred of postapartheid South Africa squarely in the face, probing the terrible fallout from white denial and pride without patronizing blacks by caricaturing them as noble victims.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
09-25-2009 |
Reviews
Michael Moore Sells the Same Old Shtick in 'Capitalism'new
I wish that more of the contradictions of late capitalism had made it into this scattershot, lazy slice of agitprop, which recycles Moore's usual slice-and-dice job on corporations, while bobbing a curtsey to the current crisis.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
09-24-2009 |
Reviews
Framed Like a Rembrandt, 'Everlasting Moments' Looks Great, But Misses the Big Picturenew
Lovely to look at but too slow and deliberate to get lost in, Jan Troell's Everlasting Moments is a tribute to still photography filtered through a portrait of working-class life wracked by war and want in early-20th-century Sweden.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
03-05-2009 |
Reviews
We're Just Not That Into Drew Barrymore's Latestnew
Greg Behrendt’s know-it-all bossiness may work for a putative self-help handbook, but it doesn’t set quite the right tone for a chick flick aimed at a generation of females who, whether they know it or not, have been sufficiently empowered by the women’s movement to want to direct their own lives.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
02-13-2009 |
Reviews
'The Class': To Sir, With Attitudenew
French cinema is famously dialogue-heavy, but next to Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale, The Class qualifies hands down as the chattiest movie of the year.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
12-19-2008 |
Reviews
The Long and (Oscar-) Worthy Road to Redemption of 'The Reader'new
Like Doubt, Stephen Daldry's The Reader is low-budget, high-profile and beamed straight at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Category of High Moral Tone.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
12-12-2008 |
Reviews
'Doubt' Wags the Finger of Moral Relativismnew
With its bristling topicality, ritzy cast and the added bonus of Roger Deakins' gracefully bleak cinematography, Doubt is being squired around town as prime Oscar bait. But in Shanley’s hands, it only looks deep.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
12-12-2008 |
Reviews
'Australia': Somewhere Over the Datelinenew
You don't have to have been raised on colonial Brit Lit, classic melodramas, Westerns, war movies, or Gone With the Wind to predict the likely outcome of Baz Luhrmann's Australia within its first 15 minutes, but any or all of the above will help.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
12-01-2008 |
Reviews
'Bolt' is a Starry Dog Storynew
As I laughed my head off, I wondered what it means that children's movies have become the playground for Hollywood's self-loathing.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
11-21-2008 |
Reviews
'A Christmas Tale' is Ecstatically Bitchynew
Arnaud Desplechin comes home for the horror days.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
11-14-2008 |
Reviews
'Ballast': Weight of the Worldnew
Taking measure of Lance Hammer's Sundance-awarded drama.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
11-07-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Ballast, Lance Hammer
'The Secret Life of Bees': Buzz Killnew
Saccharine civil rights drama is all honey, no sting.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
10-17-2008 |
Reviews
'Moving Midway': Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?new
A white Southern family's alterna-history meets reality.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
10-17-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Godfrey Cheshire, Moving Midway
'Rachel Getting Married': Anne Hathaway Plays the Other Sisternew
Actress makes compelling bad girl in pedestrian family drama.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
10-10-2008 |
Reviews
'The Women': Ladies Lightnew
From Diane English, just another chick flick.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
09-12-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Diane English, The Women
