AltWeeklies Wire
'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
Bill Maher's Cross to Bearnew
Maher has been hammering away forever at institutionalized faith, but Religulous, which Lionsgate quixotically plans to position as an Oscar contender in the documentary category, raises the bar to a whole new dimension of attack, as you might expect from a movie with Borat director Larry Charles at the helm.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
10-10-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'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
Writer-director Azazel Jacobs' Indie Angeleno Tries to Go Home Againnew
Momma's Man taps into those moments when all of us long to flee adulthood and sink back into being our parents' beloved baby birds, whether or not we ever were in the first place.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
09-05-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Azazel Jacobs, Momma's Man
'Frozen River': A Hard-Knock Lifenew
Struggling single mom skates on thin ice in Sundance prizewinner.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
08-01-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
Young-Adult Fiction: 'American Teen'new
High school heroes and zeros roam the halls of alleged documentary.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
07-25-2008 |
Reviews
Was Roman Polanski a Pedophile?new
Along its winding road to crucifying the American judiciary, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired grinds some very blunt axes, makes some dizzying leaps to judgment and does a lot of silly editing with movie clips.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
07-18-2008 |
Reviews
'Mamma Mia!' Big-Screen Musical Drains the Fun Out of ABBAnew
For all its halfhearted stabs at catering to the transatlantic youth market (with a little gift tucked in for the stage show’'s voluminous gay following), Mamma Mia! is a (Shirley) valentine to 50-something we're-not-done-yet broads.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
07-18-2008 |
Reviews
'Hancock', America's Low-rent Superhero, Just in Time for the Recessionnew
Even bearing in mind the conventional wisdom that superman movies keep coming back to cheer us through hard times, I'm not clear whether Hancock is meant to be a representative of the homeless, a midcareer-burnout case or a troubled brother from another planet.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
07-07-2008 |
Reviews
Director Timur Bekmambetov's Stock Rises with Action Fansnew
Bekmambetov happily agrees that the movie may be the year's fastest, bloodiest and chattiest Hollywood picture, but he denies that it's a celebration of ruthlessness.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
06-27-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
'The Love Guru': Mike Myers' Cosmic Goofnew
Mostly it's dreary dick jokes and elephant poop, slack directing by Marco Schnabel (a second unit on the Austin Powers movies) and, of all fatal errors, Mike Myers shooting for cuddly.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
06-20-2008 |
Reviews
'Kit Kittredge': As American As Overpriced Dollsnew
In Mattel co-production, all it takes to cure the Depression is a little Miss Sunshine.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
06-20-2008 |
Reviews
Director Sergei Bodrov Retraces the Footsteps of Genghis Khannew
Just over a decade ago, Bodrov made his mark in the West with his Academy Award–nominated movie Prisoner of the Mountains. After frustrating stints as a director-for-hire, he did the smart thing and made the movie he wanted to make.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
06-13-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
