AltWeeklies Wire
Run Jackass, Runnew
This Farrelly brothers comedy purports to have a message about treating the intellectually challenged as regular human beings, which is about as disingenuous as a comedy about seeing past a person’s body size that stars Gwyneth Paltrow in a fat suit.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-21-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Barry W. Blaustein, The Ringer
See Dick and Jane Run Agroundnew
The original version of this comedy was little countercultural, a lot class-conscious, and a touch subversive; this remake is all farce when what is needed is satire.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-21-2005 |
Reviews
Western Weepienew
The beautifully wrought film is a tragic love story (not a "gay cowboy movie") that’s defined by its staggering heartbreak.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-15-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain
Oil Makes the World Go Roundnew
One of the most uncompromising movies of the year, Syriana is like a living tableaux composed from all the stories that lurk just behind the news, the stories that put human faces on the demand for oil.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-08-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Stephen Gaghan, Syriana
Comedian Lost in the Byways of Songnew
Spotty comedy delivers on its promise of Total Silverman, but that turns out to be not such a good thing after all.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-08-2005 |
Reviews
Acting the Partnew
This Naomi Watts performance showcase has been slipping into theatres that are presently readying themselves for the onslaught of King Kong, which just happens to star Watts as the woman who would be Fay Wray.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-08-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Ellie Parker, Scott Coffey
For the Sake of the Songnew
Vivid yet impressionistic, this documentary tribute to the musician Townes Van Zandt brings the life and the music of this songwriter's songwriter into focus.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-08-2005 |
Reviews
You Can't Always Get What You Wantnew
Movies this bad don’t often get released anymore, a circumstance that instantly raises the curiosity factor of All That I Need, a film about a pyramid scheme as a reality movie.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-01-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: All That I Need, James Hergott
Holiday on Icenew
Instead of an action comedy that’s as slick as ice, Harold Ramis’ sardonic new comedy is more like an uncongealed river of slush.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
11-23-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Harold Ramis, The Ice Harvest
Cheaper by the Grossnew
This supersized family comedy makes The Brady Bunch look like an example of prudent family planning and sophisticated humor.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
11-23-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Raja Gosnell, Yours, Mine & Ours
The Secret Lives of Screenwritersnew
Playwright and screenwriter Craig Lucas debuts as a director of his own material with this nasty little story about interpersonal deceptions and Hollywood ethics.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
11-23-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Craig Lucas, The Dying Gaul
Bombs Awaynew
Inside the mind of a Palestinian suicide bomber: That's the guarded territory broached in Paradise Now, a film fashioned as a thriller rather than a psychological study.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
11-17-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Hany Abu-Assad, Paradise Now
Portrait of the Artist as a Gay Ladnew
Dorian Blues has wit, humor, good performances, and clever technique, which catapult the film into the front ranks of coming-out movies.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
11-17-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Dorian Blues, Tennyson Bardwell
Game Onnew
With his follow-up to Elf, director Jon Favreau sticks with family-friendly filmmaking, this time delivering a bang-up version of Chris Van Allsburg's bestselling children's book Zathura.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
11-10-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Jon Favreau, Zathura
The Corpse Isn't the Only Thing That's Stiffnew
Master filmmaker Atom Egoyan goes for the mainstream with this new murder mystery, but sadly his aim is way, way off.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
11-10-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Atom Egoyan, Where the Truth Lies
