AltWeeklies Wire
Blue Valentinenew
Valentine daze: Tough love gets explored in the time-hopping Blue Valentine.
Boston Phoenix |
Gerald Peary |
01-10-2011 |
Reviews
2011 Film Preview: 25 Films Mike Leigh Didn't Direct (plus one that he did)new
The movies chill out to start the year.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
01-05-2011 |
Reviews
The Controversial 'Antichrist' Is 'Saw VI' As Told By Carl Dreyernew
I'm torn between dismissing the film as gross-out juvenilia and regarding it as raw religious mythmaking. Either way, you won't find a livelier time at the movies these days, if only because of the outraged groans and dumfounded gasps from the audience.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
10-23-2009 |
Reviews
Gerald Peary's Ode To The Film Criticnew
Rock critics rarely cut gold records. Likewise, few football reporters go on to quarterback Super Bowl winners. But with his eight-years-in-the-making documentary on film criticism, long-time critic and professor Gerald Peary incinerates the barrier between subject and reporter, demonstrating more than mere comprehension of the art he's scrutinized for decades.
Boston Phoenix |
Chris Faraone |
09-03-2009 |
Reviews
'Up': Raising the Art to a Higher Levelnew
The future of movies? No, it's not 3-D — it’s Up's limpid storytelling, thrilling visuals, endearing characters, and respect for the audience.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
05-29-2009 |
Reviews
'W.' Gets a Bnew
Maybe it's because Sarah Palin has put the bar so low, but Oliver Stone's Bush seems to have credibility, and he evokes sympathy.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
10-16-2008 |
Reviews
Control Freaks: 'Get Smart' Favors Dumb Slapstick over Cold War Tensionnew
The spy spoof trades cold-war tension for dumb slapstick.
Boston Phoenix |
Tom Meek |
06-19-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Peter Segal, Get Smart
Lifting the Veilnew
If we've learned anything in the past five or so years of our foreign policy, it's that we should know a few things about a country -- its history, people, culture, and religion -- before bombing the crap out of it.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
01-10-2008 |
Reviews
The Wasted Landnew
Lethal baby farts have been cut, the better for Richard Kelly's doomsaying Donnie Darko follow-up to emphasize more-familiar threats to our national security -- including Justin Timberlake, Mandy Moore, and Kevin Smith.
Boston Phoenix |
Rob Nelson |
11-15-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Richard Kelly, Southland Tales
The Eyes Have Itnew
We've come a long way from Kieslowski's Red, in which a retired judge falls into disgrace for listening in on his neighbors -- now, spying on citizens is a virtue, no more so than in Britain, where it's estimated that the average person appears on camera some 300 times a day.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
05-10-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Andrea Arnold, Red Road
The Feel-Good Movie of the Summernew
Stone makes a movie on a politically loaded subject and tries really, really hard not to make it political, and he's still called a conspiracy nut, this time for not politicizing his subject.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
08-10-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Oliver Stone, World Trade Center
Storyvillenew
Like Shyamalan's other films, this one is full of fascinating but half-chewed ideas told in a form that even a child (with a high tolerance for creepy chills) can grasp.
Boston Phoenix |
Gary Susman |
07-20-2006 |
Reviews
War Is This and Thatnew
Two new documentaries about veterans from two wars serve up significant differences but also universal truths.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
06-29-2006 |
Reviews
Does the World Need Superman?new
The mastery of cinematic form that director Bryan Singer exhibited in his X-Men movies carries the super narrative and then some.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
06-28-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Bryan Singer, Superman Returns
Truth and Consequencesnew
For a film consisting mostly of a middle-aged guy pointing to charts and lecturing about complex, controversial, and world-challenging ideas, this makes for a more entertaining thriller than The Da Vinci Code.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
06-01-2006 |
Reviews
