AltWeeklies Wire
'Coco Before Chanel' Needs a Stylistnew
If only Audrey Tatou could have summoned a little more fire to melt the glacial pace of this ambitious biopic.
Ellen Page Whips it Good in Her Best Post-'Juno' Rolenew
After seeing Juno, my outraged teen daughter rightly asked, "Where is the girl's version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" Whip It steps into that void.
Michael Moore's Antics are Finally Justified in 'Capitalism'new
To summarize the sentiment fueling Michael Moore's latest agitprop, one need only quote Tony Montana: "You know what capitalism is? Gettin' fucked!"
Ang Lee's 'Taking Woodstock' is a Marvelous, Unabashedly Nostalgic Trip Backnew
Lee (born in 1954) is just barely old enough to claim membership in the Woodstock generation, even if he was living in his native Taiwan at the time. Still, the Oscar-winning director nails the groovy vibe as effortlessly as he conjured up 1970s suburbia in The Ice Storm.
Tags: Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee
A Ho-Hum Predictability in 'Adam'new
"I'm not Forrest Gump, you know," deadpans Adam when Beth gifts him a box of chocolates. Unfortunately, Adam is a pedestrian film in which, protagonist's eccentricities aside, you pretty much know what you're going to get.
After Rough Patches, Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' Hits its Stridenew
Not since R.W. Fassbinder (and Godard) has a filmmaker shown so much clever, creative interest in how the Third Reich attempted to put mass culture in the service of mass slaughter.
Bland Love in '(500) Days of Summer'new
(500) Days is that it's cloying and dishonest, indulging all of the clichés and false optimism of an average love story while masquerading as something that is questioning those things.
Tags: (500) Days of Summer, Mark Webb
Soccer Journeys in Rudo y Cursinew
Two brothers confront the pitfalls of sudden celebrity as soccer players: wild spending, drugs, gambling, avaricious women, demanding fans.
Tags: Carlos Cuaron, Rudo y Cursi
'Public Enemies' is Less a Biopic Than a Glossy, Stylish Elegynew
What keeps Public Enemies from being a masterpiece is a peculiar lack of emotional accessibility to the key characters.
'Easy Virtue' May Be a Country Manor Movie for People Who Don't Like Themnew
The genre has gone downhill ever since Jean Renoir's The Rules of the Game set the standard in 1939. But it's been a long slope with the gentle upswings and plateaus of such films as Gosford Park and Atonement.
Tags: Easy Virtue, Stephan Elliott
'The Proposal' Manages to be Both Predictable & Unbelievable At the Same Timenew
This film, mechanically directed by Anne Fletcher (responsible for last year's worst movie, 27 Dresses), is the second Taming of the Shrew retread appearing this month, after My Life in Ruins, which, in comparison now looks tolerable.
Mike Tyson Reveals and Rationalizes in New Docnew
The mere existence of yet another documentary about Tyson—the latest titled, appropriately, Tyson—speaks to the public's continuing fascination with this defrocked warrior.
'Gomorrah' Is Too Preachy for Its Own Goodnew
In his attempt to redefine mob movies, Matteo Garrone eschews many of the qualities that make cinema interesting and tantalizing. He focuses so squarely on his characters' sinful awfulness that he forgets it's often the sinners who lure the moviegoers.
Three People Vie to Be a Couple in the Freefalling 'Two Lovers'new
From its first frames to its downbeat denouement, this is the most fatalistic film I've ever seen that offers its protagonist two beautiful women to choose between.
Eastwood Updates Himself in 'Gran Torino'new
As an actor, Clint Eastwood is the most distinctly American film icon since John Wayne.
Tags: Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
