AltWeeklies Wire
Kids' Horror Movie 'Cirque du Freak' is all Trick and No Treat
Cirque du Freak is an obvious grab at the current vampire-crazed teen audience spawned by the Twilight franchise. That it fails so miserably is a predictable symptom of overreaching greed.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
10-19-2009 |
Reviews
Documentary 'Taqwacore' Examines Muslim Punk Musiciansnew
Director Omar Majeed doesn't try to hide the artists' laziness and contradictory ideologies. His film embraces the musicians for the confused, irresponsible, sometimes delusional yet often admirable punks that they are.
NOW Magazine |
Radheyan Simonpillai |
10-16-2009 |
Reviews
Spike Jonze Turns Maurice Sendak's Classic Children's Book into an Adult Work of Artnew
Jonze's sensibility is an authentic development of the music-video era's generational split -- which is also an aesthetic split. He doesn't exploit pop rebellion but has a counter-intuitive slant on what's funny, sad, universal.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-15-2009 |
Reviews
'Where the Wild Things Are' Left Me Out in the Coldnew
It's standard practice to praise children's movies by saying they'll be enjoyed by parents and children alike, but in this case I suspect that some parents will sink blissfully into a reverie watching the characters throw clods of dirt, while their offspring tug on sleeves to ask when they can go outside and throw clods of dirt.
Willamette Week |
Aaron Mesh |
10-14-2009 |
Reviews
'Couples Retreat' is Like a Half-Assed Update of 'Fantasy Island'new
Getting away from it all isn't easy. Start by getting away from this movie.
C-Ville Weekly |
Jonathan Kiefer |
10-14-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Couples Retreat, Peter Billingsley
Blaxploitation Homage 'Black Dynamite' Had Me Rolling on the Floor
Not only could Scott Sanders' film serve as a textbook DIY how-to primer for what it takes to make Blaxploitation cinema, it may also be the all-time best party film next to Animal House. If this movie doesn't make you laugh, call a doctor.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
10-14-2009 |
Reviews
Spike Jonze Sincerely Adapts 'Where the Wild Things Are'
Jonze's no-nonsense movie expands gently on Maurice Sendak's elegant 20-page kids' book to address children, acknowledging their primal impulses -- which they must eventually control.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
10-12-2009 |
Reviews
1960s Period Piece 'An Education' Gets Good Marks, as Does Star Carey Mulligannew
Danish director Lone Scherfig's movie is something of a deceptively packaged Oscar-season bonbon -- a seemingly benign, classily directed year-I-became-a-woman nostalgia trip that conceals a surprisingly tart, morally ambiguous center.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
10-09-2009 |
Reviews
Chris Rock Never Embraces the Nap in His Doc About African-American Hairnew
Good Hair is a mockumentary by accident because Rock pretends to explore the cultural phenomenon of how black women truly feel about their hair. Yet he relentlessly falls back on easy jokes and juvenile asides that mock the subject.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-08-2009 |
Reviews
In His Biofuels-Promoting Doc 'Fuel,' Joshua Tickell Tries to Do Too Muchnew
Joshua Tickell is very serious about biodiesel. Also, he just married a folk singer; he hates pollution; and he has a video camera. In short: Watch out, America, because there's a documentary full of sincerity coming your way.
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
10-07-2009 |
Reviews
The Coen Brothers Make Their Most Personal, Most Maddening Film Yetnew
The Coens have never made a movie like A Serious Man before, combining the screwball sensibilities of O Brother with the larger issues of No Country. But this isn’t an existential film -- far from it.
San Diego CityBeat |
Anders Wright |
10-07-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: A Serious Man, The Coen Brothers
'Tony Manero' Shows Us That the Flipside of Pop Culture Escapism is Soul-Sucking Insanitynew
Shot on Super 16mm film, employing a handheld camera that purposely loses focus, and creating a seedy, claustrophobic atmosphere of despair, Tony Manero is the kind of edgy, angering work cinephiles flock to because it seems so much more uncompromising than it is.
Metro Times |
Jeff Meyers |
10-06-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Pablo Larrain, Tony Manero
'The Damned United' is One Damned Entertaining Movie
In his portrayal of famed British soccer team manager Brian Clough, Michael Sheen solidifies his status as this generation's Laurence Olivier.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
10-05-2009 |
Reviews
'An Education' is an Absorbing and Evocative Exploration of Womanhood
Danish director Lone Scherfig impeccably captures her film's early '60s cold war British setting with glorious attention to detail.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
10-05-2009 |
Reviews
'The Boys Are Back': Clive Owen Learns to Cook and Nurturenew
In the Oscar derby for Best Actor, is it better to die or to grieve? Clive Owen opts for the latter in this strained, sentimental adaptation of a memoir by widowed English journalist Simon Carr.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
10-05-2009 |
Reviews
