AltWeeklies Wire
He's Got Legsnew
The true story of a Thai transgender kickboxer inpires a well-intentioned film with a heart of gold -- and a brain of lead.
Searching for Shylocknew
Pacino plays Shakespeare's most contentious character in a a gripping, highly cinematic adaptation of a gorgeous work of theater.
Run, Dick, Runnew
If you know your history, you might suspect this film isn't quite a suspense thriller. Rather, it's a sort of updated Death of a Salesman.
Father of African Cinema Produces a Beautiful Polemicnew
The 81-year-old Senagelese director's film about girls fleeing ritual circumcision has a moral center that is painfully clear. It also expresses each character's humanity.
Cuts Like a Knifenew
To say that actress Ziyi Zhang burns like a young sword-wielding Audrey Hepburn, would slight a masterpiece that must be seen to be believed.
Crash and Yearnnew
Martin Scorsese's bio of Howard Hughes is the most sumptuous of this year's biographical films -- appropriate, given its subject matter's penchant for wasting millions chasing fantasies other men couldn't even afford to dream about.
Sour Lemonynew
The villain of Lemony Snicket, Count Olaf, just may be Jim Carrey's finest role. The rest of the movie, however, isn't quite up to Carrey's level.
Anatomy of a Sumbitchnew
This fascinating documentary is no mere instructional video about how to fail in show biz. It's about willful self-immolation, about letting raw ego and crazy delusion run amok, about driving friends and family into storms of rage.
Enduring Creepinessnew
The film wants to come from behind and surprise in a way that feels punishing, as though the audience being taught a bitter lesson. The result is creepy and unpleasant. There is hope, however bleak, at the end, but mostly there's a sense of unnecessary devastation.
Tags: Roger Michell, Enduring Love
Well Trainednew
The runaway-train action stuff is fantastic. Where the movie falters is when it delivers platitudes about how the spirit of Christmas is in every one of us and Santa is the symbol of the spirit of giving, etc., etc.
Tags: Robert Zemeckis, The Polar Express
Redemption Thongnew
The witless inanity of this film is so numbing that the sole reason for any living creature to sit through it is to marvel at actress Salma Hayek's relentless succession of thongs, sarongs, diaphanous cocktail frocks, and all-but-nonexistent bathing suits.
Tags: Brett Ratner, After the Sunset
Icky, Icky, Ickynew
The filmmakers want to have it both ways: They do everything to convince the protagonist and the audience that it might indeed be OK to run off with a 10-year-old boy, then cop out just before she's about to throw away her life.
Tags: birth, Jonathan Glazer
Exposing Utopia's Gateway to Auschwitznew
The Holocaust hangs like a shadow over everything, but this is really more a Kurt Gerron biopic, from his days onstage to his long-awaited stint as a director. Seeing Nazism as just a passing fad, he ignored the threat to himself until it was too late.
Brave and Crazynew
There is no denying that Tarnation is a very brave movie. Rarely is the subject of a documentary willing to lay himself bare before the camera, exposing his very consciousness to the audience, and it's still more uncommon for a director to do it.
The People's Historiannew
At 80-plus, Zinn has the kind of sheen that emanates, spreading cheer even as he exposes the corruption, deceit, and violence that characterize the lion's share of the history he studies. Zinn's beauty is the beauty of righteousness.
