AltWeeklies Wire
If You Want a Nerve-Wracking Trip, Turn to 'Timecrimes'new
Writer/director Nacho Vigalondo's first feature film is that rarest of films: a movie about mystery that remains impenetrable even after its hand is played.
New York Press |
Simon Abrams |
12-11-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Nacho Vigalondo, Timecrimes
Clint Eastwood Casts Himself as a Nice Archie Bunker in 'Gran Torino'new
To insist that Eastwood's trite, B-movie storytelling is classical requires an excessive regard for junk. Gran Torino is a calculated throwback to All in the Family's topicality, plus a comic/tragic star vehicle for Eastwood to show off his late-career legend as a serious actor-auteur.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-11-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino
'The Reader' Glazes Familiar Sexual-Awakening Story with Highbrow Affectationnew
This film should have been a comedy like Paul Verhoeven's Black Book, shaking up the calcified presumptions of quasi-Holocaust dramas. But it's also Oscar season and historically based, award-baiting mawkishness is no laughing matter.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-11-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Stephen Daldry, The Reader
It's Hard to Take John Patrick Shanley's Devout 'Doubt' Seriouslynew
Problem is, Shanley examines faith (and doubt) while crafting what is essentially Broadway fodder.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-11-2008 |
Reviews
Steven Soderbergh's Che Opus is Indulgentnew
Out-perversing Gus Van Sant's Milk, Soderbergh makes a four-hour-plus biopic about a historical figure without providing a glimmer of charm or narrative coherence.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-11-2008 |
Reviews
'Cadillac Records' is a Quick-Sketch B-Movie Biopic That Looms Largenew
Darnell Martin's film tells a story of black popular music -- its rapidly changing phases during the 1950s from the blues to race records, from rock 'n' roll to R&B -- with richly exciting characters but not one hint of exoticism.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-04-2008 |
Reviews
'Dust' is an Unwieldy and Uneven Documentarynew
Mostly using the testimony of workmen and scientists, Bitomsky tells us about something we encounter every day but choose to ignore. Throughout the film's episodes, that transformation from fact to idea stalls at every step of the thinking process, from enumeration to visualization to extrapolation.
New York Press |
Simon Abrams |
12-04-2008 |
Reviews
'Frost/Nixon' Prioritizes Media Over Politicsnew
Frost/Nixon dramatizes the series of 1977 TV interviews that British chat host David Frost did with President Richard Nixon following his resignation after the Watergate scandal. A minor TV event -- on the level of Billie Jean King beating Bobby Riggs at tennis -- Howard confers it lunatic importance.
New York Press |
Armond White |
12-04-2008 |
Reviews
'Special' is for Every Guy Who Still Dreams He May be Superhumannew
A chronicle of mental decline masquerading as science fiction, Special stars perennial character actor Michael Rapaport as Les, a likable dolt whose momentary respite from the monotony of his life as a lonely meter maid comes from reading comic books.
New York Press |
Eric Kohn |
11-20-2008 |
Reviews
Arnaud Desplechin Serves Up Haute Holiday Fare in 'A Christmas Tale'new
A Christmas Tale isn't repugnant, just regressive. The modern family film has moved beyond this Gallic update of I Remember Mama.
New York Press |
Armond White |
11-20-2008 |
Reviews
'We Are Wizards' Shows Harry Potter Fans Waving Their Wandsnew
Potter fans find varying degrees of success -- and lawsuits -- thanks to J.K. Rowling's creation.
New York Press |
Mark Peikert |
11-13-2008 |
Reviews
'Quantum' Offers the In-Process Restructuring of a Pop Mythnew
Reworking the Bond imagery keeps the franchise going, but it must be meaningful. Recent action pictures like Xavier Gens' Hitman have already stolen the series' chic, just as the Indiana Jones films have usurped its fun. Daniel Craig takes Bond beyond fun.
New York Press |
Armond White |
11-13-2008 |
Reviews
'Slumdog' Gives Guilty Liberals Absolution Through Game-Show Gimmickrynew
There hasn't been a social drama this decadently over-hyped since City of God. Boyle plays the same game of pandering to liberal sensibilities while entertaining safe, middle-class distance.
New York Press |
Armond White |
11-13-2008 |
Reviews
'Repo! The Genetic Opera' is a Brain Drainnew
This sci-fi comic book musical (starring Paris Hilton) needs improvement.
New York Press |
Simon Abrams |
11-06-2008 |
Reviews
Bernie Mac's Face-Off with Samuel L. Jackson is the Only Reason to See 'Soul Men'new
Soul Men is the most disappointing tribute to black pop music since the OutKast movie Idlewild, as director Malcolm D. Lee repeats the same faux-nostalgia as his Roll Bounce.
New York Press |
Armond White |
11-06-2008 |
Reviews
