AltWeeklies Wire
Soul Survivor in Martha Marcy May Marlenenew
Elizabeth Olsen's performance throughout is somber and self-assured, a promising debut encouraged perhaps by her own efforts to escape the suffocating shadow—and cult of personality—of her older siblings.
The end of the world in Take Shelternew
Take Shelter is a valiant, worthy effort, but the film doesn't go far enough -- and doesn't succeed in escaping its influences.
Conspiracy Theater in Anonymousnew
Anonymous is a hoot for literate moviegoers, a treat for theater geeks, a rag on backstage egotists, and an alternate version of the Elizabethan Age. But I seriously doubt that it is history.
A Surprisingly Good Puss in Bootsnew
"Wait a minute, I'm being entertained by a movie about a damn talking, sword-fighting cat!"
The Story of a Painting in The Mill and the Crossnew
Lech Majewski's film revels in the earthy details of 16th-century Flemish life even as it employs up-to-the-minute CGI techniques to bring this wonderfully complex painting by Pieter Bruegel to life.
Telling the Wall Street Side in Margin Callnew
Anybody who goes into Margin Call hoping to see investment bankers raked over the coals will be disappointed.
Footloose remake gives us something old and something newnew
Director Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan) places his affinity for Southern settings front and center by transplanting the original film's Utah setting to a burg in Georgia.
Mozart's Sister acknowledges complexity even as it invents factsnew
Filmmaker Rene Feret doesn't massage what we know about how Nannerl's talents were allowed to wither, purely on account of her gender, in order to create a comforting narrative.
George Clooney's New Election Thriller, The Ides of Marchnew
Three years into the Obama presidency, Clooney makes a movie about a Democratic candidate whose high-minded oratory belies someone who, when pressed, surrenders his ideals for the sake of political expedience and self-preservation.
Fighting robots and Spielberg's daddy issues in Real Steelnew
After a while, the fighting scenes feel like a reward you get every 10 minutes for sitting through the movie's incessantly sappiness.
Young lovers and Rip City in Gus Van Sant's Restlessnew
This is a love story that doesn't put too much in its lovers' way, even though it does put a time limit on it.
Tags: Restless, Gus Van Sant
The Watchful Eyes of Intelligent Young Girls in Higher Ground and The Hedgehognew
In two films hitting art houses this weekend, the watchful eyes of intelligent young girls become an effective lens into the mystifying, sad and sometimes violent ways of adults.
Moneyball Explores New Strategies for Successnew
The new film Moneyball may be about an old pastime, baseball, but it's reminiscent of a film about a more contemporary activity.
Tags: Moneyball
Male Heartbreak in Nasty, Nihilistic Bellflowernew
If you're a not a man who just got screwed over by a woman you thought you loved, and you now spend your days in a stifling rage, muttering "That bitch!" every time you think of, well, that bitch, then there is really no reason for you to go see Bellflower.
The Future Charts Modern Anxietynew
The Future follows Sophie and Jason (July and Hamish Linklater, both of them sincere and focused), a couple in their mid-30s emerging from an agonizingly believable extended adolescence.
Tags: The Future
