AltWeeklies Wire
Agit-Flop: Pablo Larrain’s Pinochet Trilogy Loses Substance
Gael Garcia Bernal’s television adman-turned-political-commercial-creator Rene Saavedra is such an ethically ambiguous and passive protagonist that “No” falls flat as a piece of wannabe agitprop cinema.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
02-11-2013 |
Reviews
Tags: No
Vindicating Charlie Sheen: It Still Hasn’t Happened
Roman Coppola’s '70s-era scattershot comic apologia for Charlie Sheen’s sins of womanizing and drug abuse has a train-wreck appeal that makes it moderately interesting to look at —i.e., a snapshot of our times as seen through a retro view.
City Pulse |
By Cole Smithey |
02-11-2013 |
Reviews
Bumpy Road Movie: Melissa McCarthy Packs a Throat-Punch
2013 is Melissa McCarthy’s year. The plus-size actress who blew up big laughs in “Bridesmaids” is making major comic waves with at least three features tailored to her fast-twitch style of physical humor this year.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
02-05-2013 |
Reviews
Soderbergh’s Swan Song Big Pharma as the Ultimate MacGuffin
Steven Soderbergh’s last feature before his retirement from the movies (he'll still do theater and TV) is a milestone psychological thriller comparable to Hitchcock’s best work.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
02-04-2013 |
Reviews
'Pretty Vacant': the Sex Pistols and Esteban Jordan meet in a SA film classicnew
It's hard to hold a DVD of Pretty Vacant, the short film by Jim Mendiola — it burns your hands
San Antonio Current |
Enrique Lopetegui |
01-30-2013 |
Reviews
Mother Monster: Freaky Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Frightening
Guillermo del Toro — the director of such minor masterpieces as “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth” — weakens his sphere of influence by producing a sorely underdeveloped horror movie that manufactures scares from the crudest of tropes.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
01-15-2013 |
Reviews
Fracking and Feelingsnew
Matt Damon's message movie misses the mark.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
01-03-2013 |
Reviews
Matt Damon's anti-fracking Promised Landnew
It's hard to achieve high-minded aims using this single-minded script, acting and filmmaking acumen.
David Chase's feature debut, the nostalgic Not Fade Awaynew
While The Sopranos creator still has trouble knowing how to end a story, he does know how to pen a love letter to rock 'n' roll.
Les Misérables reaches the screen in an extravagant visualizationnew
If you are one of the many fans of the popular Les Miz, you will find the cinematic version exciting and rewarding. Not a fan? You may remain unconvinced.
Django Unchainednew
Tarantino's new film, Django Unchained, is a pulp fantasy of the antebellum South in which a black man avenges slavery by killing a lot of white people.
Les Misérablesnew
Revolution for the hell of it.
East Bay Express |
Kelly Vance |
12-25-2012 |
Reviews
Oh the Agony They Don’t Call it “Les Mis” for Nothing
Audiences new to Boubil & Schoenberg’s stage musical — based on Victor Hugo’s novel of historical fiction — may be surprised to discover the wooly narrative isn’t as compelling as they imagined it might be.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
12-13-2012 |
Reviews
Collateral Damage: Kathryn Bigelow Tows the Party Line, Mostly
Kathryn Bigelow’s cinematic version of the U.S. military’s absurdly protracted ten-year hunt for Osama bin Laden is not what you would expect.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
12-13-2012 |
Reviews
Apatow’s Complaint: Midlife Crisis is a Bundle of Laughs
Three years is too long to go without a Judd Apatow comedy. That’s how long it’s been since the comic genius of American cinema gave us his last written-and-directed movie (“Funny People”).
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
12-13-2012 |
Reviews
