L.A. Weekly | Movies+TV | Reviews | AAN.org

'Road' to Hellnew

Terry George's latest comes with plenty of reservations.

L.A. Weekly | Scott Foundas | 10-19-2007 | Reviews

Tags: Reservation Road, Terry George

Ordinary 'Rendition'new

It's not torture, but this latest Mideast thriller is as conventional as they come.

L.A. Weekly | Ella Taylor | 10-19-2007 | Reviews

Tags: Gavin Hood, rendition

'Sleuth': Better Home and Gardennew

But not much else in Kenneth Branagh’s remake.

L.A. Weekly | Ella Taylor | 10-12-2007 | Reviews

Tags: Kenneth Branagh, Sleuth

Sean Penn Journeys 'Into the Wild'new

To these eyes, Into the Wild is an unusually soulful and poetic movie that crystallizes Christopher McCandless as the glittering enigma he was, that allows us to decide for ourselves whether he was the spiritual son of Thoreau, Tolstoy and John Muir, or the boy most likely to become Theodore Kaczynski.

L.A. Weekly | Scott Foundas | 09-24-2007 | Reviews

Tags: Into the Wild, Sean Penn

Jodie Foster Dishes Up Rough Justicenew

Yes, The Brave One is that movie: the one with the posters of America's once-upon-a-time sweetheart posed artistically against a yellow background, her hand pressed contemplatively against her salon-styled hair, and the tag line "How Many Wrongs to Make It Right?"

L.A. Weekly | Scott Foundas | 09-17-2007 | Reviews

Tags: Neil Jordan, The Brave One

Paul Haggis' Latest is Worth Seeing Despite His Heavy Handnew

What makes In the Valley of Elah -- a wildly uneven but brave foray into the dark side of posttraumatic stress disorder -- unusual is its focus on parental grief, which Haggis seeks to complicate by asking, What's the one thing that could be worse than the bottomless sorrow of losing a child who’s a war hero?

L.A. Weekly | Ella Taylor | 09-17-2007 | Reviews

Tags: Paul Haggis, In the Valley of Elah

Tel Aviv Hipsters Have Sex, Befriend the Enemy in 'The Bubble'new

Director Eytan Fox is the voice of the new Israel — hedonistic, narcissistic, yet also more innovative and accepting than the generation of ideologues who founded the state.

L.A. Weekly | Ella Taylor | 09-07-2007 | Reviews

Tags: Eytan Fox, The Bubble

The Nanny Diaries: Child-care Crisisnew

Like the book, the movie never finds a dramatic center, hopscotching between Nanny-Grayer bonding sessions, Nanny's flirtations with the upstairs neighbor known as Harvard Hottie, and the Xes' gradual progression toward becoming the Exes.

L.A. Weekly | Scott Foundas | 08-24-2007 | Reviews

Tags: The Nanny Diaries, Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini

'Superbad': It Happened One Nightnew

What earns the film a place alongside American Graffiti, Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Dazed and Confused in the pantheon of evergreen high school movies is its sweet, soulful vulnerability.

L.A. Weekly | Scott Foundas | 08-17-2007 | Reviews

Tags: Greg Mottola, Superbad

'The 11th Hour': Countdown to Extinctionnew

Despite its shortcomings, the film is ultimately a triumph of redemptive ideas that Leonardo DiCaprio -- God bless his celebrity -- may finally succeed in transporting from the environmental fringe to the mainstream moviegoing audience.

L.A. Weekly | Judith Lewis | 08-17-2007 | Reviews

Tags: The 11th Hour, Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners

'The Invasion': Live Pod Castingnew

Is there a Razzie Award for worst casting? If so, it's one of several that can be reserved early for this fourth, spectacularly lousy screen version of Jack Finney's 1954 novella The Body Snatchers.

L.A. Weekly | Scott Foundas | 08-17-2007 | Reviews

Tags: The Invasion, Oliver Hirschbieger

'The Simpsons Movie': Longer, Wider, Deepernew

What the film does -- and does well -- is revisit the series' most enduring situations and themes while upping the ante just enough to lend everything a new level of suspense.

L.A. Weekly | Scott Foundas | 07-27-2007 | Reviews

Tags: David Silverman, The Simpsons Movie