AltWeeklies Wire
Despite Forceful Colin Firth, 'A Single Man' Oversimplifies Grieving Processnew
Most actors build their careers on expressing emotions. Colin Firth has become a star based on the artful suppression of feelings, wittily conveying that stiff-upper-lip struggle to contain impulses that eventually escape against his roles' better judgment.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
01-12-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: A Single Man, Tom Ford
'Broken Embraces' Turns Cameras on Visionary Filmmakersnew
Two new films about filmmaking put plenty of talent on display – and share Penélope Cruz at her most attractive – without fully engaging their audiences. Pedro Almodóvar's melodrama Broken Embraces turns out to be a little too personal, while Rob Marshall's musical head-trip Nine may not be personal enough.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
01-12-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Broken Embraces, Pedro Almodóvar
'Nine' Turns Camera on Visionary Filmmakersnew
New films about filmmaking put plenty of talent on display without fully engaging their audiences.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
01-12-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Nine, Rob Marshall
'The Maid' Movingly Explores Domestic Disturbancesnew
In the Chilean drama The Maid, an upper-middle class family treats the title character like part of the family, but comparable to the way that the appendix is part of the body. Like a vestigial organ, a servant can be removed if she starts causing trouble.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
01-12-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Sebastian Silva, The Maid
'Avatar' Immerses Audiences in an Alien Ecosystemnew
Director James Cameron's long-awaited Avatar depicts an alien race with a fondness for bows and arrows, but keeps the 3-D jutting clichés under control. Even when bloody arrowheads stick out at your face, Cameron ensures the stunts don't distract from his otherworldly story.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
01-12-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Avatar, James Cameron
Robert De Niro is OK in 'Everybody’s Fine'new
Director Kirk Jones' remake of the 1990 Marcello Mastroianni vehicle of the same name casts Robert De Niro as a widower preparing for the annual visit of his four grown children. Despite his lonely efforts to clean house, buy meat and build a new grill, the kids all find excuses not to come.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
01-12-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Everybody's Fine, Kirk Jones
'Fantastic Mr. Fox' Brings Out the Animal in Wes Andersonnew
Rather than break out of Andersonville and into the real world, the filmmaker burrows further into the fantasy realm with 'Fantastic Mr. Fox.' Ironically, Anderson’s latest turns out to be his most heartfelt, human movie since 'Rushmore,' despite its cast of woodland beasts.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
01-12-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson
'Avatar' Really Annoys the Top Pointyheads on the Rightnew
Athens (Ohio) News editor summarizes the criticisms of James Cameron's blockbuster, Avatar, by four leading lights of the conservative movement, and then explains why they're full of baloney.
The Athens NEWS |
Terry Smith |
01-12-2010 |
Movies
Tags: Avatar, James Cameron
Sandra Bullock Blind Sides Atlantanew
'The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game' fumbles a potentially intriguing story of a nouveau riche family who adopts Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a future NFL star.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
01-12-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: John Lee Hancock, The Blind Side
'The Messenger' Delivers Stark Lesson About Casualties of Warnew
Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) receives new orders in the first scenes of The Messenger. Will endured injuries to his eye and leg in an Iraqi firefight, and has the wounds and decorations to prove it, but his latest assignment will leave its own kind of scars.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
01-12-2010 |
Reviews
Tags: Oren Moverman, The Messenger
'The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus': City Paper Grade B+new
The narrative is a showy gloss on the Faust legend with Tom Waits as a carny-huckster Beelzebub and Christopher Plummer as a monk-turned-immortal showman, and its reliance on oft-told tales and fairy tale archetypes is welcome given how the narrative seems to unravel rather than unfold.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Shaun Brady |
01-12-2010 |
Reviews
With a Bible, Denzel Washington Walks Through the Valley of Death
Falling on the heels of The Road, The Book of Eli is a similarly themed vision of a post-apocalyptic dystopia where cannibals and criminals make up what's left of the human species.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
01-11-2010 |
Reviews
'Strongman': Like 'The Wrestler,' Only Realnew
Ten years in the making, Strongman both anticipates and follows The Wrestler: Stanley Pleskun is no longer young, keeps hoping for his luck to change, and ekes out a living as a scrap-metal dealer. (He inks the design on his costume with a Sharpie.)
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
01-11-2010 |
Reviews
'Leap Year': Amy Adams Deserves Betternew
Leap Year belongs to the Prada-backlash subgenre of women's pictures—epitomized by The Proposal — in which smart, stylish women must be muddied, abased, ridiculed, and degraded to get their man.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
01-11-2010 |
Reviews
'Died Young, Stayed Pretty': Grunge Artifacts, Suitable for Framingnew
Several local artists are featured in Eileen Yaghoobian's fan-ish documentary about rock-poster designers. In her film, she lets the artists speak for themselves — which is both a good and a bad thing.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
01-11-2010 |
Reviews
