AltWeeklies Wire
'Damned United' and 'An Education' Upend Clichesnew
The establishment seems more firmly established in England than anywhere else. Two terrific new British films depict prodigiously intelligent characters who challenge entrenched English institutions and nearly outsmart themselves along the way.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
11-10-2009 |
Reviews
'The Fourth Kind' is Dreadful Brain-Eating Garbage Best Left for the Scrap Heapnew
At last, here's a movie that finds Dan Brown's religious mumbo-jumbo too plausible; The Fourth Kind is a toxic stew of von Daniken and voyeurism; it's like Blair Witch but without the stomach-turning camera work because here all the nausea rises straight up from the script.
Metro Times |
Corey Hall |
11-10-2009 |
Reviews
'Taxidermia' is Either Magical Realism or the Most Disturbing Movie You'll Ever Seenew
Some films are tough to watch and others may make you queasy, and then there's Taxidermia, a bizarre, squirmy parade of grotesqueries that requires a titanium-lined stomach to simply endure. In fact, you don't so much watch Gyorgy Palfi's film as sit back and let it happen to you.
Metro Times |
Corey Hall |
11-10-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Gyorgy Palfi, Taxidermia
The 2009 Holiday Film Guidenew
The leaves are turning, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s are looming. The holiday season is upon us! Hollywood hopes you will take a break during your endless holiday shopping in the coming weeks to stop by the mall theater and buy a ticket for one of the following films.
Weekly Alibi |
Devin D. O'Leary |
11-10-2009 |
Movies
Tags: holiday film guide, movies
With 'Fantastic Mr. Fox,' Wes Anderson Finds His Genre: Animation
In Wes Anderson's hands, Roald Dahl's imaginative child's story takes on a meta significance as a human-development-coming-of-age story that applies across age groups, generations, social strata, and even species.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
11-09-2009 |
Reviews
'Precious': The Sad Education of Precious Jonesnew
Hothouse melodrama one moment, kitchen-sink (and frying-pan-to-the-head) realism the next, with eruptions of incongruous slapstick throughout, this may be Lee Daniels' stab at finding a cinematic analog for the novel's inventive, naïf-art language -- a film style, like Precious' writing, seemingly being made up as it goes along.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
11-09-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Precious, Lee Daniels
'This Is It' Looks at Michael's Sad Endnew
Kenny Ortega's film is a patched-together effort to make money, featuring a man who was not well.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
11-04-2009 |
Reviews
'The Damned United' Tells a 1970s British Soccer Tale in an Engrossing Waynew
Michael Sheen is endlessly fun to watch; his David Frost in Frost/Nixon and his Tony Blair in The Queen are both impeccable, but his turn in The Damned United makes a serious case for not only being his best work, but also some of the best acting of the year.
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
11-04-2009 |
Reviews
'The Men Who Stare at Goats' Falls Short of Strangelovian Laughsnew
Grant Heslov's film is so intent on being funny and ironic that it erodes any audience investment in the characters and their plights. We spend so much time laughing at their travails that when it's time to root for their victory, it's just too damn late.
Charleston City Paper |
Felicia Feaster |
11-04-2009 |
Reviews
Graham Reznick Ventures into the Genre Woods and Twists Out the Unique 'I Can See You'new
I Can See You takes its characters out to the woods for the scare of their lives, but it isn't overly concerned with subtext. Reznick draws on the non-narrative avant-garde for inspiration; ultimately, his movie has as much in common with David Lynch's weirdest moments or Stan Brakhage as The Blair Witch Project.
Baltimore City Paper |
Steve Erickson |
11-03-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Graham Reznick, I Can See You
'Coco Before Chanel' Looks Fabulous but Hangs Kinda Funnynew
While bolstered by the magnetic central performance of the always-charming Audrey Tautou and some damn fine period re-creation, Coco Before Chanel is also restrained by slow pacing and a general lack of drama.
Weekly Alibi |
Devin D. O'Leary |
11-03-2009 |
Reviews
'Precious' is an Urban Drama Pressure-Cooker Steeped in Verite Realism
The intrinsic truth in this unforgettable drama outweighs any exploitation or politics that might attend such material. If you're looking for a gritty socially-conscious movie, this is it.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
11-02-2009 |
Reviews
Matt Austin Sadowski Says John Hughes' Death Gives His Doc a Different Lifenew
Hughes' death at age 59 earlier this summer casts a pall over Don't You Forget About Me: A Tribute to John Hughes, which combines clips from Hughes' high school movies with contemporary interviews with the filmmaker's colleagues and boosters like Roger Ebert.
NOW Magazine |
Norman Wilner |
11-02-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Vignettes in 'Act of God' are a Random as Lightning Bolts Themselvesnew
Jennifer Baichwal skips from Canada to France to Mexico, never explaining who her subjects are or arguing why their near-death experiences should be linked. It's just a haphazard travelogue of terror, like 33 Short Films About Glenn Gould Being Struck by Lightning.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
11-02-2009 |
Reviews
'Coco Before Chanel' Needs a Stylistnew
If only Audrey Tatou could have summoned a little more fire to melt the glacial pace of this ambitious biopic.
