AltWeeklies Wire
With 'American Casino,' Andrew and Leslie Cockburn Recast the Recession as Civil Rights Storynew
With more spark than a Frontline documentary and less pretense than whatever Michael Moore has cooking, American Casino is the best film so far to explain the US economic crisis.
Santa Fe Reporter |
Corey Pein |
10-01-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Harmony Korine Talks About Creating a World of 'Killing, Fucking and Burning'new
When I sat down with Korine last week before the world premiere of Trash Humpers, he hadn't done any interviews about it yet, and admitted that he wasn't quite sure how to express his intentions. So we hammered it out together.
New York Press |
Eric Kohn |
10-01-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Trash Humpers, Harmony Korine
'Capitalism': Love It or Leave It?new
If Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story teaches us one thing about the global economic crisis, it is how much the stunt-documentary gold standard has declined in value.
C-Ville Weekly |
Jonathan Kiefer |
09-30-2009 |
Reviews
'Zombieland' Gets a Little Horror in the Funniest American Comedy of the Year
There are plenty of folks who will peruse their local move listings, and -- whether due to assumptions about quality or a queasy stomach -- won't bother going past the first six letters of the title Zombieland. And that's a shame.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
09-29-2009 |
Reviews
Going for the Gold at the Toronto International Film Festivalnew
The Toronto International Film Festival is often a venue for anointing the preordained, the first stop on the studios' long march toward Oscar season. But it's the surprises that shine through.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
09-29-2009 |
Movies
'No Impact Man': What’s the Big To-Do About Doing With Less?new
Is No Impact Man a landmark documentary? Is the book a Walden for our time? Not really. Both, in a modest, agreeable fashion, tell us what we already know: We buy too much, we waste too much, and we're using up resources disproportionate to our presence on the planet.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
09-28-2009 |
Reviews
Coen Brothers Miss Rather than Hit With 'A Serious Man'
A Serious Man is not an awful movie, and it may well be a fantastic film for the audience that the Coens are speaking to.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
09-28-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: A Serious Man, The Coen Brothers
How Exactly is Diablo Cody's Update of the Rape-Revenge Shocker 'Feminist'?new
In the earlier rape-revenge movies, patriarchy was an evil to be overcome. In Jennifer's Body, on the other hand, an opening voice-over tells us that "hell is a teenaged girl"—or more precisely, the friendships between teenage girls. Cody claims that's feminist, but I must confess, I don't see it.
Chicago Reader |
Noah Berlatsky |
09-28-2009 |
Reviews
Just Ask John Keats: Love Happensnew
Jane Campion's Bright Star, about the love affair between the tubercular poet John Keats and girl-next-door Fanny Brawne, recasts the old stanza in chaste but voluptuous terms.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
09-26-2009 |
Reviews
'Disgrace' Faces the Facts of Post-Apartheid South Africanew
This film adaptation of J.M. Coetzee's brilliant 1999 novel looks the chaos and hatred of postapartheid South Africa squarely in the face, probing the terrible fallout from white denial and pride without patronizing blacks by caricaturing them as noble victims.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
09-25-2009 |
Reviews
Audrey Tautou Flexes Her Acting Muscles as Fashion Icon Coco Chanelnew
Her new movie, Coco Before Chanel, is an elegant little black dress of a movie, simple but complex. At the center is Tautou as young Gabrielle Chanel, before the revolutionary menswear-inspired haute couture, before the fully articulated philosophy of pared down, practical luxury.
L.A. Weekly |
Gendy Alimurung |
09-25-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
The Tricks in 'The Burning Plain' are as Tired as its Mopey Charactersnew
These people and timelines are all tied together under big themes of utmost gravitas, and a strong cast delivers compelling characters whose lives are interesting enough to maintain reasonable curiosity. But these cards have simply been played far too many times, and to far more powerful effect; Plain can't help but look a bit pale in comparison.
The Portland Mercury |
Marjorie Skinner |
09-25-2009 |
Reviews
Ken Burns Worships America's Spiritual Resource in His Latest Docnew
His PBS 12-hour epic The National Parks: America's Best Idea is a selective chronicle of the evolution of the National Parks system and the changing roles protected lands have played in American culture since Congress validated Yosemite in 1864.
Boston Phoenix |
Clif Garboden |
09-24-2009 |
TV
Tucker Max Wants You to Like Him for Being an Unapologetic Dickheadnew
The film adaptation of Max's notoriously infantile and incredibly popular tell-all memoir about his fratboy sexcapades is not immediately repugnant. I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell only becomes truly insipid when it makes a cloying, half-hearted attempt to show that Max and his buddies have learned the error of their ways and now have greater respect for women and themselves.
New York Press |
Simon Abrams |
09-24-2009 |
Reviews
Mumblecore King Henry Jaglom Returns With 'Irene in Time'new
If Jaglom was a trustfunded neophyte, he'd be acclaimed the King of Mumblecore -- a genre that, it turns out, he pioneered several decades ago.
New York Press |
Armond White |
09-24-2009 |
Reviews
