AltWeeklies Wire
'An Education' is an Absorbing and Evocative Exploration of Womanhood

Danish director Lone Scherfig impeccably captures her film's early '60s cold war British setting with glorious attention to detail.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
10-05-2009 |
Reviews
'The Boys Are Back': Clive Owen Learns to Cook and Nurturenew
In the Oscar derby for Best Actor, is it better to die or to grieve? Clive Owen opts for the latter in this strained, sentimental adaptation of a memoir by widowed English journalist Simon Carr.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
10-05-2009 |
Reviews
Ricky Gervais Tells the Truth About 'The Invention of Lying'new
A mid-life success as the creator of the original British reality spoof The Office and the HBO series Extras, Gervais has always made comic hay out of his short stature and pudgy build. The Invention of Lying is no exception. "I've always done that," Gervais admits. "I think it's funny."
Artvoice |
M. Faust |
10-02-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
Smelled Any Good Movies Lately? A History of Fragant Cinemanew

A German company called Cinescent has recently begun bombarding European movie screens with scented advertisements. But this isn't the first time people have tried adding smells to the theater-going experience
Fast Forward Weekly |
John Tebbutt |
10-01-2009 |
Movies
'The Invention of Lying' is High-Concept Done Rightnew

As a high-concept comedy, Invention gets to cover a lot of ground, from commercialism to religion and societal conventions. Fortunately, Gervais actually has insight into most of those issues, which means the film never gets overly sanctimonious.
Fast Forward Weekly |
Peter Hemminger |
10-01-2009 |
Reviews
The Coen Brothers Clarify Their Jewishness -- Without Guiltnew
The Coens admit their own Jewishness the way their best recent films admit Americanness: with genuine feeling for the complexities, abundance and absurd conventions that give us our identity.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-01-2009 |
Reviews
Ellen Page Whips it Good in Her Best Post-'Juno' Rolenew
After seeing Juno, my outraged teen daughter rightly asked, "Where is the girl's version of Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" Whip It steps into that void.
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
'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