AltWeeklies Wire
Lovers Quarrelnew
You could say Paul Haggis' script for The Last Kiss is something of a Garden State redux, but Zach Braff's character here is less fanciful, less melodramatic, and far more prone to doing the thoughtless things men tend to do.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
09-17-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: The Last Kiss, Tony Goldwyn
Landscapes of the Heartnew
The House of Sand is a quintessentially moderate art film: panoramic and symbolic, epic in scope, technically accomplished, and miraculously acted by the mother-daughter team of Fernandas Montenegro and Torres in showy dual roles.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
09-17-2006 |
Reviews
Capering in the Caymansnew
Lacking purpose or thoughtful complexity, Frank E. Flowers' film, starring Orlando Bloom and Bill Paxton, is an overly ambitious mess.
Austin Chronicle |
Toddy Burton |
09-17-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Frank E. Flowers, Haven
Gosling Goes for Realismnew
Ryan Gosling's bleakly hopeful turn as crack-addicted teacher Dan in Half Nelson is matched by the smoldering realism of newcomer Shareeka Epps.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
09-17-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Half Nelson, Ryan Fleck
Fallout in the Ranksnew
Far from being just one more documentary wishing to expose alternative truths about the war in Iraq, Foulkrod's film instead airs some of the hard-won truths learned by American soldiers.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
09-17-2006 |
Reviews
Familiar Playsnew
The Rock's moral football tale is a pleasant surprise: a swift, sure-footed, and gritty melodrama that plays to the strengths of its formula and elicits empathy for its kids.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
09-17-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Gridiron Gang, Phil Joanou
Dead-On Visionnew
Mike Judge's comedy is the story of a man who awakes 500 years in the future to find a society so dumbed-down that he instantly becomes the smartest person alive.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
09-11-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Idiocracy, Mike Judge
An Ultimate Lack of Viewpointnew
Although Hollywoodland stokes the dying embers of uncertainty regarding the 1959 death of George Reeves, TV's Superman, it nevertheless seems that the result should be more provocative and scandalous.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
09-11-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Allen Coulter, Hollywoodland
100-Proof Bukowskinew
Charles Bukowski's Henry Chinaski is back, played by Matt Dillon in a low-key, gorgeously beery performance.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
09-11-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Bent Hamer, Factotum
Few Gaspsnew
Belgian horror romp Calvaire is so dead-set on being disturbing that it ends up tripping over its own hobbled feet.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
09-11-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Calvaire, Fabrice du Welz
Honest and Realnew
An astonishing twinning of wild imagination and drop-dead realism, Brothers of the Head is simply the most poignant and exciting mockumentary about (conjoined) sibling rivalry, revelry, and reversal of fortunes ever made.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
09-11-2006 |
Reviews
Contrived and Full of Clichenew
At first glance, the Toby Keith drama Broken Bridges is about reconciliations; really, though, the movie is about the cross-marketing potential of contemporary country music.
Austin Chronicle |
Josh Rosenblatt |
09-11-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Broken Bridges, Steven Goldmann
Manhattan Is for Loversnew
With distinct echoes of Woody Allen, Trust the Man follows fashionably neurotic New Yorkers in oversized apartments as they search for happiness, love, and sex.
Austin Chronicle |
Toddy Burton |
09-01-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Bart Freundlich, Trust the Man
Tone Deafnew
Perhaps future generations of film scholars will embrace the film as a B-movie that problematizes the oppressive gaze, but for now, it's a misfire.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
09-01-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Jamie Babbit, The Quiet
Without Bordersnew
Don't confuse this Sundance charmer with My Big Fat Mexican Debut, for its farcical scenes of high hair and waltzes form a light-comic prism for watching race, age, class, and sexuality collide.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
08-28-2006 |
Reviews
