AltWeeklies Wire
Leaving (and Returning to) the Nestnew
Despite an overreliance on metaphor and symbolism, this is an affecting little film about characters who struggle with issues connected with adoption, homophobia and loss.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
01-13-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Loggerheads, Tim Kirkman
Near-Death Motivationnew
After being diagnosed with an incurable brain disease, a woman (played delightfully by Queen Latifah) discovers her moxie.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
01-13-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Last Holiday, Wayne Wang
A Different Kind of No-Tell Motelnew
In this horror film, three backpackers check in to the wrong hostel where, unbeknownst to them, very bad things happen from dusk till dawn.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
01-13-2006 |
Reviews
Urban Update for a Classicnew
This animated retelling of the Little Red Riding Hood story has sass but little imagination.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
01-13-2006 |
Reviews
Funnier Than You Might Thinknew
What's funnier than having to move back in with your parents? Why, moving in with your grandparents, of course.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
01-13-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Grandma's Boy, Nicholaus Goossen
By the Numbersnew
Even when presenting a fictionalized account of what many count as the most significant NCAA basketball game ever played, this film remains a predictable sports rouser.
Austin Chronicle |
Kimberley Jones |
01-13-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Glory Road, James Gartner
Riding the Rangenew
The Chronicle's reviewers run down the best films of 2005.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten, Steve Davis, Kimberley Jones and Marc Savlov |
01-05-2006 |
Movies
Tags: yearinreview2005
Bloodsuckers and Supersuckersnew
This video-game-to-movie adaptation poses no threat to German filmmaker Uwe Boll's reputation as the modern-day Ed Wood.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
01-05-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: BloodRayne, Uwe Boll
History Refractednew
In this latest from Neil Jordan, Cillian Murphy plays the swinging transvestite Patrick "Kitten" Braden, who wanders through the pop-and-politics culture of Seventies England.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
01-05-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Neil Jordan, Breakfast on Pluto
History's Horndog Rides Againnew
Hallstrom's latest is fine but unambitious, content with being an arthouse trifle with tricorner hats, corsets, and powdered wigs.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
01-05-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Casanova, Lasse Hallström
Ghost Town Tokyonew
The ghost is literally in the machine in this prototypical Japanese horror film that works primarily with dread and inexplicable phenomena rather than blood and guts.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
01-05-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Pulse, Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Life in 10 Minute Chunksnew
Composed of nine occasionally interlocking vignettes that star a dozen or so terrific actresses, Nine Lives presents intimate portraits of women grapplng with life.
Austin Chronicle |
Kimberley Jones |
01-05-2006 |
Reviews
Tags: Nine Lives, Rodrigo García
The Slasher From Down Undernew
Wolf Creek is an accomplished Aussie version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre; it's also a viscerally told slasher film that manages to do an awful lot with very little.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-27-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Greg McLean, Wolf Creek
One Word: Plasticnew
Fans of The Graduate should skip this strange comedy, which posits that the real-life inspiration for counterculture icon Benjamin Braddock grew up to be a cheesy, brainless high-tech zillionaire doing yoga and driving a Mercedes around Half Moon Bay.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
12-27-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Rob Reiner, Rumor Has It ...
No Business Like Show Businessnew
The movie's wonderfully over-the-top performances often feel constrained by first-time film director Susan Stroman, whose inexperience behind the camera is all too apparent.
Austin Chronicle |
Steve Davis |
12-27-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Susan Stroman, The Producers
