AltWeeklies Wire
Framed Like a Rembrandt, 'Everlasting Moments' Looks Great, But Misses the Big Picturenew
Lovely to look at but too slow and deliberate to get lost in, Jan Troell's Everlasting Moments is a tribute to still photography filtered through a portrait of working-class life wracked by war and want in early-20th-century Sweden.
L.A. Weekly |
Ella Taylor |
03-05-2009 |
Reviews
Three People Vie to Be a Couple in the Freefalling 'Two Lovers'new

From its first frames to its downbeat denouement, this is the most fatalistic film I've ever seen that offers its protagonist two beautiful women to choose between.
Jan Troell's 'Everlasting Moments'new
Jan Troell’s film about 1907 Sweden is the height of filmmaking technology and emotional sophistication.
New York Press |
Armond White |
03-05-2009 |
Reviews
Not Another Fairy Tale: 'Beauty in Trouble'new
Like the best of Kundera's fiction, Beauty in Trouble explores the ways that politics, history and economics can meet in the bedrooms of Prague.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Wyatt Williams |
02-25-2009 |
Reviews
'Gomorrah' Recognizes the Mob for What It Is: A Quiet Scourgenew
The real-life Neapolitan crime organization, known as the Camorra, is depicted here as a hovering presence above the locals, dropping down into ordinary lives only as sudden flashes of death, but otherwise reigning from above, its fearsome presence unseen but influencing every action.
Willamette Week |
Andy Davis |
02-25-2009 |
Reviews
'Moscow, Belgium' Succeeds by Revealing the Diversity of the Everydaynew
Moscow, Belgium won't be the best movie you'll see this year, and it doesn't aim to change the world or make a lot of money or destroy communism. What it does aim to do is demonstrate how watching ordinary people can be completely compelling, and also, how ordinary people don't have a standard form.
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
02-20-2009 |
Reviews
The African Diaspora and Its Beautiful Discontentsnew
The puzzlingly punctuated title of Nurse.Fighter.Boy is a tip-off that characters here are to be taken with several grains of mythopoeic salt.
The Georgia Straight |
Ken Eisner |
02-09-2009 |
Reviews
'He's Just Not that Into You': The Longest, Most Unnecessarily Complicated Chick Flick Evernew
He's Just Not That Into You looks like a fun, awesome chick flick, and parts of it live up to that promise —- but unfortunately, this bitch is long, and by the time it finally ended, it felt more grueling than any bad date I've ever had.
The Portland Mercury |
Alison Hallett |
02-05-2009 |
Reviews
'Memorial Day': Boned and Readynew
Memorial Day displays major cojones with its graphic depiction of human brutality, but its in-your-face didacticism comes with loads of naivete.
New York Press |
Eric Kohn |
02-05-2009 |
Reviews
The Passion of the Ram: 'The Wrestler'new
The Wrestler is a moving character study, featuring an amazing lead performance from Mickey Rourke.
Little Big Man: 'Notorious'new
Biggie Smalls' large life is reduced to a by-the-numbers biopic in Notorious.
Claude Miller Themes the Holocaust With Some Tact and Family Dramanew
Leave it to the French to show Hollywood how to tastefully handle the Holocaust. While far from perfect, Claude Miller's affecting and intimate family drama A Secret captures the complexities and challenges of being a Jew in France in the run-up to World War II.
Metro Times |
Jeff Meyers |
02-03-2009 |
Reviews
Winter Walk: Lance Hammer's 'Ballast'new
A confident, if downbeat debut, Ballast eschews "indie" style for lean storytelling.
Pittsburgh City Paper |
Al Hoff |
02-02-2009 |
Reviews
Couscous de Coeur: 'The Secret of the Grain'new
The French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche is that rare thing at the movies these days: an intelligent humanist.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
01-30-2009 |
Reviews
Desperate Times: An Interview with 'Wendy and Lucy' Director Kelly Reichardtnew
The accident of timing has everything to do with how a movie is received, and there's no question Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy hits home more forcefully now than when it premiered last May. The spare, lyrical story seems tailor-made for hard times, when even the formerly comfortable are staring destitution in the face.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
01-27-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews