AltWeeklies Wire
The Adjustment Bureau is Charming but Flawednew
Instead of exploring the themes of destiny and choice, writer-director George Nolfi constructs a giant hamster maze designed to test the lengths two crazy kids will go to find true love.
Kevin Spacey as Casino Jack Abramoffnew
George Hickenlooper's film takes a novel, comic approach, but it isn't compelling enough to interest those who got their fill from Alex Gibney's documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money.
Tags: Casino Jack, Kevin Spacey
A Trip Through a Montreal Man's Messy Life in Barney's Versionnew
Barney Panofsky is a boozy, sweaty, ostensible fuckup who—despite being played by Paul Giamatti—is nonetheless strikingly successful in business and even more so with women.
Tags: Barney's Version
The Illusionist, the Magnificent New Film From Sylvain Chometnew
Deeply felt and painfully melancholy, The Illusionist wallows in the visual and aural furniture of a vanishing popular culture.
Tags: The Illusionist
The Craigslist Killer and Other Scary Worlds of Lifetime Televisionnew
The world of Lifetime movies is one where if your teen only get pregnant, she's getting off easy.
Tags: The Craigslist Killer
Rabbit Hole Explores the Grieving Processnew
A simple scene on a park bench walloped me emotionally like no film in recent memory.
A Docudrama of a Notorious Unsolved Murder in Americanew
All Good Things is the only slightly fictionalized story of real-life millionaire Robert A. Durst, who is suspected of murdering his wife, who disappeared in 1982.
The Fighter Is Pat And Derivativenew
The only explanation for the existence of The Fighter is the Ben Affleck-ian belief that the world can always use another blue-collar tale set among the Boston-area Irish.
A Thematic Feast In Black Swannew
Director Darren Aronofsky juxtaposes sexual maturation, particularly in a male-dominated culture, with ballet's concurrent idealization and objectification of femininity.
Tags: Black Swan
Monsters Is An Ambitious Indie Sci-Fi Road Trip Filmnew
Monsters is in the apocalyptic vein of so many films of recent years—District 9 and The Road are obvious corollaries.
Tags: Monsters
A Life-Changing Friend In My Dog Tulipnew
By placing himself in the service of his animal, an old man is better able to serve his own needs.
Tags: My Dog Tulip
Last Train Home is a Stellar Doc About Chinese Internal Migrationnew
Chinese-Canadian director Lixin Fan's documentary is an intimate treatment of the lives of ordinary people in a fast-changing China.
Tamara Drewe is a Lively, If Flawed, Thomas Hardy Updatenew
This bustling country comedy achieves the goal of both invoking a certain English literary tradition and lightly satirizing our nostalgia for it.
