AltWeeklies Wire
'The Kingdom' Has Powernew
Surprisingly, the best of this year's lot of war movies thus far is The Kingdom, an action movie with characters filled by Hollywood central casting.
Tags: Peter Berg, The Kingdom
'War/Dance' Tells a Poignant Talenew
The winner of the 2007 Sundance award for documentary direction, War/Dance is a powerful film about the plight of children in war-ravaged northern Uganda, where hundreds of thousands of children have been kidnapped or orphaned in a vicious conflict.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: War/Dance, Sean Fine, Andrea Nix
'View From a Grain of Sand' is Unapologeticnew
Weaving together the stories of three Afghan women (a doctor, a teacher and a social activist) who have sought refuge from war, political conflict and an oppressive regime, the film intermittently infuses the country’s history under three distinct leaders.
Orlando Weekly |
Deanna Sheffield |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
'Strange Culture' Desconstructs Documentary Formnew
Lynn Hershman Leeson deconstructs the documentary form in Strange Culture, the Kafka-esque saga of Steve Kurtz, an artist whose work concerns biotechnology and GMO foods.
Orlando Weekly |
Jessica Bryce Young |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
'Prince of Peace — God of War' Asks Why Christians Support Warnew
While it may seem a distant, simple -- even annoying -- feast of hypothetical subject matter, the underlying question may be an open door into the religious right's base politics. Have they skipped Jesus and leapt straight to the Crusades?
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
'Postcards From Tora Bora' Examines Kabul Then and Nownew
Kabul is a starkly different city than the flourishing, cosmopolitan center it once was. Osman’s film mixes childish cartoons with man-on-the-street footage to powerful effect.
Orlando Weekly |
Bob Whitby |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
'New Urban Cowboy' Explores New Pedestrianismnew
New Urban Cowboy documents Michael Arth's valiant efforts and big dreams for the "neighborhood of the future" and provides a model not just of new developments, but new developers.
Orlando Weekly |
Ian Monroe |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Michael Arth, New Urban Cowboy
'Lillie & Leander: A Legacy of Violence' Explores Southern Paranoianew
What starts out looking like yet another story of a black man wronged by the racist powers-that-be in the early 20th-century Florida Panhandle emerges in the hands of director Jeffrey Morgan as a documentary that is as shocking as it is emotionally engaging.
Orlando Weekly |
Jason Ferguson |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
'The Great Match' Presents a Nonpatronizing One-World Themenew
The Great Match is about the attempts of three far-flung groups to watch the the final match of the 2002 World Cup, going through motions both comical and extreme in their struggle to see the game.
Orlando Weekly |
Jason Ferguson |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Gerardo Olivares, The Great Match
'Election Day' Eschews the Conspiratorial for the Obviousnew
Katy Chevigny's enlightening documentary eschews the pretensions of voter-fraud overstatement in favor of a real-time portrait of actual poll-station shenanigans.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: election day, Katy Chevigny
'Ballad' Shows the Dark Side of Supporting the Troopsnew
The Ballad of Esequiel Hernandez documents the 1997 murder on the banks of the Rio Grande of a 17-year-old high-schooler, Esequiel Hernandez, who was shot by four undercover Marines while walking the family goats near his home in Redford, Texas.
Orlando Weekly |
Lindy T. Shepherd |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
'The Kingdom': The Middle East for Dummiesnew
The film's main fault lies in its didactic pretensions, and in wanting to be something more than it's capable of being -- at heart, The Kingdom is really just a standard little TV action show for the big screen, with decent actors and a hyperactive cameraman.
Dig Boston |
David Wildman |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Peter Berg, The Kingdom
Robert Benton Gives Us The Love Jittersnew
Feast of Love is a feel-good movie for the semi-literati; as such it may grate on those too sophisticated for its smooth ways and easy answers.
New York Press |
Marsha McCreadie |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Feast of Love, Robert Benton
Love and War in the New Releasesnew
2 Days in Paris, In the Valley of Elah, Feast of Love, The Kingdom, Interview, and Good Luck Chuck bring us intimacy and Iraq.
Creative Loafing (Charlotte) |
Matt Brunson |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
'Vanaja': More than Masalanew
Written and directed by Rajnesh Domalpalli as his graduate thesis at Columbia University, Vanaja is an engaging and shocking look at class, gender roles and sexuality in rural India.
Orlando Weekly |
Jason Ferguson |
09-27-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Rajnesh Domalpalli, Vanaja
