AltWeeklies Wire
Rake's Progressnew
Casanova has cleaned up his act in Lasse Hallstrom’s engaging romantic-comedy version of his life; he's tamed down the debauchery to a tepid but bawdy "R" and learned to respect women and family values.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
12-23-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Lasse Hallstrom, Casanova
Walking the Indie Linenew
Star Wars and Batman and Harry Potter and Narnia and King Kong may have made the big bucks in 2005, but for the most part it was indie and low-budget films that made the biggest impression.
Boston Phoenix |
Peter Keough |
12-22-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: yearinreview2005
Oh, Joynew
This holiday film of dangling plot lines is hard to like, harder still to hate.
Dallas Observer |
Robert Wilonsky |
12-22-2005 |
Reviews
Miracle Movienew
While its box-office take has been disappointing, King Kong itself enthralls.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
12-21-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: King Kong, Peter Jackson
Bourgeois Charmnew
Electric Shadows makes for a nice romance, but it could have been much more.
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
12-21-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Electric Shadows, Xiao Jiang
L'Chaimnew
This Israeli comedy is a wholly original movie that's set and filmed entirely within the insular realm of Jerusalem’s ultra-orthodox Hasidim.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
12-21-2005 |
Reviews
Run Jackass, Runnew
This Farrelly brothers comedy purports to have a message about treating the intellectually challenged as regular human beings, which is about as disingenuous as a comedy about seeing past a person’s body size that stars Gwyneth Paltrow in a fat suit.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-21-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Barry W. Blaustein, The Ringer
Girls, Interruptednew
Well, we’re not in Chicago anymore, or even its soundstage approximation, but that hasn’t stopped Oscar-nominated director Rob Marshall from fashioning another epic spectacle out of two squabbling women in (a sort-of) show business.
Austin Chronicle |
Kimberley Jones |
12-21-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Memoirs of a Geisha, Rob Marshall
The Life of a Persian Polymathnew
Houston-based, Iranian-born filmmaker Mashayekh relates the story of the pioneering 11th-century mathematician, astronomer, and poet, and reminds Western audiences that there’s more to Iran and the Middle East than suicide bombers and hummus.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
12-21-2005 |
Reviews
See Dick and Jane Run Agroundnew
The original version of this comedy was little countercultural, a lot class-conscious, and a touch subversive; this remake is all farce when what is needed is satire.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
12-21-2005 |
Reviews
No Bargain at Any Pricenew
This unasked-for sequel fuses the original concept with the well-worn formula of the family-vacation romp.
Austin Chronicle |
Marrit Ingman |
12-21-2005 |
Reviews
Catch Them If You Cannew
Steven Spielberg's dour tale of assassination gets lost in a morass of moral ambivalence.
The Village Voice |
J. Hoberman |
12-21-2005 |
Reviews
The Plot Thickens
It's a shame the film's postreunification milieu is unlikely to resonate as much with Americans. Zucker never gets too zany or too maudlin, and its petty characters could serve as stand-ins for just about anyone.
Washington City Paper |
Jason Powell |
12-19-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Dani Levy, Go for Zucker
Stalin the Family
A Meet the Parents retread with the kind of giant, kooky-but-loving brood without which holiday comedies wouldn't exist, The Family Stone will have you slapping your forehead, not your knee.
Washington City Paper |
Tricia Olszewski |
12-19-2005 |
Reviews
Beyond Xanadu
The Keeper is earnest and likable, if a bit too stolid for anyone without a pre-existing interest in the subject.
Washington City Paper |
Mark Jenkins |
12-19-2005 |
Reviews
