AltWeeklies Wire
'Shorts' is Bigger Than You'd Expectnew
Shorts is a zippy, slapsticky comedy about a suburban company town going bonkers when a wish-granting, rainbow-colored rock falls out of the sky.
C-Ville Weekly |
Jonathan Kiefer |
08-26-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Shorts, Robert Rodriguez
'Adam' is Pretty Schmaltzynew
The movie's trajectory is more that of a made-for-TV special than a feature, and its subplot concerning Beth's fraudulent father is completely extraneous.
Baltimore City Paper |
Jeff Niesel |
08-25-2009 |
Reviews
Ang Lee Revives an Idealistic View of a Legendary Event in 'Taking Woodstock'
Taking Woodstock falls squarely within Lee's sweet spot. This may not be a look at the Woodstock that was, but it's fairly charming as a look at the Woodstock that we sort of wish it had been.
Salt Lake City Weekly |
Scott Renshaw |
08-25-2009 |
Reviews
The Simple Drama of 'Lemon Tree' Makes for a Powerful Middle East Parablenew
The story, based on a real incident, reads like a fable. Paying attention strictly to the David vs. Goliath surface of it, viewers will be amply rewarded. But Lemon Tree has a number of subtle stories lurking just under the surface.
Weekly Alibi |
Devin D. O'Leary |
08-25-2009 |
Reviews
The R&B of 'Soul Power' Rumbles in the Junglenew
The "Zaire '74" concert now serves as a kind of a footnote to the "Rumble in the Jungle," but the 35-year-old concert footage and behind-the-scenes moments make Soul Power feel like a backstage pass to a now overlooked musical event.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
08-25-2009 |
Reviews
'Inglourious Basterds' Uses Words to Win World War IInew
Quentin Tarantino's weird war epic emphasizes tense conversations over explosive missions.
Creative Loafing (Atlanta) |
Curt Holman |
08-25-2009 |
Reviews
The Epic, Overstuffed 'Inglourious Basterds' is WWII Through a Tarantino Lensnew
Tarantino is more interested in tailoring the WWII movie to fit his preoccupations than the other way around. He even manages to satisfy his foot fetish by having an errant high heel play a pivotal role in the climactic sequence.
Philadelphia City Paper |
Sam Adams |
08-25-2009 |
Reviews
Jim Sturges and Ben Kingsley Share Ireland's 'Troubles' in 'Fifty Dead Men Walking'
There's a lot to understand -- politically and emotionally -- about Martin McGartland. Kari Skogland's film makes it happen with muscle, brains, and loins.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
08-24-2009 |
Reviews
'You, the Living': Everything's Funnier With Weltanschauungnew
Perspective is what separates the brilliant You, the Living, a Swedish import, from the mediocre The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, which Paramount snuck into theaters last week without any timely press screenings.
Chicago Reader |
J.R. Jones |
08-24-2009 |
Reviews
'Cold Souls' Has a Charlie Kaufman Premise, but it's Not a Charlie Kaufman Movienew
Sophie Barthes is a French writer-director, and this is her first feature. And it's no great criticism to say that her ideas, well, they get away from her.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
08-24-2009 |
Reviews
'Art & Copy': How to Sell Soap and Sex and VWsnew
However stirring these vintage campaigns and their graying creators may be for ad junkies like me, Doug Pray fails at analysis. His film is simply a tribute. And linking the ad biz to cave art -- well, that's just idiotic.
Seattle Weekly |
Brian Miller |
08-24-2009 |
Reviews
After Rough Patches, Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' Hits its Stridenew
Not since R.W. Fassbinder (and Godard) has a filmmaker shown so much clever, creative interest in how the Third Reich attempted to put mass culture in the service of mass slaughter.
Quentin Tarantino Upends War Movies with 'Inglourious Basterds'new
Here in cinema form is an essay about Tarantino's mutual fascination with and distaste for the war film. And even if he's a voracious film watcher, he can tell the difference between the passionate but low-budget Samuel Fuller dramas of universal dehumanization and the boring-ass patriotic gore-opera represented by Zoller's film Nation's Pride.
Metro Silicon Valley |
Richard von Busack |
08-21-2009 |
Reviews
'The Time Traveler's Wife' Keeps a Light Onnew
This romance is based on a popular novel in which the comings and goings of a time traveler wreak havoc on his marriage.
Austin Chronicle |
Kimberley Jones |
08-20-2009 |
Reviews
'Tetro' Aspires to Opera but Plays Like a Power Balladnew
Francis Ford Coppola's latest is by no means as tragically ambitious as Youth Without Youth, thus it makes much less of a mess when it collapses under its own weight as Youth Without Youth does. In fact, what hampers Tetro is not its surfeit of ideas and narrative impenetrability but, rather, its insufficiency of thematic hooks and dramatic content.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
08-20-2009 |
Reviews
