AltWeeklies Wire
'One Day You'll Understand' Employs a Steely Form of Thoughtfulnessnew
In adapting Jerome Clement's book for the screen, Israeli director Amos Gitai is fully aware of the amount of restraint, denial, and dissociation that must be employed to survive a trauma the size of the Holocaust.
The Georgia Straight |
Mark Harris |
08-18-2009 |
Reviews
'Sleep Dealer' Hits Some High Notes Despite its Micro Budgetnew
There are glitches in Sleep Dealer (cheap effects, wobbly acting, an ending that's far more emotionally rewarding than logically satisfying), but most of them are the charming flaws of a homegrown work of art.
Weekly Alibi |
Devin D. O'Leary |
08-18-2009 |
Reviews
'Paper Heart' is Both Cutesy and Ironically Smugnew
Sort of a mock mockumentary, the film follows impossibly impish hipster comedian Charlyne Yi, as she crosses the country asking real folk about true love, an emotion she claims to be incapable of.
Metro Times |
Corey Hall |
08-18-2009 |
Reviews
'Inglourious Basterds' is Tarantino's Best Work Yet
Quentin Tarantino has matured as an auteur even if he's as prone as ever to creating funny-ha-ha sequences of joyous cinematic revelry just for the sport of it.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
08-17-2009 |
Reviews
'Flame & Citron' Looks Over its Shoulder at the Nazi Occupation of Denmarknew
Even “good” wars are complicated. In director Ole Christian Madsen's Flame & Citron, the loyalties and motivations of citizens in Denmark during the Nazi occupation become so murky that the two title characters aren’t sure who can be trusted.
Pasadena Weekly |
Jana J. Monji |
08-17-2009 |
Reviews
'Spread' is Spread Thinlynew
Wonder if Spread's producer and star, Ashton Kutcher, drew on his relationship with Demi Moore for the role of Nikki, a New Age gigolo who whores himself out to rich cougars so he can squat in their Hollywood Hills pads and take them shopping for his Prada threads.
NOW Magazine |
Radheyan Simonpillai |
08-17-2009 |
Reviews
'Bandslam': Like 'High School Musical' for Indie Kids, but Better Than That Soundsnew
Director Todd Graff infuses the movie with a palpable reverence for the process of making music, giving it a beating heart that separates it from the usual calculated teeny-bop fare.
NOW Magazine |
Matt Semansky |
08-17-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Bandslam, Todd Graff
'Thirst': Vampire Lovenew
The new film from the South Korean director of Oldboy is a stunning feast for the senses but veers off-track with its overlong meditation on vampirism.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
08-14-2009 |
Reviews
'The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard': Buyer, Bewarenew
Jeremy Piven stars in this swift-moving, cynical, equal-opportunity offender about a team of used-car liquidators.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
08-14-2009 |
Reviews
The Alien Nation of 'District 9'new
District 9 is a wrenching, riveting, occasionally violent, often heartbreaking, socially conscious science fiction film, and, best of all, a love story.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
08-14-2009 |
Reviews
'Bandslam': Surviving High Schoolnew
A citywide battle of the bands provides the grist for this endearing youth film.
Austin Chronicle |
Kimberley Jones |
08-14-2009 |
Reviews
'Adam': Star-Crossed Loversnew
Hugh Dancy and Rose Byrne co-star in this love story about a guy with Asperger's Syndrome and the girl who lives next door.
Austin Chronicle |
Kimberley Jones |
08-14-2009 |
Reviews
'The Goods: Live Hard. Sell Hard.' is a Worthless Waste of Timenew
When you can't get will Ferrell, you get ... Jeremy Piven? That's apparently what the makers of this awkwardly titled film decided, since the movie originally conceived as a starring vehicle for Ferrell (who's still on board as a producer and has a small cameo) has been reinvented as Piven's first major studio film as a lead.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Staff |
08-14-2009 |
Reviews
'District 9' Uses Alien Invasion as Apartheid Metaphornew
With its corrugated tin sheds and abject poverty, District 9 stands in for the township settlements where more than a million South African blacks still live without basic human services, two decades after the end of apartheid.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
08-14-2009 |
Reviews
Hayao Miyazaki Dives Under the Sea for His Latest Environmental Fairy Talenew
Loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Mermaid, by way of Jules Verne, Miyazaki's Ponyo sticks to Andersen's basic story of an enchanted sea creature and her love for a human -- except, in the Miyazaki version, the mermaid princess is an anthropomorphic goldfish, and her handsome prince is a 5-year-old schoolboy still in full possession of his baby teeth.
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
08-14-2009 |
Reviews
Tags: Ponyo, Hayao Miyazaki
