AltWeeklies Wire
'Public Enemies': Gangster Prosodynew
The title's pluralization aside, this is Dillinger's show, and Depp's, and the actor does some cheeky, exhilarating work when he is all cockiness and resolve.
Austin Chronicle |
Kimberley Jones |
07-03-2009 |
Reviews
Sacha Baron Cohen Makes Funny, But Can't Get His Story Straight in 'Bruno'
Sacha Baron Cohen's follow-up to the hilarious Borat provokes half as many laughs in a seemingly less improvised comedy that goes twice again as far as Borat in goosing sexual sight gags designed to make even the most numb audience members blanch.
City Pulse |
Cole Smithey |
07-02-2009 |
Reviews
'Away We Go': Turbulence and Travelnew
The dialogue is prone to the same sort of meandering "look at me" monologues that pepper Dave Eggers' books. The monologues work here, mostly because of the excellent cast and because they are voiced by different characters, but they occasionally threaten to beat you over the head with "no-duh" messages about love and family.
Boise Weekly |
Jeremiah Wierenga |
07-02-2009 |
Reviews
The 'Transformers' Sequel Makes Me Want to Tear Off My Facenew
Michael Bay has officially re-entered the Land of the Suck. Revenge of the Fallen is an effort that cements his place in cinematic-dickwad hell. This guy is the biggest dipshit to ever be handed a $200 million movie.
Tucson Weekly |
Bob Grimm |
07-02-2009 |
Reviews
'O'Horten': Sentiment Sans Schmaltznew
Who knew a film about a 67-year-old railroad engineer could be so entertaining?
Tucson Weekly |
James DiGiovanna |
07-02-2009 |
Reviews
'Public Enemies': Johnny Depp's Got a Tommy Gun!new
For all of Public Enemies' muddled attempts to delve into the history of America's first "war on crime," it works better as a thriller, an action flick, and a character sketch of Dillinger -- and all of those are things which, in its fast-paced, sharply edited second half, Public Enemies becomes.
The Portland Mercury |
Erik Henriksen |
07-02-2009 |
Reviews
The Oscar-Winning 'Departures' Is Good, but Not That Goodnew
While moving and carefully done, Departures is hardly revelatory -- it sticks to tear-jerking iterations on circle-of-life themes. As the Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film, the film's greatest profundity reveals more about the questionable decisions being made by the Academy than those of love, death, or life.
The Portland Mercury |
Marjorie Skinner |
07-02-2009 |
Reviews
'Public Enemies' is Less a Biopic Than a Glossy, Stylish Elegynew
What keeps Public Enemies from being a masterpiece is a peculiar lack of emotional accessibility to the key characters.
Jennifer Lynch Steps Up -- Cruelly -- With 'Surveillance'new
With this Jennifer Lynch starts to be interesting on her own -- even more since her already-wrapped next, Hisss, is an India-shot horror fantasy based on local mythology. Which, at last, is a project one can't even imagine David Lynch doing.
San Francisco Bay Guardian |
Dennis Harvey |
07-01-2009 |
Reviews
'Year One': Sub-Zeronew
Slayer was right: God hates us all. How else to explain this blasphemously asinine and crudely scatological buddy pic?
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
06-26-2009 |
Reviews
The Latest 'Transformers' Ups the Ante on Big and Dumbnew
Revenge of the Fallen might not be louder than its predecessor, but it's assuredly "noisier" in the sense that the film is a clanging, full-metal racket from start to finish, with only the rare narrative pause for dramatic scenes devoted to exclusively human interactions.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
06-26-2009 |
Reviews
'My Sister's Keeper': A Three-Hankie Circusnew
Unsubtleties be damned, our defenses fall, and Nick Cassavetes' reign as the go-to waterworks man remains uncontested.
Austin Chronicle |
Kimberley Jones |
06-26-2009 |
Reviews
'Food, Inc.': Appetite Suppressantnew
Doomsday opening aside, Food, Inc. largely forgoes bombast, but you don't need the pictures to get the drift here, which is, more or less, that the American food industry is pretty much fucked.
Austin Chronicle |
Kimberley Jones |
06-26-2009 |
Reviews
'Cheri' is Quite a Monument to Michelle Pfeiffernew
This is sensual, cerebral, and surprisingly weighty stuff, which should come as no surprise to anyone who's been following the careers of Stephen Frears, critically neglected, perhaps, because he's so hard to pin down.
Austin Chronicle |
Kimberley Jones |
06-26-2009 |
Reviews
'Burma VJ' is a Journalistic Masterpiecenew
This gripping doc makes an airtight argument for the absolute necessity of a free press, and it should be required viewing for anyone thinking of becoming any kind of journalist.
Austin Chronicle |
Marc Savlov |
06-26-2009 |
Reviews
