AltWeeklies Wire
Growing Old, Bitterly, in 'Elegy'new
Isabel Coixet's Elegy is a movie for old men, made by a relatively young Frenchwoman. It's also a rainy afternoon movie, and it's quite likely to annoy women of all ages, no matter what the weather.
Tags: Elegy, Isabel Coixet
Tanaz Eshaghian's Doc Looks at Iranian Gays Pressured to Endure Sex-Change Operationsnew
Eshaghian says Be Like Others is a film about class as much as it is about gender or sexual orientation. "If you're poor, this is when the conformity is really expected of you."
Montreal Mirror |
Matthew Hays |
08-29-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Documentary 'Crazy Sexy Cancer' Confronts the Terrifying Diseasenew
For most of the film, Kris Carr presents an uplifting look at herself and several other cancer patients as they do their best to stare down the disease with dignity and courage. It makes for a documentary that's at once bitter and powerful.
Montreal Mirror |
Matthew Hays |
08-29-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Crazy Sexy Cancer, Kris Carr
'In Search of a Midnight Kiss' and 'Frozen River': Once More With Failingnew
Two movies on the extremes we'll go to for love.
Washington City Paper |
Tricia Olszewski |
08-29-2008 |
Reviews
Darby Crash Biopic Feels Like 'High School Musical' With Heroinnew
What We Do Is Secret, named after a Germs song, begins with one genuine moment--Shane West perfectly imitating Crash's baby-talkish onstage requests for a "beerwa"—but crumbles into cartoonish movie-of-the-week territory from there.
Washington City Paper |
Tricia Olszewski |
08-29-2008 |
Reviews
Son of Hamlet?new
Hamlet 2 is not among the funniest of satires, though it does have its amusing moments.
Shepherd Express |
David Luhrssen |
08-29-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Peter Cattaneo, Hamlet 2
Manny Farber, 1917-2008new
As a critic, Farber advocated more modest, elemental "termite art" — throwaway B movies, Westerns and, later on, important works of European and experimental cinema that he found sui generis, teeming with life, and more invested in individual moments than grandiose objectives
L.A. Weekly |
Scott Foundas |
08-29-2008 |
Movies
A Big Smooch for 'Midnight Kiss'new
In Alex Holdridge's lovely new film, two twentysomething Los Angelenos wander the streets together on New Year's Eve, walking and talking amid the stunning black-and-white cinematography.
Austin Chronicle |
Josh Rosenblatt |
08-28-2008 |
Reviews
Patti Smith's Bohemian Rhapsodynew
Fashion photographer Steven Sebring made this impressionistic documentary over the course of 12 years with Smith's full participation.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
08-28-2008 |
Reviews
'Traitor': Ideological Ambiguitiesnew
This Don Cheadle movie is a rare Hollywood creature: an action picture with ambiguity, a blockbuster with more questions than answers, a shoot-’em-up thriller with a sense of moral and geopolitical ambivalence.
Austin Chronicle |
Josh Rosenblatt |
08-28-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Traitor
'Transsiberian': Strangers on a Trainnew
With Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, and Ben Kingsley, this train-set suspense movie also is full of sharp character studies.
Austin Chronicle |
Marjorie Baumgarten |
08-28-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Brad Anderson, Transsiberian
'Transsiberian' Uses its Atmosphere to Great Effectnew
The film uses expert sleight-of-hand to juggle drugs, murder and various shades of villainy at the exact right times. Even if you've seen lots of movies of this type and can figure out exactly what's going to happen, Anderson takes great pleasure in the pure form and execution of it.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Jeffrey M. Anderson |
08-28-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Brad Anderson, Transsiberian
'Elegy' is Remarkably Dour and Unsexynew
Based on the novel "The Dying Animal" by Philip Roth, Elegy is meditative and glum, but not quite as profound as its tone seems to suggest it is.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
08-28-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Elegy, Isabel Coixet
'Traitor' is a Popcorn Thriller in Political-Drama Clothingnew
Nachmanoff, working from an idea by Steve Martin (yes, that Steve Martin), does try to address some serious questions about the religious motivations behind terrorist acts, but in the end he's more concerned with gotcha moments than with intellectual discourse. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Las Vegas Weekly |
Josh Bell |
08-28-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Jeffrey Nachmanoff, Traitor
'Death Race' is a Shaky, Blurry, Messy, Stupid Borenew
Death Race is a movie aimed squarely at -- beyond the stated gender and age constraints -- idiots. By idiots, we refer specifically to adults who find WWF wrestling "compelling."
Santa Fe Reporter |
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff |
08-28-2008 |
Reviews
