The Drop Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Anyone going into The Drop should know not to expect much in the way of plot surprises. It’s a thriller, yes, but it’s very straightforward, and it treads territory covered in films all too regularly. That said, there’s something very surprising about how fresh the material seems. Lowlife criminals find themselves in […]
Captain America: The Winter Soldier Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) It’s been a long time since a Marvel movie totally worked. When Iron Man premiered in 2008, it was so tonally unique and such a breath of fresh air. But The Incredible Hulk was dull and overly moody. Iron Man 2 proverbially shot first and asked questions later. Thor, Thor: The Dark […]
Mean Streets Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) With Mean Streets, Martin Scorsese became a made man. The semi-autobiographical 1973 film unquestionably represents the director’s coming out party as a major talent, and it does so without even the slightest hint of the man abandoning the principles of his low-budget debut—Who’s That Knocking at My Door. Mean Streets is film […]
Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) There are a lot of obvious and superficial similarities between Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me and, from a few years ago, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. Both follow older women with years of experience in show business as they struggle to keep up with what the demands of their careers. They both […]
Snowpiercer Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) After months and months of waiting, wondering whether the notorious Weinstein Company would allow director Bong Joon-ho to share his true vision for Snowpiercer with the world, the film is finally here (in theaters and on VOD), and surprisingly, it’s awfully straightforward. That isn’t to say it’s not a little weird, but […]
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is one of the most unusual big-budget Hollywood action movies I’ve ever seen. For one, it opens with a virtually silent 20-minute sequence—one that catches us up with characters from the film’s predecessor, Rise of the Planet of the Apes. There’s also next to no […]
The Case Against 8 Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Documentaries of well-covered (or heavily covered, depending on your view on the state of professional journalism) subjects too often feel disposable because those in charge don’t use the medium to make their take on the story unique. A perfect example of this would be 2013’s complementary films about the anti-homosexual agenda in […]
A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) With more than 40 titles on his resume, Woody Allen‘s career has rarely been static. He wouldn’t be working today if he made the same movie every year. While Woody Allen movies most certainly can be defined reflexively, his style is much more a matter of applying a precise tone to an […]
The LEGO Movie Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) The very idea that something called The LEGO Movie was being made was enough to send shivers down the spine of anyone with good cinematic taste or a mind for originality. You know those critics who think they need to write to save cinema? The announcement of a feature-length LEGO movie was […]
After Tiller Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) There are few topics—hell, there are few words—out there that engender as much debate and blind passion as abortion. But if we can’t have a reasoned, level-headed conversation about the subject, at least we now know such a film can be made about it. After Tiller is not a fire-breathing piece of […]
Nebraska Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Nebraska is Alexander Payne‘s most prickly movie since Election. Thematically, it more closely resembles his later, more humanist films—The Descendants, Sideways. But there’s an edge (a dull edge, but an edge nonetheless) that holds the viewer at arm’s length—until it relents and you give it a warm embrace. It took me a […]
Frozen Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) What’s this? An animated musical with genuinely great music? It’s true. There’s a lot that’s great about Disney’s Frozen—its breathtaking animation, its plucky characters, its old-fashioned sensibility—but what I’m most heartened by is the notion that movies like this can feature some fantastic tunes. As much as Disney’s been on a roll […]
Short Term 12 Review
RATING: (4 STARS) There’s a moment in Short Term 12, about an hour in, that feels so wildly out of place it will take your breath away. It’s a scene out of any number of movies—a slasher flick, a gangster movie, the Jennifer Lopez vehicle Enough—but certainly not this tender-hearted drama about struggling teenagers and […]
Blackfish Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) Blackfish does everything a good documentary should. It’s enlightening and thorough. It engages your emotions. And it follows the most important rule of journalism—show, don’t tell. Unlike a lot of cinematic non-fiction, Blackfish actually makes use of the medium. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite presents horrifying footage of the mistreatment of captive killer whales […]
Call Me Kuchu Review
RATING: (3.5 STARS) There’s courage, and then there’s what the men and women at the center of Call Me Kuchu display. This exceptional documentary, from directors Katherine Fairfax Wright and Malika Zouhali-Worrall, chronicles the fight for LGBT rights in Uganda where homosexuality is illegal and almost became a capital offense. For these individuals, among them […]
