There’s a certain irony in the fact that The Incredibles, with its undeniably gay-themed subtext about accepting those who are “different,” should arrive the same week conventional wisdom has it that the gay-rights debate cost John Kerry the presidency. It’s perhaps even more ironic that the film is apt to be welcomed with open arms […]

Jonathan Glazer could not possibly have chosen a more different film — or a more different approach — for a follow-up to his debut feature, Sexy Beast, than Birth. Where Sexy Beast was an aggressively loud film, Birth is an understated one that seems to have been made while the filmmaker was channeling Stanley Kubrick. […]

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines levity as “excessive or unseemly frivolity,” while offering a secondary, alternative meaning: “lack of steadiness.” I’m guessing that writer/director Ed Solomon had the first definition in mind as an ironic comment on the rather gloomy events in his film, though the second definition might be nearer the mark. This 2003 release, […]

Taylor Hackford’s Ray tells the story of musician Ray Charles, and features an inspired performance by Jamie Foxx that gets smothered in an uninspired movie. This disappointing effort is no great surprise, given Hackford’s generally lackluster filmography of largish movies that offer all the emotional and thematic depth of a mud puddle. Ray is the […]

If you’re going to see Saw, be prepared for plenty of grisly doings, including the performance of actor Cary Elwes, who offers one of the most classically awful performances since the advent of the talking picture. Indeed, I have yet to encounter a limburger cheese less aromatic than his performance here. And while I won’t […]

In a sane world, this utterly charming, sweet little fantasy of a movie would boost Rhys Ifans to stardom. Of course, this isn’t a sane world, and hardly anyone is going to see this film, so that’s not likely to happen. But for anyone lucky enough to catch Danny Deckchair, the notion that Ifans is […]

Calling a movie an “existential comedy” is a pretty tall claim, not to mention a risky proposition in today’s film market. But damned if writer/director David O. Russell hasn’t pulled it off! Russell’s now three for four with me. I have to admit I hated his second movie, Flirting with Disaster, which felt like warmed-over […]

Yes, it’s Buffy the Feature-film Slayer in another non-Scooby-Doo attempt to make it on the big screen. It’s also the most desperate effort anyone is ever likely to make at copying The Ring — and a pathetically inadequate attempt at that. Director Takashi Shimizu brings a certain degree of style to this Americanized remake of […]

Unlike Team America‘s Trey Parker and Matt Stone, writer/director John Sayles leaves no room for speculation on the nature of his political leanings with Silver City. The movie’s Boobus Americanus gubernatorial candidate, Richard “Dim Dickie” Pilager (Chris Cooper, Adaptation), is the scion of a wealthy political empire headed by ruthless Sen. Judson Pilager (Michael Murphy, […]

By this point, I think I’ve seen three different cuts of Paul Schattel’s Sinkhole. I’ve been assured that this latest version, which shows this Thursday at the Fine Arts, is the absolutely final one. And I hope that’s true, because Schattel has now fine-tuned the film to its best possible form. Sinkhole is, as it […]

I wanted to like Team America much more than I did, and can’t quite decide why I’m less than thrilled with this movie. Because it so tends to fall flat between the good bits? Because messieurs Stone and Parker don’t know when to let a good gag alone? Because it goes on at least 20 […]

For viewers, the question about this movie is whether they consider its quantum physics-based “truth-or-illusion” exploration profound or just so much cosmic codswallop. How you answer will probably dictate how you feel about the film in general. Myself, I’m somewhere between noncommittal and the codswallop league. Perhaps that’s because I’m just a soupcon on the […]

Another older, worthy film returns to the area with Kirk Jones’ Waking Ned Devine, a genial, critically acclaimed comedy of the “old school.” In terms of both plot and characterization, not to mention execution, this gentle, quirky movie is cut from the same cloth as such venerable Ealing comedies as A Run for Your Money […]

It’s curious and yet apt that the day before I saw Bright Young Things, I’d spent an hour talking with a group of very bright and savvy home-schooled teenagers at a “career day” program (apparently, some of them would like to be movie critics). The topic somehow turned to literary adaptations, specifically the Harry Potter […]

Hilary Duff’s latest vehicle ought to be a hearse carrying the ashes of her career. OK, I admit I’m not a fan. But I did opine that most of what was wrong with her previous film, A Cinderella Story, (and there was plenty) wasn’t her fault. And while there are some problems with Raise Your […]

I’m already getting the sense that it’s going to be fashionable to look down on Peter Chelsom’s Shall We Dance? as inferior to the Japanese film Shall We Dansu?, on which it’s based. Because, of course, Chelsom’s update features J-Lo in its cast. While I’ve not seen the original, I’ve little doubt that Audrey Wells’ […]

Queen Latifah handily walked away with the show in Chicago. She enlivened the uneven Bringing Down the House. Her scenes in Barbershop 2 were among the film’s highlights. So what is it with her and these steaming piles of donkey crap like The Cookout and the dreadfully unfunny, unexciting, uninspired and occasionally offensive Taxi? I […]

I don’t know when I’ve seen a movie so completely smug in its belief that its audience is on a par with Pavlov’s dogs. Ladder 49 wants to be the ultimate tribute to firefighters — or at least its makers want us to think that’s what they set out to make. I’m not convinced their […]

With only one short film to his credit, writer-director Joshua Marston appears on the movie scene with a credible, well-intentioned and largely successful debut feature — thanks in no small part to another newcomer, Catalina Sandino Moreno, in the title role. Moreno hits just the right note as Maria. This is essential to the film, […]