Movie Reviews

In Brief: Brilliant filmmaking turns a fairly simple and utterly tawdry story into something approaching masterpiece status. Essentially, Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession (1980) is the story of a "romance" that never should have happened between two people (played by Art Garfunkel and Theresa Russell) who never should have met. Nicolas Roeg — in his…

In Brief: Back in the waning years of the 20th century, Tim Burton decided to make a movie based on (of all things) a somewhat notorious series of trading cards from 1962 called Mars Attacks! That idea seemed screwy enough, but it got screwier when Burton hired what remains his biggest-name cast and then proceeded…

In Brief: The first and in some ways the best (certainly it made the most money) of the famous nine-movie series made by producer Val Lewton at RKO in the 1940s, Cat People (1942) offered audiences something a little different in that it suggested its horrors more than it depicted them. (Ironically, it also introduced…

The Story: A newly crowned queen — with the ability to freeze things — plunges her country into perpetual winter. The Lowdown: It's certainly dazzling to look at, but apart from the presence of two female leads and no real male hero, it's pretty standard Disney fare, decked out in a largely forgettable, but occasionally…

The Story: A former Drug Enforcement Administration agent gets on the wrong side of a small-time meth dealer. The Lowdown: An unfortunately straight-faced actioner that never embraces its own inherent trashiness.

The Story: A look at three different restaurants of wildly different kinds. The Lowdown: Entertaining documentary that never quite manages to tie its three stories together. Definitely worth a look — especially if you need a break from the awards-season onslaught.

The Story: A frustrated teen is sent to Harlem for Christmas to stay with his estranged grandparents. The Lowdown: Despite a good heart and a respectful nature, the film lacks visual flare, has no memorable songs and relies too much on contrivances and melodrama.

In Brief: Writer Richard Curtis' first film as a director is easily the best-loved of the three he's made. In terms of story lines, it's the most complex. In terms of pure, unadulterated joy, it is without equal from just about any filmmaker. Looking back on it after 10 years, Love Actually (2003) is also…

In Brief: David Warner stars in his signature role as Morgan Delt — the young man deemed "a suitable case for treatment" in Karel Reisz's best and best-known film. It's the first film that can be said to be a part of the 1960s British film invasion that starts to question the hollowness of "Swinging…

In Brief: The Asheville Film Society kicks off a month of holiday treats with Jean-Pierre Jeunet's most popular film, Amélie (2001), the movie that introduced the world to the charms of Audrey Tautou in the title role. It's not actually a Christmas movie, but its red and green color scheme makes it feel like a…

The Story: A deadbeat who donated sperm over 600 times in the ‘90s discovers that he has more than 500 children, with a hundred or so wanting to track him down. The Lowdown: While a low-key performance from Vince Vaughn and an overall kindhearted nature help, the movie’s just too schmaltzy and can’t maintain any…

In Brief: Luis Buñuel’s playfully cheeky comedy about Catholicism finds the iconoclast surrealist and avowed atheist ("I'm still an atheist, thank God") in a surprisingly mellow mood. Oh, the film has its outrages against the Church and clearly finds religion very foolish indeed, but there's no real anger in this one. It's almost something of…

The Story: Sequel to The Hunger Games. The Lowdown: Mostly an improvement on the first film — until it gets to the action centerpiece of the game, whereupon it not only spins the same wheels, but relies too heavily on the assumption that you have seen the first movie.

The Story: Story of a young girl living with a foster family in Nazi Germany. The Lowdown: Old-fashioned, a little stolid and safe, but well made and generally effective drama with some terrific performances that make up for most of its shortcomings.

The Story: Fact-based story of the search for a child given up for adoption 50 years after the fact. The Lowdown: Beautifully crafted, intelligently written and anchored by marvelously nuanced performances from Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, Philomena is a delightful, emotionally satisfying awards-season surprise.

In Brief: There is absolutely no excuse why Blood Freak was ever made, and there is somewhat less of an excuse as to why Orbit DVD is running it. That there is no excuse is, of course, exactly why this carbuncle on the posterior of cinema is being run — as a kind of Thanksgiving…

In Brief: René Clément's Forbidden Games (1952) is one of those art-house staples where you can see what all the fuss was about, but may have a harder time actually feeling it. This simple tale — a young girl's parents (and dog) are killed in an air strike while fleeing the Nazis in WWII France…

The Story: A group of old friends reunite for a week together during the holidays. The Lowdown: A mostly pleasant film that’s just too long and too melodramatic to work.

In Brief: One of the most delightful and sparkling romantic comedies ever made, Billy Wilder's Sabrina -- the tale of a chauffeur's daughter who's besotted with the son of the rich family her father works for -- finds the usually cynical director in fine humor and high style. The impeccable stars -- Humphrey Bogart, Audrey…

The Story: Fact-based story of a Texas homophobe who contracts AIDS and almost inadvertently becomes a major force in the gay community in battling the disease — if not in exactly orthodox methods. The Lowdown: Brilliant performances from Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto propel this finely-crafted film into the realm of the must-see. It's a…

In Brief: Peter Bogdanovich's Paper Moon (1973) — the beguiling tale of a Bible-selling con man and the little girl who may or may not be his daughter traveling through the Depression-era midwest — found the filmmaker at the peak of his career and his popularity. Whether he ever made another film this good is…