Movie Reviews

In Brief: Though undeniably a sequel to 1942's Cat People, The Curse of the Cat People (1944) is almost not a horror film. It can even be argued that its fantasy elements all take place inside the mind of its young heroine (Ann Carter), but it does have characters from the original film and addresses…

The Story: Two families have to deal with the fact that their 6-year-old boys were switched at birth. The Lowdown: Delicate, intensely moving family drama with strong performances — a subtle, yet provocative exploration of what it means to be a family and what makes a father.

In Brief: John Ford and John Wayne scored one of their biggest — and perhaps best-loved — hits with this unassuming Irish comedy about a retired American boxer (Wayne) migrating to Ireland and the trouble and love he finds there. On the downside, the movie really is too long, and the attitudes about the roles…

In Brief: Philip Seymour Hoffman stars in Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, Synecdoche, New York (2008) represents not just one of the actor's most accomplished performances but one of his most challenging. It is also easily the most challenging film that's being shown as part of a monthlong tribute to Hoffman. It is a rich, fantasticated,…

In Brief: Impossible to fault as filmmaking, I believe Lars von Trier's Antichrist is equally impossible to defend on any other level. From its charged (but meaningless) title to its final assault on viewers' sensibilities, it is a repellent work — a nasty film that is nasty for its own sake. Ostensibly an examination of…

The Story: The world's smartest dog, Mr. Peabody, must fight to keep his adopted son, Sherman. The Lowdown: Brisk, funny and entertaining, Mr. Peabody & Sherman may not set the world on fire and certainly won't change the way you think about animated films, but it does provide a fun 90 minutes at the movies.

The Story: A timid, henpecked pharamacist falls under the spell of a bored femme fatale. The Lowdown: A somewhat clever dark comedy that falls prey to predictability, but is kept afloat by Sam Rockwell's performance.

The Story: A U.S. Air Marshall on an intercontinental flight must go into action after receiving text messages threatening to kill the passengers on board if demands aren't met. The Lowdown: With a plot that can’t stand up to any real scrutiny, this mindless thriller is nothing more than silly entertainment.

In Brief: A solid and old-fashioned war thriller (it was old-fashioned when it was new), The Train (1964), is perhaps a movie the not-dissimilar The Monuments Men ought to have been a little more like. Here, it's all about an art-obsessed — and generally obsessive — Nazi colonel (Paul Scoffield) doing his best to get…

The Story: An epic look at World War II from the point of view of five young Germans. The Lowdown: Solid, involving, somewhat clichéd and potentially controversial in its attempt to attain a degree of understanding for the "average" German point of view of WWII, Generation War falls short of greatness, but remains a compelling…

In Brief: A double dose of Bela Lugosi in two films that can only be called "personality vehicles" for the actor — Night of Terror (1933) and The Corpse Vanishes (1942). Night of Terror is the better made of the two, and is, in fact, the first true Lugosi vehicle. It trades on his name…

The Story: The story of the life of Jesus Christ, from his birth, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection. The Lowdown: An overly sincere, bombastic, dramatically inert and melodramatic film that adds nothing to the story of Jesus’ life.

In Brief: Just before David Lean set out on the path of the epic blockbuster, he gave us one final small black-and-white film, Hobson's Choice (1954), and it serves as a reminder of how great a filmmaker Lean was without the benefit of widescreen Technicolor spectacles. From its opening shot to its final fade-out, there's…

In Brief: The second film of the monthlong tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt (2008) finds the actor far removed from the supporting role of Almost Famous (2000) and co-starring with Meryl Streep. The film is an adaptation of John Patrick Shanley's play and was made by Shanley. Hoffman plays a priest at a Catholic…

The Story: A CIA agent’s dying wish to reconnect with his estranged family is derailed when he’s offered a miracle cure for his disease — but only if he kills an especially nefarious target. The Lowdown: A disjointed, aimless and occasionally ugly action picture with zero spark.

In Brief: Universal's big, splashy Technicolor 1943 remake (made on the same set) of its 1925 hit Phantom of the Opera is often dimissed as "too much opera" and "too little Phantom." There's some truth in that, but it's still a good — and certainly good-looking — thriller with its fair share of jolts. In…

The Story: Fantasticated biopic of the man who designed the Japanese fighter plane, the Zero. The Lowdown: For his (supposed) final film Hayao Miyazaki has created a long, very romanticized, biographical work. It is a thing of great beauty and delicacy, but the central story may prove troubling to some viewers.

In Brief: The Asheville Film Society launches its monthlong tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman with Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous (2000), a movie in which Hoffman had a supporting role as the cynical rock critic, Lester Bangs. It wasn't a big part — he has a handful of scenes throughout the film — but it was…

In Brief: The last of Fellini's true neorealist works, Nights of Cabiria (1957) is also one of his most emotional and emotionally devastating. At the same time, the film is strangely life-affirming, thanks to its indomitable main character, Cabiria. Cabiria (played by Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina) is a low-end prostitue who is one part waif…

The Story: Three young Palestinian men who fancy themselves as "freedom fighters" manage to kill an Israeli soldier — with disastrous results. The Lowdown: Compelling and riveting entertainment that's as good as any action thriller out there (and better than most) but with dark and deeply disturbing undercurrents.

The Story: More or less the story of the young Allen Ginsberg, his first love and the origin of the Beats. The Lowdown: It will be too candid for some, and it isn't flawless, but Kill Your Darlings is exciting, emotionally powerful filmmaking that should be seen.