Movie Reviews

The Story: Another — much darker — retelling of the Snow White story. The Lowdown: Visually striking with some brilliant bits, but hampered by an ill-cast lead and a padded running time.

In Brief: Slick animal rights film structured to resemble a crime thriller. In the main, this works, but it sometimes seems too clever for its own good. The cutaways to scenes of animal cruelty will be too much for some, while the inevitable preachiness will be a downside for others.

The Story: In the 1920s, the Mexican people fight for their religious freedom against an oppressive government. The Lowdown: A professionally made historical piece that’s too long and too flimsy.

In Brief: Scintillating screwball comedy with Jean Arthur as a young woman who gets a dose of the high life when she's mistaken for the mistress of a banker (Edward Arnold). The great Preston Sturges provided the very funny screenplay, which director Mitchell Leisen brought to the screen with wit, charm and that glistening classic-era…

In Brief: Locally made film that showcases folk music as it follows its young hero's path through the region as he searches to find his place in the world. An agreeable little movie with a pace and a vibe distinctly its own. It may not be perfect, but it's a worthy effort -- and one…

The Story: A look into the lives of seven young ballet dancers as they prepare for and undertake an important competition. The Lowdown: Surprisingly compelling and entertaining documentary that benefits from characters you care about and a structure that gives it a strong dramatic arc.

In Brief: The big art house hit of 1988, Babette's Feast is an undeniably charming and strangely touching film that at least comes close to retaining its original lustre -- and possibly even its Oscar win. It is, however, a film I'm not at all sure would really hold up under repeat viewings.

The Story: A long-time doormat team in high school football attempts to overcome its fair share of trials and tribulations in order to win its first-ever playoff game. The Lowdown: A documentary film that has been molded to fit the ideals of an uplifting sports movie, Undefeated raises more questions than it answers. Nevertheless, it's…

In Brief: A double dose of classic horror with Karl Freund's Mad Love (1935), the film that first presented Peter Lorre in a horror picture, and Edgar G. Ulmer's The Black Cat (1934), the first onscreen teaming of Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. The former -- a remake of the silent The Hands of Orlac…

In Brief: A speculative drama (based on largely discredited theories) about what really caused the fiery crash of the Graf Zeppelin Hindenburg at Lakehurst, N.J., in 1937. It has more in common with the disaster movie boom of the 1970s than history, but it's passably entertaining nonsense with nice performances from George C. Scott and…

The Story: True-life crime story about the murder of a much-hated old woman, her killer and the very odd fall-out from the crime in a small Texas town. The Lowdown: Darkly funny, oddly touching, disturbing and surprisingly deep film that benefits from a very unusual approach. A must-see.

In Brief: A sweetly sentimental tale about the life of a dreamer in a small town in Italy, mostly taking place just before and during WWII. It's small scale and a little on the cliched side, but not without its modest charms -- and with unusually striking cinematography that helps make up for its sometimes…

The Story: Six morons hire a sketchy guide to take them on an illegal tour of Chernobyl. It's an ill-advised decision. The Lowdown: Ugly, dull, tedious horror thriller involving a no-name cast running around in the dark while radiation-spawned mutants kill them off.

The Story: Agent J travels through time to stop his partner, Agent K, from being murdered by a ruthless alien criminal. The Lowdown: A harmless -- if superfluous -- sequel that works solely on how much you’ve liked its predecessors.

In Brief: Though it may sound pretty awful and like Masterpiece Theatre stuff on the big screen, The Young Victoria proves to be a cinematic, stylish and entertaining historical romance that shakes the dust off our images of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

In Brief: A stark but compelling drama about life in rural Siberia, mostly centering on an old man and his grandson living a precarious existence in an isolated shack, but with a secondary plot that will eventually figure into their story. Altogether worthwhile, despite some flaws and cultural gaps.

The Story: Mish-mash of stories about people having babies. The Lowdown: Overlong, overstuffed, generally unfunny rom-com centered on pregnancy.

The Story: A group of old-age pensioners go to India and the affordable hotel of the title, only to find it's not exactly as described in the brochure. The Lowdown: Warm, funny, touching, completely winning film that does right by a cast that in turn does right by it.

The Story: Aliens land on Earth, and it's up to a ragtag group of sailors to stop them. The Lowdown: Loud and noisy in the vein of Michael Bay, but entertaining because it understands what this kind of loud, noisy popcorn flick needs to be.

The Story: The despotic ruler of a fictional North African country goes to America while his duplicitous uncle replaces him with his idiot double. The Lowdown: More structured -- and much better paced -- than Sacha Baron Cohen's "reality show" movies, but just as outrageous and offensive -- and maybe funnier.

In Brief: A pianist sells his soul to the devil in exchange for becoming the greatest pianist in the world. The downside is that he tends to turn into a kind of dopey looking werewolf. Mayhem of that peculiar Mexican kind ensues -- as does a good deal of entertainment.