Movie Reviews

The Story: A group of mercenaries head out for revenge after one of their own is murdered. The Lowdown: A murky, often amateur action movie that takes itself a bit too seriously to be the kind of dumb fun it should be.

The Story: A look into the lifestyles of the super rich and ultra tacky — and their fall from grace when the stock market crashes. The Lowdown: Undeniably fascinating in its depiction of mindless consumerism and conspicuous consumption at its most virulent, but I'm not sure you'll take anything away from it other than bemused…

In Brief: Often thought of — and not incorrectly — as the Will Ferrell movie for people who don't like Will Ferrell, Marc Forster's Stranger Than Fiction is quite simply a magical, close to perfect movie with more ideas and depth than a dozen ordinary movies. It's wrapped in a beguiling fantasy premise about a…

The Story: A superspy — much like Jason Bourne — must run for his life after the government decides they no longer have any use for him. The Lowdown: A worthy addition to the Bourne franchise that doesn’t embarrass — but does miss a bit of the previous film’s scope.

The Story: An aging married couple heads to intensive couples counseling in Maine for one last shot at mending their broken relationship. The Lowdown: The solid cast and frank sexuality are welcome, but a lack of consistent tone — or a real point — doesn’t help.

The Story: A never-challenged, slacker Blue Dog Democrat congressman finds himself pitted against an improbably naïve Republican who's being financed by greedy business interests. The Lowdown: A solid satirical premise gets derailed in favor of pandering to its stars on its way to an aged bromide ending.

The Story: A young writer in a slump — professionally and personally — creates the girl of his dreams in a book, only to find she's real and living with him. The Lowdown: Fanciful and fantastic romantic comedy that manages to explore its premise with thought and unusual wit. Don't overlook this one.

In Brief: Coming out of one of horror’s richest periods, it’s quite a statement to call Doctor X the purely creepiest of all classic horror films. But here it is, due in no small part to its odd color palette (thanks to the miracle of two-strip Technicolor) and one of the most surreal pieces or…

In Brief: Czech filmmaker Frantisek Vlácil's Valley of the Bees is a solid — if melodramatic — Middle Ages yarn that strains for a seriousness of purpose it never quite earns, except in its characterization of a man driven to a complete lack of humanity by religious zeal.

In Brief: Entertaining (if somewhat padded) World War II espionage thriller with Donald Sutherland as a ruthless Nazi spy trying to get the D-Day invasion plans to Hitler. Once the film arrives in its final hour with Sutherland stranded on an island off the coast of England, the story takes a turn into something deeper…

In Brief: A fun, fast comedy, Richard Lester’s farcical look at romance and sex in '60s London is a master class in the director’s signature style. It’s an endlessly inventive piece of cinema with good heart and a quick wit.

The Story: Our titular wimpy kid, Greg, tries to survive his summer vacation. The Lowdown: Perfectly agreeable family entertainment that suffers from being the third film in a franchise, and a lot of been there, done that.

The Story: A dizzy socialite hires a homeless man for a butler -- and proceeds to fall in love with him. The Lowdown: Probably the best of all the so-called "screwball" comedies, with the most perfect cast imaginable -- and an impeccable sophisticated glow. Life was almost certainly never like this, but the movies once…

In Brief: Even though it looks and moves every bit like a movie made in 1932, Fritz Lang’s The Testament of Dr. Mabuse nevertheless carries a surprisingly modern feel. It’s simply one of the neatest movies ever made —overflowing with style and nifty camera tricks — and demonstrates why Lang was one of cinema’s greats.

The Story: A worker in a futuristic society realizes that he isn't who he thinks he is and finds himself embroiled in a war for the future of the Earth. The Lowdown: Potentially intriguing premise that sinks in a morass of specious scripting and mind-numbingly interminable action scenes of no particular distinction.

In Brief: Another adult-sized dose of pretentious miserablism from Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr. This one involves a horse, a couple of peasants, potatoes and the end of the world -- all viewed in a detached manner and at a glacial pace. Some consider this profound. I am not among them.

In Brief: This W.C. Fields classic from his richest period at Paramount Pictures may lack the critical accolades of some of his films, but that doesn't keep it from being one of the comedian's funniest movies — and the one that contains his most famous encounter with toddler "movie star" Baby LeRoy. It's also the…

The Story: A romantic attraction to another man destroys Margot's marriage. The Lowdown: Beautifully photographed, painfully real, cinematically ambitious, but perhaps a little wanting in sympathetic characters — and possibly a little too much of a hard R rating for some tastes.

In Brief: Like so many science fiction films revolving around the idea of time travel, Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes (2007) is a movie that’s more clever than genuinely good.

The Story: A fantasy-oriented drama about the lives of the poor in a low-lying area outside New Orleans as seen through the eyes of a 6-year-old girl. The Lowdown: A highly praised indie that is marred by too much deliberately shaky handheld camerawork and sketchy philosophical underpinnings. Lots of imagination and a strong final section…

In Brief: Andrei Tarkovsky's first feature — a tale about a very determined 12-year-old working as a Soviet spy against the Nazis in World War II — is a fascinating work that finds the director already fully-formed as concerns his mastery of images, though leaning more heavily on his more obvious influences like Jean Cocteau,…