Movie Reviews

Starring: Katie Jarvis, Michael Fassbender, Kierston Wareing, Rebbecca Griffiths, Harry Treadway

Fish Tank

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In Brief: Massively overrated film that's nothing more than an extension of the British "kitchen-sink realism" from 60 years ago with a tinge of Ken Loach — meaning, among other things, that often shouted dialogue is apt to be unintelligible to a lot of viewers. Having said that, this meandering story about a 15-year-old girl…
Starring: Garrison Keillor, Kevin Kline, Virginia Madsen, Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan

A Prairie Home Companion

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In Brief: Robert Altman's final film is one of those rare occurrences in which a great filmmaker goes out on a high note. More, A Prairie Home Companion virtually serves as his own eulogy since the film is often a gently comedic exploration of death and its meaning. That it comes from a filmmaker fully…
Starring: Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Ray Walston, Paul Dooley, Paul L. Smith, Richard Libertini

Popeye

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In Brief: Robert Altman's big-budgeted, live-action take on Popeye pulls off the not inconsiderable feat of being both true to the character from the old Max Fleischer cartoons, while being slyly revisionist in the bargain. Jules Feiffer's screenplay — and Robin Williams' ad-libbing — really catches the spirit of the title character, while Altman effortlessly…
Starring: Liam James, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Sam Rockwell, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Maya Rudolph

The Way, Way Back

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The Story: A lonely, awkward 14-year-old is forced to spend the summer at the beach with his mother and her new mean-spirited boyfriend. The Lowdown: It takes a while to find its footing, but this warmly nostalgic coming-of-age comedy wins out with its array of unusually well-crafted characters.
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Bacon, Mary-Louise Parker, Stephanie Szostak

R.I.P.D.

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The Story: A murdered cop finds himself in the afterlife and conscripted into the Rest in Peace Department, a law enforcement agency for the dead. The Lowdown: A charmless mix of Men in Black and Ghostbusters that’s only barely watchable, thanks to Jeff Bridges.
Starring: (voices) Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Pena, Bill Hader, Luis Guzman

Turbo

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The Story: An everyday garden snail who dreams of speed get superpowers in a freak accident and sets his sights on winning the Indy 500. The Lowdown: Mostly harmless, yet slightly below-average in almost every sense.
Starring: Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Lili Taylor, Ron Livingston, Shanley Caswell, Hayley McFarland

The Conjuring

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The Story: A family moves into an old house where evil spirits dwell. The Lowdown: Is it as good as you've heard? No. It has script problems galore. But director James Wan still manages to pull off one creepy movie with some solid scares, even if it lacks some of the flair of his earlier…
Starring: Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Byung-hun Lee, Brian Cox

RED 2

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The Story: Those aging secret agents and cuddly hit men/women are at it again. The Lowdown: Strictly by the numbers, overlong rehash of the first film with most of the original cast plus Anthony Hopkins. Lots of shooting and explosions. Very little inspiration.
Starring: Anna Magnani, Ettore Garofolo, Franco Citti, Silvana Corsini

Mamma Roma

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In Brief: Largely dismissed — even vilified — upon its Italian release in 1962, this Pier Paolo Pasolini film about the semi-incestuous relationship between a middle-aged prostitute (Anna Magnani) and her son (Ettore Garofolo) didn't even get a proper U.S. release until Martin Scorsese brought it here in 1995. While it's hardly top-tier Pasolini, Mamma…
Starring: Don Sullivan, Fred Graham, Lisa Simone, Shug Fisher, Bob Thompson, Janice Stone

The Giant Gila Monster

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In Brief: Look, it's a 1959 movie called The Giant Gila Monster. That means the notoriously sluggish lizard sort of ambles around dicey miniature sets while largely unheard of actors react in horror to something that really isn't there. It's absolutely indefensible, low-rent nonsense, but that's what gives the movie its wayward appeal.
Starring: Hadas Yaron, Yiftach Klein, Irit Sheleg, Chayim Sharir, Razia Israeli, Hila Feldman

Fill the Void

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The Story: The story of a young Orthodox Hassidic girl and the question of whether she should marry her late sister's husband. The Lowdown: What could have been a fairly ordinary romantic drama is transformed into something freshly appealing by the unusual society in which it's placed.
Starring: Kristen Wiig, Darren Criss, Matt Dillon, Annette Bening, Christopher Fitzgerald

Girl Most Likely

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The Story: When a failed playwright stages a suicide bid to get her boyfriend back, she ends up in the care of her dubiously balanced mother. The Lowdown: Not a great comedy, but a very pleasant one with engaging performances and a few nice surprises.
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman, Clifton Collins Jr., Ron Perlman

Pacific Rim

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The Story: It's giant robots vs. giant monsters as (of course) the fate of the world hangs in the balance. The Lowdown: It's big. It's deliberately dumb. And it's a lot of good-natured fun with all the stock giant-monster movie clichés intact. However, it must be noted that the robot vs. monster bouts tend to…
Starring: Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, Dyan Cannon, Irene Worth, Henry Jones

Deathtrap

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In Brief: Deathtrap (1982) is kind of the poor cousin to Sleuth — another gimmick-driven stage thriller brought to the big screen, also starring Michael Caine (only here in the equivalent of Laurence Olivier's role in the 1972 Sleuth). While Deathtrap is very much the lesser film, it scores as a kind of muggers' delight…
Starring: Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Vera-Ellen, George Sanders, Billy De Wolfe

Call Me Madam

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In Brief: Bright and breezy film version of the Irving Berlin stage hit starring Ethel Merman. While it's not what you'd call inspired filmmaking, it's filled with terrific songs, funny lines and clever situations. It's also the only film to give us any real sense of what made Merman such a sensation on the stage.…
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Kristin Scott Thomas, Vithaya Pansringarm, Yayaying Rhatha Phongam, Tom Burke

Only God Forgives

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The Story: Violent revenge thriller set in a nightmarish version of Bangkok. The Lowdown: Extremely violent, almost fetishistic thriller that moves at a hypnotically slow pace. It will offend some, bore others, fascinate the rest — and probably generate hate mail for me for even cautiously recommending it.
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Salma Hayek

Grown Ups 2

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The Story: A day in the life of the families of the original Grown Ups. The Lowdown: A chintzy, lazy, plotless comedy, whose jokes rely solely on raising the bar on bodily function humor.
Starring: Jeremy Scahill, Nasser al-Aulaqi, Jerome Starkey, Andrew Exum

Dirty Wars

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The Story: A globe-trotting American journalist illustrates the ways in which the war on terror has spiraled out of control. The Lowdown: A solemn, heady, but uneven and often-flawed documentary that’s at its strongest when mixing humanity with politics.
Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter, Leonard Rossiter

2001: A Space Odyssey

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In Brief: To say that Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film is almost beyond criticism is misleading, but not entirely untrue. No matter how you feel about 2001: A Space Odyssey, it's just too big to ignore. It presents the viewer with a mystery that can be interpreted and explored, but never actually solved — and in…
Starring: Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Gloria Stuart, Alice Brady, Glenda Farrell, Grant Mitchell

Gold Diggers of 1935

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In Brief: Busby Berkeley's Gold Diggers of 1935 is the first of the big Warner Bros. musicals to really feel the heat of the new Production Code, meaning its comedy is less risqué, its costumes less revealing and its entertainment value slightly diminished. That said, we do get a very funny Adolphe Menjou as an…
Starring: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Jean Hagen, Millard Mitchell, Douglas Fowley

Singin’ in the Rain

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In Brief: For whatever reason, Singin' in the Rain (1952) has become untouchable as far as criticism — and is even casually referred to as the best musical ever made. The point is certainly debatable, though the title number is beyond reproach and the whole enterprise has undeniable energy (that may or may not be…