Movie Reviews

Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Douglas Booth, Paul Giamatti, Lesley Manville, Kodi Smit-McPhee

Romeo & Juliet

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The Story: Surely, you know the story by now. The Lowdown: Deadly dull, emotionally empty, woefully miscast, indifferently directed and just plain not good.
Starring: Metallica, Green Day, Anvil, Spinal Tap

Music Madness No. 1

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The Story: A collection of four music-oriented films: music documentaries, concert films and even a mockumentary. The Lowdown: The first week of a two week mini festival of music movies. The first week features excellent films on Anvil and Green Day, an unseen Metallica concert movie and the ever-popular This Is Spinal Tap. It's a…
Starring: Javier Cámara, Lola Dueñas, Cecilia Roth, Raúl Arévalo, Carlos Areces

I’m So Excited!

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The Story: On a plane with mechanical failures, a crew of quirky flight attendants and passengers deal with imminent doom in their own melodramatic and perverse ways. The Lowdown: Minor Almodovar that’s nevertheless wonderfully absurd and constantly in bad taste, and one of the year’s funniest films when it’s on its game.
Starring: Robert Reich

Inequality for All

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The Story: Documentary about the way economics work — and don't work. The Lowdown: Sure to be divisive, which is to say that people who believe the rich should be taxed less will hate it. Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich proves an engaging personality as he explains how the economy relies on a prosperous middle…
Starring: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Michael Chernus, Catherine Keener

Captain Phillips

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The Story: The true story of a sea captain who’s taken captive by Somali pirates. The Lowdown: A shallow thriller that’s bogged down by attempts at grandeur and the distinct odor of Oscar bait.
Starring: Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Mel Gibson, Demian Bichir, Carlos Estevez (aka Charlie Sheen)

Machete Kills

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The Story: Machete is back in another outrageous exploitation action picture — this time saving the world from mad Mel Gibson. The Lowdown: It's not high art and it's not quite as good as the first film, but it's pretty safe to say that if you liked Machete you'll enjoy Machete Kills. I had a…
Starring: Mathieu Amalric, Edouard Baer, Maria de Medeiros, Golshitfeh Farahani, Isabella Rossellini

Chicken with Plums

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In Brief: Playful, gorgeous to look at, cinematically brilliant and finally heartbreakingly sad, Vincent Paronaud and Marjane Satrapi's 2011 film is one of those movies that ought to have played here, but didn't. It's a kind of fairy tale that tells the story of a great violinist (Mathieu Amalric) who becomes so distraught over the…
Starring: George Peppard, Ursula Andress, James Mason, Jeremy Kemp, Karl Michael Vogler, Anton Diffring

The Blue Max

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In Brief: Lumbering, overlong WWI picture that boasts some truly stunning flying scenes and solid production values (only somewhat marred by process work). German fighter pilot George Peppard (the only person in the film with an American accent) tries to play social climber by winning the coveted military decoration of the film's title. The story…
Starring: Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Randolph Scott, Harriet Hilliard

Follow the Fleet

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In Brief: Follow the Fleet (1936) is the fifth of the Astaire-Rogers pictures, and as a movie, it's perhaps the weakest so far (there are weaker ones to come). Its plot is no great shakes — centering not on Fred and Ginger, but on the rather colorless romance of Randolph Scott and Harriet Hilliard. It…
Starring: Ángel Tavira, Gerardo Taracena, Dagoberto Gama, Mario Garibaldi

The Violin

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In Brief: The Mexican film The Violin (2005) is one of those movies that comes with a raft of awards from film festivals, largely enthusiastic reviews and almost no promotion. Its much lauded director, Francisco Vargas, has yet to make another film, and it seems to be one of those dead-end projects destined to obscurity.…
Starring: Edmund Lowe, Bela Lugosi, Irene Ware, Herbert Mundin, Henry B. Walthall

Chandu the Magician

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In Brief: Wildly entertaining and utterly preposterous serial-like film, Chandu the Magician (1932) was adapted from a popular radio show of the same name. Beautifully designed by co-director William Cameron Menzies, the film looks spectacular, but its plot ... well, it's arrant nonsense about a madman named Roxor (Bela Lugosi) trying to get the secret…
Starring: Romain Duris, Déborah François, Bérénice Bejo, Shaun Benson, Mélanie Bernier

Populaire

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The Story: A young woman in 1958 France is a lousy secretary but a whiz at typing, which causes her employer to train her as a champion in typing competitions. The Lowdown: An unusual subject, gorgeous period detail and a terrific cast raise this romantic comedy (with subtitles, yes) to the level of something very…
Starring: A.J. Michalka, James Denton, Kevin Pollak, Shawnee Smith, Michael Welch

Grace Unplugged

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The Story: A Christian singer runs off to L.A. to chase her dream of becoming a pop musician, only to find out things aren’t as special as they seem. The Lowdown: A professionally made film with zero originality and a heaping helping of unpersuasive proselytizing.
Starring: Justin Timberlake, Ben Affleck, Gemma Arterton, Anthony Mackie, Oliver Cooper

Runner Runner

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The Story: A Princeton grad student gets into shady business with an Internet poker magnate in Costa Rica. The Lowdown: A serviceable thriller with good leads that struggles with an inherent lack of cleverness and muddled storytelling.
Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris (voice)

Gravity

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The Story: Two astronauts accidentally set adrift in space must find a way to survive and make it back to earth. The Lowdown: Brilliantly made, impeccably acted, visually impressive and undeniably intense in its suspense. Gravity is a fine film, but is maybe too efficient for its own good.
Starring: Roy Abramsohn, Elena Schuber, Katelynn Rodriguez, Jack Dalton, Danielle Safady, Annet Mahendru

Escape from Tomorrow

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The Story: A family in disarray has a nightmarish experience at Disney World. The Lowdown: It sounds a lot more daring and subversive than it actually is. That it was made on Disney's own turf without permission is more interesting than the film itself, which is confused, unfocused and even a little silly. But it's…
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Eileen Herlie, Basil Sydney, Norman Wooland

Hamlet

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In Brief: Time has not been especially kind to Laurence Olivier's Hamlet. When it first appeared in 1948, it was the last word in culture at the cinema. Today, a lot of it feels stilted, alarmingly middle-brow and occasionally rather silly. (Some of Olivier's expressions look more like a parody than a serious attempt at…
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl, Olivia Wilde, Alexandra Maria Lara, Pierfrancesco Favino

Rush

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The Story: Fact-based drama about the 1970s rivalry between Formula One drivers James Hunt and Niki Lauda. The Lowdown: Very slick, nice-looking racing story with solid lead performances. Entertaining enough, but hardly a great movie.
Starring: Brie Larson, John Gallagher, Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Stephanie Beatriz, Rami Malek, Keith Stanfield

Short Term 12

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The Story: A look into the lives of some young social workers and their charges in a foster care center. The Lowdown: Disarming in its honesty and simplicity, Short Term 12 arrives on the local film scene with little fanfare, which is too bad because it's a little gem of a movie.
Starring: Daniel Brühl, Katrin Sass, Maria Simon, Chulpan Khamativa, Florian Lukas

Good Bye, Lenin!

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In Brief: Wolfgang Becker's 2004 film remains a beguiling comedy-drama about a young man (Daniel Brühl) charged with the seemingly impossible task of keeping his ailing mother from discovering that communism has fallen, and that East and West Germany have been reunified. He believes the discovery of this change will bring on a fatal heart…
Starring: Paula Patton, Derek Luke, Taye Diggs, Jill Scott, Adam Brody

Baggage Claim

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The Story: A flight attendant with a sorry love life tracks down some old flames in attempt to find true love. The Lowdown: A cheap, formulaic, unoriginal waste of time and talent.