Movie Reviews

In Brief: Possibly Josef von Sternberg's greatest film — and certainly Marlene Dietrich's most luminous one — Shanghai Express is a work that manages to transform what is basically a pulp adventure and trashy romance story into absolute cinematic gold. It ought to be a trifle, but it is instead a poetic, dreamlike, intensely moving…

The Story: A young man at a gay cruising spot becomes obsessively involved with a man he knows is a murderer. The Lowdown: A deliberately paced thriller of the neo-noir kind that effectively builds a steady sense of unease. However, viewers need to be aware that the film contains graphic gay sexual encounters.

The Story: Mystical, fantasized retelling of the Bible story of Noah's Ark. The Lowdown: It most certainly doesn't all work, but Darren Aronofsky's visionary take on the Bible story is still an amazing work — as much for its flaws as for its virtues. It may miss greatness, but it sure makes a valiant try…

The Story: Big screen follow-up (seven years later) to the cult TV series. The Lowdown: Despite hints of something greater and an engaging performance by Kristen Bell, this is really for fans of the show. Otherwise, it's strictly OK.

The Story: A man discovers he has an exact double and decides to meet him. The Lowdown: Claustrophobic, psychological horror is the order of the day with Enemy, a film that will appeal mostly to cineastes in search of the unusual and the unsettling.

In Brief: Yasujirô Ozu's Good Morning (1959) is typical of the filmmaker's work in that it looks, rather disapprovingly, at the growing westernization of post-war Japan. But Good Morning — with its story of two boys refusing to speak until their father buys a TV set — is slighter, warmer and more accepting than most…

In Brief: Edgar G. Ulmer's (yes, the same guy who made the 1934 The Black Cat) Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957) is lacking in both budget and sense. It somehow manages to not only confuse Mr. Hyde with a werewolf, but it comes up with the screwy idea that a drug-induced monster could be an…

In Brief: Federico Fellini's first film The White Sheik (1952) is often brushed aside as a minor work — almost as if it wasn't a "real" Fellini movie at all. That's too bad, because this relatively simple comedy about a honeymoon gone wrong when the wife sneaks off just to meet her hero, The White…

In Brief: Orson Welles' most financially successful (and therefore least admired) film, The Stranger is a fairly straightforward suspense thriller — but it's a suspense thriller that only Welles could make. Its hero is a Nazi hunter (Edward G. Robinson) who's obsessed to the point of being a little unbalanced. Its villain is an unregenerate…

The Story: The Muppets are unknowingly entangled in an international art theft after Kermit the Frog is mistaken for a master criminal and thrown in prison. The Lowdown: A harmless little movie that exists solely for diehard Muppet fans and is more cute than entertaining.

The Story: A Christian student argues for the existence of God against his atheist professor. The Lowdown: Your basic "faith-based" movie complete with its stereotypical villains and rigged arguments. It will please those it's aimed at, but isn't likely to do much for anyone else.

The Story: In the future, society has been separated into factions as a means of keeping the peace, but one girl — who discovers she may be factionless — tries to fit in with a new group as a means of survival. The Lowdown: An overlong, joyless film that fancies itself as heady sci-fi. It's…

In Brief: A solid film version the play The Dresser about a failing Shakespearean ham actor (based on Sir Donald Wolfit) and the fussy, gay dresser who keeps him going. Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay are splendid in the leads, and the rest of the cast keeps up with them. Peter Yates' direction isn't anything…

The Story: The story of the last great days of the Grand Budapest Hotel and its legendary concierge, M. Gustave H. The Lowdown: Absolutely breathtaking in its design, its cinematic flair and its tragicomic tone, which is masked by a deliberately absurd, thrill-comedy plot. Wes Anderson is at the peak of his form here —…

The Story: An ex-con and former art thief agrees to a heist with his half brother, who betrayed him and sent him to prison. The Lowdown: An occasionally amusing, mildly clever heist film with a small budget but a game cast that keeps things together.

The Story: A group of single mothers must band together to keep their kids from being expelled from a private school. The Lowdown: Predictable — and predictably soapy — Tyler Perry comedy-drama with all the trimmings one expects, but, interestingly, without the usual preaching. It's not exactly good, but he's made much worse.

The Story: A divorced woman on the edge of 60 decides to start living her life rather than watching from the sidelines. The Lowdown: Refreshingly frank look at love — and life — in an age group the movies tend to shy away from. A very good film made into an essential one by Paulina…

In Brief: Little seen, The Small Back Room (1949) is very much a lesser work from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger — seeming even more so on the heels of the previous year's The Red Shoes. That doesn't mean that this film about the personal and professional troubles of an expert at bomb defusing (David…

In Brief: The Asheville Film Society concludes its monthlong tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman with Richard Curtis' (Love Actually) Pirate Radio — or rather with the film's longer UK version, The Boat That Rocked. Hoffman heads up an ensemble cast as the only American DJ on a pirate radio ship (loosely based on Radio Caroline)…

The Story: After being framed for murder, a race car driver seeks revenge behind the wheel. The Lowdown: An imminently brain-dead movie that’s occasionally fun but way too long and way too straight-faced to get the most out of its inherent stupidity.

The Story: The navy of Athens attempts to thwart a sea-born invasion from the Persian Empire. The Lowdown: A pointless excuse for a lot of unexciting bloodletting with no thematic direction and zero vision.