Movie Reviews

The Story: The first half of the final chapter in The Hunger Games series finds the rebels preparing for an all-out war with the government. The Lowdown: More intelligent, more interesting and generally better made than its predecessors, but it's a film that would be hard to even follow for a newcomer.

The Story: A bamboo cutter and his wife find a tiny girl in a bamboo sprout and decide to raise her into a princess. The Lowdown: Visually beautiful but far too long a film for such a simple storyline.

In Brief: On the surface, the idea of a movie in which Jackie Gleason plays mute has its appeal. At least he can't bellow every line of dialogue, because ... well, he hasn't any. In practice, however, what we get in Gigot (1962) is a gooey vanity project for Gleason, who seems to think he's…

The Story: Biopic about Stephen Hawking and his wife Jane. The Lowdown: Unabashed crowd-pleaser Oscar bait that works on that level — thanks in large part to the acting — but never really transcends the conventions of the biopic genre.

In Brief:  Though it comes a week early, it can be fairly said that this is the Thursday Horror Picture Show's Thanksgiving turkey, but what an entertaining turkey it is. Saying that Bride of the Monster (1955) is the best movie Ed Wood ever made isn’t exactly showering it with praise, since that’s based on the sliding…

The Story: An up-and-coming pop star, struggling with her rise to fame, falls in love with a humble police officer. The Lowdown: A mature, realistic romance that struggles due to a lack of cinematic style and dramatic tension.

In Brief: This is a make-up showing of The Day Carl Sandburg Died, which the Hendersonville Film Society had slated to run some considerable time ago. The film is a scrupulously detailed, reasonably comprehensive and beautifully presented documentary on the great American poet Carl Sandburg from Asheville filmmaker Paul Bonesteel. Whatever you think you know…

The Story: Twenty years after the fact, we get the further adventures of Harry and Lloyd. The Lowdown: The “much-anticipated” (they say) sequel to Dumb and Dumber (1994) is a shapeless retread of things that supposedly worked in the first movie. One of the worst films of 2014.

In Brief: Exempting the multi-director film Stimulantia (1967), Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf (1968) follows his equally disturbing Persona (1966) and is stylistically and tonally very similar. Why Hour of the Wolf  is classified as a horror-drama and Persona as a drama is a matter for debate. Both are nightmarish. Both deal (as does…

The Story: Activist documentary on whistle-blower Edward Snowden. The Lowdown: Clearly — and unquestioningly — in the pro-Snowden camp, this film lacks balance, which is expected in this type of movie. But it also tries to create urgency with a story where we already know the ending (such as it is). Worthy, but a good…

In Brief: Will Rogers once called John Ford’s Judge Priest the best movie he ever made. Of course, he was promoting the film when he said that. Whether or not it’s quite true, it’s easily his most controversial — and most problematic for modern viewers. The story — adapted from the writings of American humorist and occasional actor Irvin…

The Story: Fact-based story of Iranian-born, Canada-based journalist Maziar Bahari’s imprisonment and torture by the government of Iran. The Lowdown: The hook here is that this is the writing-directing debut of Jon Stewart. The results are a mixed bag, with moments of greatness that aren’t enough to make the film itself great. It is, however,…

In Brief: For their final Budget Big Screen film of 2014 (the free Tuesday and Thursday showings will continue through the winter and the BBS series will return in the spring), the Asheville Film Society is running Charles Chaplin’s first talkie, The Great Dictator (1940). Chaplin held out against talking pictures longer than anyone —…

In Brief: Fritz Lang’s American films tend to be pretty hit or miss, but this adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel that he made for Paramount is definitely in the hit category. Lang and screenwriter Seton I. Miller have stripped the story of its deeper implications — like a lot of Greene’s work, the novel is drenched in…

In Brief: Joyeux Noël (2005) is a pretty good movie with something like a great one buried inside it. The trick is getting to that movie. The premise comes from an actual historical event — here, greatly enlarged and romanticized — in WWI where warring soldiers in “no man’s land” called a very unofficial truce…

In Brief: Fiend Without a Face (1958) is mostly known for its ambulatory — and occasionally leaping — “brain monsters” — and with good reason. This English-made — but set in Canada to make it seem more American and more exportable to the States — sci-fi horror thriller is one of the minor gems of 1950s B…

The Story: A boy, his inflatable robot and his friends track down the person who stole his invention and caused the death of his brother. The Lowdown: Wonderful to look at, blessed with one terrific character and boasting a good deal of honest sentimentality, Big Hero 6 is brought down a notch by a well-worn…

The Story: A teen with dreams of becoming a great jazz drummer must survive his maniacal music teacher. The Lowdown: While it’s little more than your standard coming-of-age/chase-your-dreams type of drama (with considerably more swearing and jazz), the film is elevated with a perfect, expert climax that alone is worth admission.

The Story: The only hope for a dying Earth is the discovery of an inhabitable planet that may — or may not — lie on the other side of a wormhole. The Lowdown: A deeply flawed film that tries to be something more than it can manage, but it’s still an entertaining work of considerable…

In Brief: Lina Wertmüller was a major force in film for a time, and her work hardly merits the near obscurity it has today. Her sense of comedy might be a little broad, sometimes clunky and a little too predicated on the charm of her usual leading man, Giancarlo Giannini. But her films have drive,…

The Story: A washed-up actor known for having played a superhero tries to reinvent and validate himself by writing, producing, directing and starring in a Broadway play. The Lowdown: Full-blown filmmaking written in all capital letters. Birdman is both a stylistic and dramatic tour de force — the kind of nonstop brilliant movie you hope…