Movie Reviews

In Brief: These are the first two movies in Universal's famous Sherlock Holmes series with Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. The studio opted to bring the duo back by streamlining and updating the concept. Instead of costly period pieces, they would make Holmes and Watson contemporary and build a series of classy B-pictures around them.…

The Story: A down-on-his-luck failed writer inherits a Parisian apartment from his late father, only to find it inhabited by a mother and daughter, who — due to a quirk in French law — he must also take care of until the mother’s death. The Lowdown: A surprisingly dark look at the effects our parents…

The Story: A disgruntled psychiatrist goes on a journey — literal and spiritual — to try to understand what makes people happy. The Lowdown: It's too long, takes too long finding its footing and doesn't offer any new answers, but Hector and the Search for Happiness is a pleasant little movie that wears its heart…

In Brief: Often touted as being a faithful adaptation of John Buchan's novel, Don Sharp's The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978) — the only version of the story where 39 is spelled out — might better be called "more faithful than the earlier versions." As a film, it's not in the same universe as Hitchcock's 1935 version,…

The Story: Fact-based story of reporter Gary Webb, who linked the CIA to using the drug trade to fund Nicaraguan militias. The Lowdown: Slick, glossy crusading reporter movie with a strong lead performance, but also lacking in being anything other than a basic example of its genre.

The Story: A status-seeking villain demonizes and plans on destroying a peaceful community of harmless trolls to achieve his goals. The Lowdown: Not quite up to the two previous films from the Laika studios, but with more than enough twisted creativity to make it very worthwhile.

In Brief: Undeniably entertaining, but laughably preposterous lightweight film noir from the pre-horror days of Hammer Films, Stolen Face (1952) is fairly typical of its period. Like many British films of the 1950s, it trades on the presence of a Hollywood star who could longer afford to be too choosy, but whose name still had…

In Brief: The Thursday Horror Picture Show opens October — the month of Halloween — with Tod Browning's Dracula (1931), the movie from which the first wave of the horror film stems. To call it the horror picture that started it all would not be overstating the case. It set the tone and style for…

In Brief: It's a double feature of Charlie Chan mysteries from the final days of the series at 20th Century Fox, and unlike most last films in a series, the Fox Chans went out on a high note — thanks in no small part to the stylishly atmospheric direction of former painter Harry Lachman. (Lachman…

In Brief: There are modest pleasures to be found in French animator Michel Ocelot's Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998), but viewers who are not especially interested in French animation or African folklore (as filtered through the filmmaker's vision) may find its pleasures a little too modest. The film recounts the story of Kirikou, who is…

The Story: A home improvement store employee with a mysterious past takes on the Russian mob. The Lowdown: An incredibly uneven movie that oscillates between goofy, vaguely competent and out-and-out dumb, while managing to at least be a mildly entertaining distraction.

The Story: A 30-something housewife becomes involved with a boy half her age. The Lowdown: From a technical standpoint, this is very well crafted — especially for an indie — and its leads are outstanding from start to finish. Unfortunately, it is otherwise populated with nothing but caricatures, who bring it all down a notch.

The Story: Following a failed suicide attempt, a gay man goes to stay with his equally damaged sister in their old hometown. The Lowdown: This is how comedy-drama is done. There are a couple of false steps, but overall this is a splendid film with terrific star turns from Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig.

In Brief: The third film in François Truffaut's Antoine Doinel series, Stolen Kisses (1968) is probably the best after the original, which none of the sequels topped or even equaled. It's lightweight (a curiously insubstantial affair considering the political and cultural turmoil surrounding its making) and somewhat rambling, but very appealing and still embracing something…

The Story: YA sci-fi about a group of boys trapped at the center of a maze. The Lowdown: Better than average for its type, but not without problems of its own, The Maze Runner still manages to create a world of disturbing menace with better than expected characters.

The Story: A retired cop and unlicensed detective gets hired to track down a group of sadistic kidnappers who target drug dealers. The Lowdown: A stylish noir detective story that’s both welcomely self-aware and intelligent.

In Brief: Riding on the artistic success of his 400-plus minute War and Peace (1966), Soviet director Sergey Bondarchuk was handed this English-language multinational production of more tractable length but equal spectacle. It was a huge flop when it appeared in 1970 — perhaps because spectacle was its only real selling point. And on that…

The Story: After the death of their father, four siblings return home to deal with his death and their own pasts. The Lowdown: A flimsy, dull look at modern life, through the lens of vaguely sad middle-class Americans that says nothing new.

In Brief: Though largely denigrated at the time of its release in 1965 as inferior to A Hard Day’s Night (1964), Richard Lester’s second film built around The Beatles, Help! has been pretty completely vindicated by time. It has also been championed by no less a figure on the film scene than Martin Scorsese, who has compared the…

In Brief: Reptilicus (1961) is probably the best film Sidney Pink ever made. And if you've seen it, you will realize the enormity of that statement. It's also the best giant monster movie ever to come out of Denmark. It's also the only one, so that doesn't keep it from being easily the most laughably…

The Story: A podcast host falls into the clutches of a surgically-inclined madman who proceeds to transform him into a walrus. The Lowdown: Every bit as screwy as it sounds, Tusk gets high marks for novelty and chutzpah, but wears out its welcome with excessive footage. However, it's certainly worth a look for genre fans…