Movie Reviews

In Brief: Here's a double dose of zombies in a pairing that would likely horrify the makers of I Walked with a Zombie (1943), which is arguably the greatest — and most poetic — zombie movie of all time. Not to take anything away from that film, but, like it or not, Zombies on Broadway…

The Story: A rash of tornadoes and a team of storm chasers converge on a small town. Havoc and devastation follow. The Lowdown: Almost amazing in its ineptitude and wheezy plotting, Into the Storm offers lots of CGI destruction, five cents' worth of dialogue and a lot of dullness between the devastation.

In Brief: A minor — and rarely revived — John Ford film, Four Men and a Prayer (1938) is little more than a studio assignment picture, but it's interesting to see just how personal Ford makes aspects of it. He brings terrific artistry and craftsmanship to what is really a fairly silly globe-trotting romantic mystery…

The Story:  A stage magician sets out to debunk a young woman he's certain is a phony spiritualist and finds more than he imagined. The Lowdown: A sparkling champagne cocktail of a romantic comedy only Woody Allen could make. It may be lightweight — though perhaps not entirely — but it's a little slice of…

The Story: Four mutated turtles and a plucky journalist try to stop an evil scientist and an even eviler samurai. The Lowdown: Bargain-basement Michael Bay pastiche and a lot of sound and fury make for a noisy, not very fun action flick.

In Brief: I confess that the charms of The Red Balloon (1956) wore rather thin for me a very long time ago (and the idea that this 34-minute film won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay has always struck me as ridiculous), but this (mostly) gentle fantasy about a little boy (Pascal Lamorisse, the director's son)…

The Story:  When an Indian family opens a restaurant across the street from a classy French restaurant in a small town in France, trouble — and romance — follows. The Lowdown: A luminous Helen Mirren leads a first-rate cast in this familiar but thoroughly charming and appealing culture-clash, food-centered romantic comedy.

In Brief: This is one of those few Coen Brothers films that I just don't quite get the fuss over. I have no problem with the pitch-black comedy, and I don't especially mind the film's downright cruelty. But the lack of even one character — other than Frances McDormand's Marge (who doesn't enter the film…

The Story: The life and times of James Brown, from extreme poverty to the height of his fame and beyond. The Lowdown: While its non-linear narrative is interesting as filmmaking, it’s not enough to conceal the numerous biopic pitfalls that drag the film down.

In Brief: While it's certainly visually striking and avoids being a standard biopic, Carlos Saura's Goya in Bordeaux comes with its own set of problems. First of all, Saura assumes that the viewer knows a lot more about Spanish painter Francisco Goya than is probable. Second, the film — with its transparent scrim walls —…

The Story: A mismatched — and pretty ragged — quartet of unlikely heroes may be the only chance to save the universe. The Lowdown: A thoroughly engaging, funny, exciting, even charming sci-fi actioner with an appealing cast that makes for excellent summer movie fare.

The Story: A film — shot over a period of 12 years — that chronicles the life of one boy from childhood to the beginning of adulthood. The Lowdown: Unlike anything you've seen, Richard Linklater's Boyhood is a must-see work of quiet, subtle power that nearly justifies the great reputation that precedes its arrival.

In Brief: It's a double dose of Bela Lugosi at the Thursday Horror Picture Show this week, showcasing both the sublime and the sublimely ridiculous. White Zombie (1932) — the first zombie movie ever — is one of Lugosi's best films. Despite some surprisingly graphic moments, the film is more like a fairy tale with…

In Brief: Georges Franju's Judex (1963) is one fascinating oddity — both a remake of and homage to Louis Feuillade's 1916 serial about a caped vigilante crime fighter who calls himself Judex (meaning justice). It's essentially a simple revenge tale that's made complex by almost nonstop double-crosses and reversals (hey, it's from a serial). While…

In Brief: Though its romanticizing of spousal abuse seems both weird and wrong today, Ferenc Molnár's play, Liliom, was a big hit in Hungary and later on Broadway. That it would be filmed by Frank Borzage — a filmmaker who specialized in stories of transcendence — during that brief period when Fox Film was trying…

The Story: In order to get an oil company contract, a small town has to bamboozle a young doctor into staying there. The Lowdown: It's predictable and a little pokey. It's contrived and improbable. But The Grand Seduction has its own slender charms and terrific chemistry between its leads, making it a minor pleasure.

The Story: A grumpy widower is forced to take in his estranged granddaughter, who he helps raise with a widowed neighbor. The Lowdown: An unfunny, flat piece of melodrama that wants desperately to be adult and a little bit raunchy but instead comes across as childish and boorish.

In Brief: Not really released in the U.S. (or much of anywhere, it seems), Francis Ford Coppola's wayward horror picture Twixt is by no means a success. In fact, it's a mess. That its sub-Stephen King story is being told, experienced or both (it's a mess, I tell you) by a writer (Val Kilmer) who…

In Brief: It's big. It's colorful. It's longer than it needs to be. It's exciting. It's filled with movie stars who look like movie stars. It's preposterous in the way that only a Cecil B. DeMille movie can be. Essentially, Unconquered is a Western — only instead of cowboys and Indians, we have pre-Revolutionary War…

The Story: A clueless young woman accidentally gets an overdose of a new drug that causes her brain capacity to expand, giving her something like superpowers. The Lowdown: Yes, it's so dumb that it ought to be kind of likable, but incoherence, lousy special effects, stretches of tedium and a ponderous tone make it just…

In Brief: If Werner Herzog is the most idiosyncratic of all filmmakers — and the case can be made — there's a good chance that Heart of Glass (1976) is his most idiosyncratic work. Theoretically, it's the story of a late 18th century village that descends into madness when the foreman of a glassworks dies, taking the…