Movie Reviews

In Brief: It has a critically acclaimed director (Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck), two big stars (Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie), glamorous locations — and yet almost nothing about The Tourist works. Inert and indifferent, The Tourist squanders an amazing amount of talent on a lame story that nobody seems to care about. Depp and Jolie…

The Story: A drug dealer agrees to smuggle a load of marijuana out of Mexico to square himself with his supplier. The Lowdown: Modestly funny in a blandly predictable manner. It's the movie version of the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold and just as unbelievable.

The Story: Percy Jackson, the teenage son of Poseidon, must track down the legendary Golden Fleece to save the world. The Lowdown: A snarky attempt at filling the void left over by the end of the Harry Potter series that’s killed by its lack of budget, charm or a decent script.

The Story: Three boys decide to run away and build a house of their own in a secluded spot in the woods. The Lowdown: Nicely observed coming-of-age story with a real feel for early adolescence and a keen sense of summer in the woods. It works best before too much plotting sets in, but its…

The Story: An anthropomorphic cropduster is the underdog in an airplane race around the globe. The Lowdown: A generic, harmless animated flick that does nothing new, yet at least has enough sense to be cinematic.

The Story: In 2154, there's what's left of earth and there's Elysium — a paradise for the wealthy. And it's a paradise one man must penetrate if he's to survive lethal radiation poisoning. The Lowdown: It hits more than it misses — not in the least because Elysium has more on its mind than any…

In Brief: Julien Duvivier's 1948 version of Anna Karenina has always been overshadowed by Clarence Brown's 1935 Greta Garbo film. Now it's overshadowed by Joe Wright's 2012 version, but it remains a solid — maybe a little stolid — take on Tolstoy's novel. In comparison with the 1935 film, it benefits greatly from the presence…

In Brief: With The Innkeepers, young horror-movie specialist Ti West largely fulfills the promise of The House of the Devil (2009). Like his earlier film, this latest — at bottom a haunted hotel yarn — is of the slow-burn variety, with the bulk of the film devoted to building an atmosphere of dread (wisely punctuated…

In Brief: This early Ingmar Bergman film is, as the title suggests, a circus story, but it's every inch a Bergman circus story, which is to say it's hardly a jolly time under the big top. Instead, Sawdust and Tinsel is a drama about sex, betrayal and humiliation. Although Bergman had been directing since 1946,…

In Brief: Breezy, unpretentious fun about a hapless pollster who finds himself at the mercy of a family of homicidal hillbillies. This is the kind of slick fun that studios turned out with pleasing regularity in the 1940s — unassuming, but intelligently crafted nonsense meant to offer nothing more than 90 minutes of entertainment. Viewers…

The Story: A crusty old man finds himself rejuvenated — against his will — by becoming involved in his late wife's choral group. The Lowdown: There's nothing remotely surprising here, but Unfinished Song is a small gem of feel-good (in the best sense) comedy-drama.

The Story: Gargamel kidnaps Smurfette and the others have to rescue her. The Lowdown: It's the same as the first one, only even less inspired, if you can believe it.

The Story: Biopic of porn star Linda Lovelace. The Lowdown: Well-made, but ultimately rather simplistic and tepid biopic of the once-notorious star. Good performances and occasional bits of insight make it worthwhile, but it never becomes essential viewing.

The Story: An undercover DEA agent and an undercover Naval officer are tricked into robbing $43 million from a ruthless CIA agent. The Lowdown: Uneven, convoluted and occasionally ugly buddy-cop flick that’s not as clever or as fun as it thinks it is.

The Story: Based on the true story of Oscar Grant — specifically, the final day of his life — a young, black Oakland resident who was gunned down by a police officer on New Year’s Day 2009. The Lowdown: Despite verging a bit too much on ham-fisted melodrama, the film works on a purely emotional…

The Story: The Wolverine goes to Japan to see a dying man whose life he once saved, only to find himself enmeshed in dire doings. The Lowdown: It passes the time. It's neither particularly bad nor especially good — and it's almost completely unmemorable.

The Story: A somewhat unorthodox documentary that attempts to piece together a portrait of director Sarah Polley's mother, only to become much more. The Lowdown: Mixing interviews, home movies, archival and recreated footage, Sarah Polley has created a strikingly personal work about her family and herself. It may not be perfect, but it's warm and…

In Brief: Akira Kurosawa's 1965 film is rarely cited as one of his best — and I can't imagine why. It's a long film — 185 minutes, with an overture and an intermission — but not a single one of those minutes is dull. If, as I've read, Kurosawa set out to make "something so…

In Brief: At one time — owing to its inclusion in the "Son of Shock" TV package — Roy William Neill's The Black Room (1935) was a staple of classic horror. It had a good story, solid production values, slick direction and one (or two, since he plays two characters) of Boris Karloff's best performances.…

In Brief: Ingmar Bergman's 1975 film is one of his most playful works. Bergman presents the Mozart opera as if it were onstage, but this apparent constraint does not make the film in any way stagey. If anything, it seems to make Bergman more resourceful. However, a taste for the original opera is probably a…

In Brief: Having made a huge success of its first all-star film, Grand Hotel (1932), naturally MGM would attempt a follow-up in the same style. To this end, the studio bought George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber's play Dinner at Eight, filled it with stars (some from Grand Hotel), laid on the production values and…