Movie Reviews

In Brief: For whatever reason, Singin' in the Rain (1952) has become untouchable as far as criticism — and is even casually referred to as the best musical ever made. The point is certainly debatable, though the title number is beyond reproach and the whole enterprise has undeniable energy (that may or may not be…

In Brief: Michele Soavi's 1989 film was originally intended to be part of producer/co-writer Dario Argento's loosely connected Demons movies, and while it retains elements of those films — especially trapping the cast in a single location and contagious possessions — it is mostly its own beast. And a very curious beast it is. Like…

In Brief: Kaneto Shindô had startled the international film scene with his Onibaba in 1964, so when his next three efforts created scarcely a ripple, he returned to the horror genre with Kuroneko (1968) — another period-piece ghost story. Once again, the film was surprisingly gory for an "art film," though that seemed less shocking…

The Story: Revisionist take on the origins of the Lone Ranger. The Lowdown: Big, spectacular, amazingly personal blend of the Western epic and comedy that addresses issues more weighty than one usually finds in summer movies — and this makes it troubling to some.

The Story: The formerly villainous Gru is recruited by the Anti-Villain League to catch a new super criminal. The Lowdown: It contains all the elements of the agreeable original film, but the structure is a mess and, despite pleasing moments, it's just not very good.

The Story: Documentary on the world of backup singers. The Lowdown: Charming, tuneful, occasionally moving and always entertaining about the singers who contributed so much to so many great songs.

In Brief: Robert Aldrich's follow-up to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) started as just another vehicle for Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, but it wasn't long before Crawford had to be replaced by Olivia de Havilland — a change that probably benefitted Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964) to no end. There's little doubt that…

The Story: A squad of right-wing extremists take over the White House, and it’s up to an ex-military bodyguard and the president himself to stop their dastardly plan. The Lowdown: A completely silly, nonsensical and far-too-long actioner that’s only made watchable by a charismatic cast, all of whom are far too talented for this kind…

In Brief: An array of Rodgers and Hart songs, the great Al Jolson (in probably his best film performance) and the seemingly endless creativity of director Lewis Milestone come together to make Hallelujah, I'm a Bum one of the most intriguing of all Depression-era musicals — not in the least because it actually addresses the…

The Story: Documentary about WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange. The Lowdown: Long — too long — and complex look at people and events you may already know about. Here, however, it's distilled into a coherent whole.

The Story: A button-down FBI agent is teamed with an overbearingly vulgar Boston cop. The Lowdown: Stale and predictable. Its supposed novelty lies in the fact that the leads are women. Sandra Bullock is solidly professional as the "straight man," while Melissa McCarthy swears a lot and is angry most of the time.

In Brief: While it may fall short of being an overlooked classic, Peter Bogdanovich's extremely ambitious 1975 musical comedy is far from being the train wreck that is casually assumed (usually by people who haven't seen it). Bogdanovich's idea was to craft something like an Ernst Lubitsch musical — but one packed with Cole Porter…

The Story: An operative for a high-priced security firm infiltrates an ecoterrorist cult and finds herself drawn in. The Lowdown: An interesting premise is ultimately not enough to keep this indie afloat. Some scenes, however, have a great deal of power. A mixed bag, but not without interest.

In Brief: The final film in Michelangelo Antonioni's "alienation trilogy," L'eclisse (1962) is one of those art-house warhorses that everyone is supposed to know and revere. It's also not a lot of fun and its opacity can come perilously close to feeling like an art-film parody. There's little story — merely two people meeting and…

In Brief: Alejandro Amenábar's virtually perfect The Others (2001) remains one of the handful of truly great ghost stories to make its way to the screen. Everything about this supremely stylish and utterly creepy film beautifully contributes to an atmosphere as thick as the fog surrounding the old house. Everything works together to make the…

The Story: After an outbreak of zombies crushes civilization, a U.N. investigator sets out to find a cure. The Lowdown: An occasionally entertaining take on a worn-out subgenre.

The Story: A high school literature teacher becomes obsessed with the writings of one of his students. The Lowdown: One of the best films you'll see all year, In the House is a brilliant and entirely new kind of thriller that is both amusing and tragic. Compelling entertainment every inch of the way, it is…

The Story: Middle-aged romance — and some youthful heartache — at a wedding in picturesque Italy. The Lowdown: Beautiful to look at and charming to watch, Love Is All You Need is a keeper. The romance is effective, the comedy is funny, the locales are gorgeous and there's a deep humanity to it all.

In Brief: As a rule, few things age less gracefully than an old Oscar winner, but this historical romp has held up as a truly pleasant diversion. It's kind of a bittersweet romantic comedy in historical drag. The film puts forth the story of how Shakespeare's proposed play Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter became…

In Brief: Admirably tight documentary about drummer, singer, songwriter and rock legend Levon Helm. Shot in 2008, the film is more content to concentrate on the present than to load itself down with clips from the past. As a film for the faithful, it tends to assume, probably correctly, that the viewer needs only the…

The Story: A prequel to Monsters, Inc., chronicling the college years of monsters Mike and Sully. The Lowdown: A handsome-looking, painless animated flick whose run-of-the-mill story makes it unmemorable.