Movie Reviews

The Story: A young man deals with his friends and family after he is diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. The Lowdown: Sensitive and slyly humorous take on a serious subject that skirts most of the pitfalls inherent in this kind of story.

The Story: A couple's new home turns out to harbor a dark secret, which itself contains a secret of a different kind. The Lowdown: An almost complete misfire from director Jim Sheridan and a strong cast. It may in part be the result of studio tampering, but the film is simply tepid, slow, rather dull…

The Story: After reading a magazine article, a woman decides she’s slept with too many men, and decides to track down her exes to see if one of them might be “the one.” The Lowdown: A nice cast can’t stop this tired attempt at romcom from simply falling apart.

The Story: Four cops and a day laborer make a pact to become better fathers. The Lowdown The best looking of Sherwood Baptist Church’s feature films is nevertheless a bloated, boring mess of a movie.

It’s October, and the folks at World Cinema have decided to present a month of horror-tinged movies for Halloween. First up is Ingmar Bergman’s Hour of the Wolf (1968), which is often referred to as the director’s only horror picture. Actually, that seems a bit wide of the mark to me. It would not be […]

The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen Quatermass and the Pit on Thursday, Oct. 6, at 8 p.m. in the Cinema Lounge of The Carolina Asheville and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther.

The Story: Doomed romance between a troubled young man and a girl with a brain tumor that plays nothing like the cliche that this suggests. The Lowdown: A very special, very unusual, very good romantic fantasy that -- despite superficial similarities to other films -- has its own distinct identity. Sad and touching without being…

The Asheville Film Society will screen The Palm Beach Story Tuesday, Oct. 11, at 8 p.m. in the Cinema Lounge of The Carolina Asheville and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther. Hanke is the artistic director of the A.F.S.

The Story: A Nebraska cop takes a job as a "peacekeeper" in Bosnia and uncovers corruption and a sex-trafficking ring. Her attempts to expose this puts her in jeopardy. The Lowdown: Rachel Weisz is the primary reason to see this well-intended, but not entirely successful film about cover-ups and the abuse of power.

The Story: Uplifting fact-based story of a dolphin who loses her tail. The Lowdown: Appallingly manipulative, but reasonably effective feel-good story of the family-friendly kind, and raised a notch by Morgan Freeman's presence in the second half.

The Story: A documentary about Brazilian race driver Ayrton Senna. The Lowdown: Amazing assembly of film footage from Senna's career -- along with home movies and videos -- painting a biographical picture of the driver and his races.

Classic World Cinema by Courtyard Gallery will present L'Avventura at 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 30, at Phil Mechanic Studios, 109 Roberts St., River Arts District (upstairs in the Railroad Library). Info: 273-3332, www.ashevillecourtyard.com

The Story: An underdog tale of a Major League Baseball team trying to subvert the system through statistics, and the repercussions of their attempt. The Lowdown: An interesting idea for a biopic by way of character study, although never as engaging or dramatically alive as it should be.

The Story: A hunky teen finds out he’s the son of two CIA agents, and must escape some evil secret agents out to kill him and his would-be girlfriend. The Lowdown: A showcase for the supposed talents of Taylor Lautner that’s too dumb and bloodless for any action fan and too violent for his fanbase.

The Hendersonville Film Society will show part one of The Hunchback of Notre Dame at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 2, in the Smoky Mountain Theater at Lake Pointe Landing Retirement Community (behind Epic Cinemas), 333 Thompson St., Hendersonville.

The Thursday Horror Picture Show will screen The Night Strangler on Thursday, Sept. 29, at 8 p.m. in the Cinema Lounge of The Carolina Asheville and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther.

The Asheville Film Society will screen Brazil at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 4, in the Cinema Lounge of The Carolina Asheville, and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther. Hanke is the artistic director of the A.F.S.

The Story: In order to save his mentor's life, an ex-secret service operative has to undertake "one last job" for a vengeful sheikh. The Lowdown: Enjoyable -- if not very distinguished -- action thriller that gets the good out of its name cast without actually taxing their abilities.

The Story: Documents the rise and eventual tribulations of hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest. The Lowdown: Works better as a hip-hop primer than when it attempts to show the complexities of the group's relationships, where the film falls apart due to lack of depth.

The Story: An American journalist in Paris working on a story about WWII France uncovers things about the past involving her husband's family. The Lowdown: A definite film to see -- a richly powerful work with an interesting structure and excellent performanmces -- but also a film with a subplot that detracts from the real…