Movie Reviews

The Story: A middle-aged Japanese woman falls for a handsome American English instructor, but when he runs off with her much younger niece, she abandons her stable life to track them down. The Lowdown: A fascinating character study with a big heart and questionable story structure.

The Story: On the fourth anniversary of a quantum physicist’s mysterious disappearance, his daughter is recruited by time- and space-hopping beings to rescue him. The Lowdown: Ava DuVernay’s clunky but big-hearted adaptation is equal parts Madeleine L'Engle, Zack Snyder and David Lynch, with no single influence or perspective able to take hold and keep the…

The Story: An upper-class family must deal with a series of tragic and stressful events. The Lowdown: A humorless, detached film with no fun nor joy, and even less, style that screams "art" without really ever saying anything of note.

The Story: As a massive storm touches down, a federal agent attempts an inside-job robbery of an Alabama currency shredder, while his partner enlists a hotshot meteorologist in her efforts to stop him. The Lowdown: An absurdly over-the-top action spectacle that doesn't overcome an overstuffed script and uneven cast.

The Story: A scheming pharmaceutical exec sends his unwitting friend into a potentially deadly situation when he tries to cover up illicit drug sales in Mexico. The Lowdown: A tepid throwback to Tarantino knockoffs that weren't good enough to exist in 1998, much less 20 years later.

In Brief: World Cinema revisits Pedro Almodóvar's Volver (2006) — perhaps the filmmaker's most accessible and mellow work. It should be noted, however, that mellow is a relative term. The film contains child abuse and no fewer than three murders (understandable murders), but when put up against such Almodóvar fare as Bad Education (2004) or…

In Brief: Unabashedly sentimental and nostalgic, Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso (1988) is one of those rare subtitled art-house movies that — at least in its shorter crowd-pleasing version (the one being screened) — managed to enter the broader public consciousness. People who normally say things like, “I don’t go to the movies to read,” have been…

In Brief: The first of three attempts to adapt Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend — and easily the most successful — The Last Man on Earth stars Vincent Price as the lone survivor of a plague that turns the afflicted into vampiric ghouls. A far more faithful adaptation of Matheson's story than The Omega…

The Story: When a transgender singer's boyfriend dies suddenly, she must confront the intolerance of both his family and a societal establishment that marginalizes her gender identity and denies her fundamental human rights. The Lowdown: A deeply moving film that represents the trans experience without relegating it to a sense of Otherness, distinguished by a remarkable star turn from actress…

The Story: Screen icon Hedy Lamarr's life is examined in detail, including a surprising aptitude for invention that demands a re-evaluation of her legacy. The Lowdown: An uneven documentary treatment that succeeds on the basis of its intriguing subject.

The Story: A Russian spy trained in seduction is assigned to target a CIA agent. The Lowdown: A brutal, grim and sometimes shocking spy yarn that's just not fun or trashy enough to really be enjoyable.

The Story: After a home invasion that kills his wife and lands his daughter in a coma, surgeon Paul Kersey goes on a killing spree across Chicago in his hunt for the men responsible. The Lowdown: All those who still think Three Billboards was a racist, boot-licking film should go see Death Wish and then…

In Brief: For a film with such a strong local connection, it's somewhat surprising that Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans (1992) doesn't play in town more often. Possibly not the best work of either Mann (notoriously uneven) or star Daniel Day-Lewis (consistently fantastic), Mohicans is an accessible and entertaining historical epic. Bearing more in common with the 1936…

In Brief: Director John Cromwell could aptly be called a master of melodrama, though I wouldn't necessarily consider such a distinction a compliment. A perfect case in point would be Algiers (1938), an American remake of French director Julien Duvivier's Jean Gabin vehicle Pépé Le Moko (1937). Cromwell's take is inferior in almost every way — Charles Boyer is no…

The Story: A Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian refugee butt heads over a residential plumbing code, and their ensuing court battle throws the entire country into chaos. The Lowdown: Either a disturbingly dark comedy or a painfully prescient melodrama that exposes some undeniably universal truths.

The Story: A team of female scientists explores a mysterious area of alien influence from which no prior expedition has returned. The Lowdown: Writer/director Alex Garland hits a serious sophomore slump with this Tarkovsky-lite sci-fi adaptation.

The Story: A teenager falls in love with a person who switches bodies every day and discovers just how difficult (and easy) this can be. The Lowdown: A playful (but very thoughtful) film that delves deep into the throes of first love with a decidedly queer bent that lets it stand out from the rest…

The Story: A normal, monotonous game night goes haywire when a kidnapping occurs. The Lowdown: A solid, twisty comedy that focuses on plot and character while avoiding too much raunch and childishness.

The Story: Oscar-winning actress Gloria Grahame returns to the arms of her young ex-boyfriend as she confronts her faded glory and impending mortality. The Lowdown: A showcase for actress Anette Benning that fails to do justice to both its star and its subject.

In Brief: Henri-Georges Clouzot is noted as France’s answer to Hitchcock, but the argument could be made that he was, at times, even better. Along with Wages of Fear and The Inferno, Clouzot’s mastery of morbidity is at least on par with Hitchcock’s darkest corners. Possibly the director’s best-known work, Les Diaboliques (1955) is a…

The Story: The prince of a futuristic and cloistered African city-state rises to power, but a challenger to his throne forces him to confront his nation's isolationist policies. The Lowdown: Writer/director Ryan Coogler and an absolutely exceptional cast accomplish the seemingly impossible — a superhero movie that manages to be both exhilarating and thought-provoking, one that feels like…