Movie Reviews

In Brief:  Robert Aldrich’s penultimate film (1979) is an easygoing work of some considerable charm that relies far too much on ethnic humor — mostly Jewish, but not entirely — to sit quite as comfortably as it might like. But the main interest in the film is probably Gene Wilder’s performance, which is interesting simply…

In Brief: Lindsay Anderson's landmark film If.... shook up world cinema, made a star of fairly obscure TV actor Malcolm McDowell and set Anderson on the road to creating his famous trilogy (If...., O Lucky Man!, Britannia Hospital). That's a pretty impressive accomplishment, but his tale of the resentment at an English boys school —…

The Story: Bridget Jones is back, and this time she's got a baby bump. But who's the dad? The Lowdown: A revisitation of the characters and ideas established 15 years ago in Bridget Jones' Diary, there's nothing particularly new here. For some viewers, this will be enough to warrant the price of admission.

The Story: The brother of one of the documentarians missing since the events of the original The Blair Witch Project recruits several friends to join him on a journey into the woods in which she disappeared. This turns out to be a predictably bad idea. The Lowdown: A pointless followup to a film with few merits beyond being first…

The Story:  Australia’s “biggest band you never heard of” prepares for a big Christian pop show at The Forum in Los Angeles. The Lowdown: If you like the music of Hillsong United, you are predisposed to enjoy this bland documentary. If not, you still get to hear about it and its ministry.

The Story: A young man returns home to visit his estranged family when he learns his mother is gravely ill. The Lowdown: A thoroughly unexceptional Sundance wannabe, The Hollars is indicative of the self-indulgent shortcomings of far too many independent dramedies.

In Brief: At the risk of starting an argument, I have to confess that Life of Brian is my favorite Monty Python film. It's also one of the most cogent statements on religiosity ever committed to celluloid. Following the exploits of a hapless Judean mistaken for the Messiah, this film skewers the socio-political posturing rampant in first-century…

In Brief: F. W. Murnau's 1926 interpretation of the classic tale of a pious alchemist who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge, youth and the love of a beautiful young woman, this is possibly the most accurate recounting of the story ever filmed. Murnau draws heavily from Goethe's play, but also from older folktales…

In Brief: A great deal of the appeal of The Artist is the pure novelty of the experience. It will probably be a lot of people’s first exposure to any silent film — at least as an entire feature-length movie — and in that respect, I suspect the film’s calculations are very shrewd indeed. Making it…

In Brief: The third film in François Truffaut's Antoine Doinel series, Stolen Kisses (1968) is probably the best after the original, which none of the sequels topped or even equaled. It's lightweight (a curiously insubstantial affair considering the political and cultural turmoil surrounding its making) and somewhat rambling, but very appealing and still embracing something…

The Story: Patriotic serviceman-turned-NSA-employee Edward Snowden wrestles with the decision to leak thousands of classified documents to the press when he discovers his government is complicit in questionable cybersurveillance tactics. The Lowdown: Though Joseph Gordon-Levitt initially struggles to find his footing as the lead, he and his excellent supporting cast overcome Oliver Stone's political bent to tell…

The Story: Rare archival footage provides a glimpse into the Fab Four's brief touring career. The Lowdown: A must-see for Beatles fans, it may not be quite perfect, but it's a hell of a lot of fun.

The Story: A father's plans to take his young daughter to visit her estranged mother are derailed when a zombie epidemic strikes. The Lowdown: A suspenseful thrill-ride from South Korea that breathes fresh life into the decaying zombie genre.

The Story: Based on Daniel Defoe's classic Robinson Crusoe, a cartographer is stranded on a deserted island with a motley troupe of animals as his only companions. The Lowdown: A inert, dull and cheap animated film with bad visuals, uninspired voice acting and a mess of a drawn-out plot.

The Story: As a man contemplates moving to a new state with his wife when an old flame (under a new identity) reenters his life at a birthday dinner party. The Lowdown: A decidedly ponderous film with an intriguing premise, it takes forever to get going and never delivers much beyond that conceit.

The Story: An experienced airline pilot averts disaster by making an emergency water landing, only to be confronted by nefarious bureaucrats in search of a scapegoat. The Lowdown: Clint Eastwood's latest fact-based tale of derring-do doesn't disastrously disappoint.

The Story: A surrogate mother for a couple becomes obsessed with the soon-to-be father and threatens to upset their happy New Orleans home. The Lowdown: Very few surprises or inventive performances make this a tepid TV-movie blown up for the big screen.  

William Castle's 1959 Vincent Price-vehicle, House on Haunted Hill, may well be my favorite of the director's pictures. It's got the right mix of Castle camp and general creepiness to satisfy the schlock-seekers that Castle catered to, but it also coheres better than many of his other films. It's well constructed, dynamically paced and thoroughly unashamed…

In Brief: Yes, Fritz Lang’s first sound film, M (1931), has a few awkward moments, in which Lang hasn’t quite mastered the new medium, but this old warhorse of art cinema works more than it doesn’t, and still registers as a compelling work by one of the undisputed masters of film. And calling it an old…

In Brief: A faithful Americanization of La Cage Aux Folles, The Birdcage (1996) may lack some of the outlandish charm of the original, but it doesn't miss the mark by much. Written by Elaine May and directed by Mike Nichols, the reunion of this former standup comedy duo after some 30 years paid significant dividends with this film's…

In Brief: Minor Werner Herzog, but make no mistake, Where the Green Ants Dream (1984) is still Herzog, and any movie by cinema's most idiosyncratic — sometimes just short of lunatic — filmmaker is worth at least one look. It's a kind of shaggy tale of the crimes against the Aborigines by the Australian government…