Movie Reviews

The Story: After tragedy and years in hiding, legendary male supermodel — and general idiot — Derek Zoolander comes out of hiding and quickly finds himself entangled in intrigue and conspiracy. The Lowdown: A dull and uninspired sequel to a pretty good comedy, one that lacks verve and instead relies on rehashed jokes and pointless…

In Brief: Until this past weekend, I had never seen Krzysztof Kieslowski's The Double Life of Veronique (1991) and was in no way prepared for it. And on one viewing I do not really feel like I can review it — certainly I cannot in any depth. This is a strange, almost hypnotic film. It…

In Brief: An unusual film to come from indie filmmaker John Sayles, The Secret of Roan Inish is completely out of keeping with the generally cynical tone of his other work. Sayles is the last person on Earth you’d expect to be making a “family film,” but that might be part of the reason this 1995 film…

In Brief: It is sobering to realize that Ordet (1955) — a film about madness, religious intolerance, a stillborn child, death and maybe a miracle — is probably Carl Theodore Dreyer's sunniest film. That says a lot about Dreyer's filmography, and while I do not doubt his greatness or his importance as a filmmaker, he's…

The Story: Studio head and "fixer" Eddie Mannix tries to hold things together — and keep them out of the papers — when a big star is kidnapped. The Lowdown: The Coen Brothers in a gleefully playful mood with a film that at once spoofs and honors the last days of the old Hollywood. It's…

The Story: The Jane Austen mainstay retold yet again, but this time with zombies…You know, for kids! The Lowdown: A one-note joke stretched far too thin at nearly two hours, Pride + Prejudice + Zombies lacks the heart — and braaaains — of its source material’s source material.

The Story: Michael Moore goes on a world tour to see how other countries handle education, health care, banking, business, etc. — in search of ideas to bring back to the U.S.  The Lowdown: Lighter than usual Moore documentary that operates in an unusually upbeat manner for the usually more provocative filmmaker.

The Story: A hunky veterinarian falls for his dreamy neighbor before maudlin tragedy steps in. The Lowdown: Abhorrently dull cheese of the kind only Nicholas Sparks’ pedigree can whip up — schmaltzy and oozing with melodrama, and with zero chemistry from its leads.

In Brief: Stylistically, the films of Max Ophuls are certainly of a piece, in a similar tone of voice. All of them could be summed up with the same phrase used by the narrator (Anton Walbrook) of La Ronde (1950) when he explains that the story is set in 1900 Vienna: "I adore the past. It is…

In Brief: Long on atmosphere, short on logic, and generally a lot of fun — either despite or because of one of the dumbest werewolf makeup designs ever — The Man and the Monster (1959) is fairly typical of Mexican horror films of the late 1950s and early 1960s. These movies were given short shrift for…

In Brief: The AFS tried to run this last year, but the weather was against it. Maybe there'll be better luck this time. ... Rouben Mamoulian did his most important work at Paramount, but he left the studio in 1933. In 1937, he came back for one more film: the little-seen and mostly forgotten High, Wide and…

The Story: A detective investigating a child abuse case uncovers what appears to be a far-reaching Satanic cult. The Lowdown: By no means the disaster (at least artistically) it's been painted as, this is an unusual horror movie — one that critiques and subverts its own genre, and one that seems to alienate a lot of…

The Story: A marriage of 45 years is threatened by the shadows of events that preceded it. The Lowdown: Deliberately paced and relying heavily on the viewer to pick up on nuance, but paying big dividends for those open to it. Charlotte Rampling fully deserves that Oscar nomination, but so did the overlooked Tom Courtenay.

In Brief: Quite the best thing about the 1960 Ocean's 11 is that it formed the basis for Steven Soderbergh's 2001 Ocean's Eleven. That's a statement that's likely to wring the withers of fans of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, but the truth is the original movie just plain isn't very good, unless you're…

In Brief: Generally considered — along with The Bank Dick (1940) — the best of W.C. Fields' movies, It's a Gift (1934) presents the Great Man as Harold Bissonette (pronounced Biss-o-nay), the owner of a small grocery store in Wappinger Falls, N.J. His great dream is to own an "orange ranch" in California, something that…

The Story: A terrible storm gravely damages a oil tanker and the Coast Guard must risk everything to save the ship’s crew. The Lowdown: Old-fashioned to a fault, structurally flawed and an overwhelmingly schmaltzy rescue/adventure flick that’s occasionally watchable and little else.

In Brief: In honor of the late Angus Scrimm, best known for playing "The Tall Man" in this series, the Thursday Horror Picture Show is running Don Coscarelli's Phantasm II. This is one of those rare sequels that's as good as — in some ways better than — the original. In fact, the only thing…

The Story: An attempt at a parody of last year's Fifty Shades of Grey. The Lowdown: So spectacularly unfunny that it makes the movie it's trying to spoof look like a "laff riot." A strong contender for worst of the year. Very strong.

The Story: A young mother must defend her family from a band of outlaws seeking revenge. The Lowdown: Ninety minutes of yawn-inducing melodrama interspersed with eight minutes of “stuff getting blowed up real good” and Natalie Portman being repeatedly victimized.

The Story: Po the Panda must find his inner "chi" to defeat a new threat. The Lowdown: Great to look at and blessed with clever lines and a reasonable amount of warmth, this latest series entry nonetheless shows signs of fatigue before it's over.

In Brief: This is a makeup showing for the Jan. 22 screening that fell prey to the snow. Prior to Walkabout (1971) Nicolas Roeg had co-directed (with Donald Cammell) only one film, the astonishing Performance, so a good deal was riding on the cinematographer-turned-filmmaker’s second outing. Could Roeg pull off a solo film? Indeed, he could. In…