Movie Reviews

The Story: Eight people — all with secrets and hidden motives — are trapped in a cabin in a snowstorm.  The Lowdown: A sprawling, darkly funny Western that's really more of a whodunit than a Western. Violent, bloody, provocative, likely to upset some audiences and one of the best films of the year.

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

In Brief: Yes, Wild Bill Hickok (Gary Cooper), Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur) and Buffalo Bill Cody (James Ellison) really existed. For that matter, so did a lot of the characters in Cecil B. DeMille's The Plainsman (1936), but nearly every connection to reality ends there — and the film is pretty upfront about it. Right…

The Story: Romance between an older woman and a younger one in the early 1950s. The Lowdown: Beautifully crafted, meticulously detailed, wonderfully performed, yet somehow a little too cool to work quite as well as it should.

The Story: Fact-based tale of survival in the wilderness of 1820s American frontier.  The Lowdown: Technically marvelous, but emotionally it's pretty much a dreary dead end.

In Brief: Reasonably accurate (with a modicum of subtext that's so slight as to be almost nonexistent) account of the early years of composer Robert Schumann (Herbert Groenemeyer) and Clara Wieck (Nasstassja Kinski). Spring Symphony (1983) is the sort of biopic that gives biopics a bad name. It runs no risks and is so intent…

The Story: A stepfather yearning for the acceptance of his wife’s children suddenly finds himself competing with their biological father, who’s decided to return to their lives. The Lowdown: About 30 minutes worth of plot stretched over an hour and a half, with the added benefit of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg at their most…

In Brief: When it came out in 1965, Clive Donner's What's New Pussycat? was considered rather distasteful — even vulgar — as well as frantic, unstructured and rather silly. All of this is perhaps true, but it's not necessarily a bad thing. (Not everyone disliked it; Andrew Sarris championed the film in 1965.) It's unlikely a…

The Story: The story of the woman who created the Miracle Mop. The Lowdown: Call David O. Russell's latest a magnificently wayward and uniquely American success story. It's by turns funny and charming — and, yes, it's a little shaggy, but that may be part of its quality.

In Brief: The Velveeta runs thick in this Lew Grade and Carlo Ponti co-production that tries cash in on the waning days of the 1970s disaster movie craze with this weird hybrid medical-thriller-and-disaster picture. The Cassandra Crossing (1976) is directed with minimum artistry by George Pan Costamos (who would change the Pan to "P" and…

The Story: A former “extreme poly-athlete” and current FBI recruit infiltrates a crime ring of thrill-seeking Robin Hoods. The Lowdown: For all the supposedly exciting stuff happening in this movie, what a boring slog it is — short on intelligent plot and anything resembling a sympathetic character.

In Brief: That existential classic Voodoo Man (1944) was specifically chosen for New Year's Eve because its brevity allows the viewer ample time to start off the evening with the movie and be safely home and out of harm's way before the madness kicks in — or, alternatively, to go become a part of the madness. It's…

In Brief: This is the closest the Asheville Film Society could come to a movie that's kind of seasonal, since the film's basic holiday connection (New Year's Eve) is tenuous, but no matter. Richard Curtis' About Time — the third (and supposedly final) of Curtis' directorial efforts — is suitable enough, and I don't think anyone will complain.…

The Story: Sequel to the original Star Wars trilogy. The Lowdown: Definitely a movie made for — and by — fans. It does exactly what it needs to be a crowd-pleaser in that regard. But whether it breaks any new ground ... not so much.

The Story: Alvin, Simon and Theodore try to preclude their adoptive father Dave’s happiness by traveling to Miami in the hopes of sabotaging his proposal to a new girlfriend. The Lowdown: You already know, if you’re going to have to see this film. If Star Wars is sold out or if your children’s sadism can…

The Story: Fact-based story about the Pittsburgh pathologist who blew the whistle on the NFL cover-up on brain damage in football. The Lowdown: Mostly pretty effective agitprop drama, but with an unfortunate tendency toward speech-making and a rushed — and overly melodramatic — conclusion.

The Story: The lives of two old friends staying at a health spa in the Alps are at the center of this expansive film. The Lowdown: The best film of the year has arrived — a grand banquet of sight and sound that is at once funny and tragic. This is an absolute must-see.

The Story: After finding out their childhood home has sold, two 40-something sisters decide to have one last massive party like the ones they threw in high school. The Lowdown: An occasionably funny attempt at a raunchy, slapstick-heavy comedy that’s way too long, but floats by on the strength of its cast.

The Story: The sort-of-fact-based story of one of the earliest attempts at a sex-change. The Lowdown: A good-looking film on a daring subject that does not overcome its too genteel, tepid approach — or its confused portrait of its main character.

The Story: Fact-based, absurd, farcical and very bitter dark comedy about the few who made money off the collapse of the housing market by betting against it. The Lowdown: A brilliant, blistering, angry and very awkwardly funny look at a tragic situation. A stylish, whirligig farce of a tragedy. Unique and uncomfortably essential.

The Story: Documentary on the life and music of Janis Joplin. The Lowdown: Solid, amazingly well-researched film that becomes something more by the inclusion of excerpts from Joplin's letters as a kind of narration.