Haywire

The mixed-martial artist.

Movie Reviews & Stories Are actors necessary? Many of cinema’s powerhouse directors, from Hitchcock to Kubrick, preferred to think of their performers as nonessential furnishings, but only Steven Soderbergh has tried   More

 

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 AARON MESH

Streep Throat

Meryl goes on the austerity plan for The Iron Lady.

Movie Reviews & Stories Give The Iron Lady points for transparency: The film’s centerpiece is shots of Meryl Streep practicing her accent, the foundation of her biennial Oscar bid. She’s been Danish and Polish and    More

 

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 AARON MESH

Carnage

Your son is a fiend. Try the cobbler?

Movie Reviews & Stories Considering the standard result in Roman Polanski movies of yuppies breeding in fancy New York apartments—birthing the spawn of Satan in Rosemary’s Baby, that sort of thing—it’s a wonder l   More

 

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 AARON MESH

Holy Rollers

What happens in Vegas is rewarded in heaven.

Movie Reviews & Stories If you’re a smug atheist like me, you’ll come into Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians looking to shake your fist and roar “Hypocrisy!” at the screen, as you watch thi   More

 

Wednesday, January 11, 2012 RUTH BROWN

Self-Seriously Funny

Portlandia brings back pickling and other hobbies.

Movie Reviews & Stories The second episode of the second season of Portlandia revolves around a duo, played by Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen, engaged in the winter sport favored by most Portland couples   More

 

Wednesday, January 4, 2012 AARON MESH

10 Best Movies of 2011

At the end of 2011 (and celluloid), Drive finishes first.

Movie Reviews & Stories Late in the documentary Bill Cunningham New York, the street-fashion photographer chokes up as he offers his personal credo. “He who seeks beauty will find it,” says the 86-year-old Cunningham   More

 

Wednesday, December 28, 2011 AARON MESH

10 Memorable Movie Performances From 2011

Movie Reviews & Stories 1. Michael Shannon, Take ShelterMichael Shannon comes to us from another realm, a dark corner of the universe we’d do well to leave alone. His face, a likeness of which will be carved into the s   More

 

Wednesday, December 28, 2011 CHRIS STAMM

Funny Farms

It’s a very olde filmmakers’ treasury of Christmastime animals!

Movie Reviews & Stories The media campaign for We Bought a Zoo has been met with of a foreseeable volley of mockery (including an exceedingly funny Twitter feed: @WEBOUGHTAZ00), but this is hardly the only new movie of   More

 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 AARON MESH

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Smiley, though your heart is aching.

Movie Reviews & Stories The movie’s star, Gary Oldman, studies us through stylish 1970s spectacles, adjusting them with a stylishly leather-gloved hand. Printed below his left eye are words: “The enemy is within.”    More

 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 ALISTAIR ROCKOFF

The Adventures of Tintin

Try the Haddock.

Movie Reviews & Stories There has been some debate around the WW office whether American kids even recognize Belgian comics legend Hergé’s teen journalist protagonist, Tintin, when they see him. After this week—when   More

 

Wednesday, December 21, 2011 CASEY JARMAN