Plastic vs. Celluloid

Films based on toys: are they ever any good?

Movie Reviews & Stories The latest film based on the G.I. Joe action figure, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, is not being screened for critics. Is there any chance it won’t be a steaming pile of shit? Our culture scientists ana   More

 

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 RUTH BROWN

War Witch

Childhood on the battlefield.

Movie Reviews & Stories There isn’t a moment in War Witch, the Oscar-nominated breakout film from Canadian director Kim Nguyen, that isn’t covered by a thick layer of dread. From its opening sequence of a harrowing   More

 

Wednesday, March 27, 2013 AP KRYZA

On the Road

Mad to live­, as Kerouac would have wanted.

Movie Reviews & Stories The journey to create a film version of Jack Kerouac’s 1957 ode to the Beat Generation, On the Road, has been a treacherous one. Over the years, Francis Ford Coppola, Gus Van Sant and Joel Schum   More

 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013 ROBERT HAM

Admission

It gets the thin envelope, not the fat one.

Movie Reviews & Stories In one of the funnier moments in Admission, several Princeton admissions officers make notes on a giant chart. On one side are fawning remarks they’ve received from parents whose offspring have    More

 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013 REBECCA JACOBSON

Korean Gothic

Director Park Chan-Wook sucks the blood out of Stoker.

Movie Reviews & Stories On a scale of zero to Quentin Tarantino, South Korean director Park Chan-wook is not stuck in the middle with anyone. In his hyperviolent Vengeance trilogy (2003’s Oldboy won the Grand Prix at   More

 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013 REBECCA JACOBSON

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Pay no attention to the man behind the sequins.

Movie Reviews & Stories Goofy wigs are always a bad omen, especially when they’re the centerpiece of a film. The Incredible Burt Wonderstone seems pitched by a really good wig-maker who thought it would be hysterical t   More

 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013 AP KRYZA

Like Someone in Love

A needy hooker makes an elderly friend.

Movie Reviews & Stories It may be hard out there for a pimp, but it’s definitely harder for a prostitute. Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami makes that awfully clear in his plodding, bittersweet tale of a Tokyo college    More

 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013 EMILY JENSEN

Hotseat: Penelope Spheeris

The filmmaker talks about punk rock and losing her temper.

Movie Reviews & Stories Teenage angst has paid off well for Penelope Spheeris. Her breakout film, the remarkable   More

 

Wednesday, March 6, 2013 REBECCA JACOBSON

…And Justice For None

Peter Jackson leaves Middle Earth to investigate a wrongful conviction.

Movie Reviews & Stories West of Memphis is a compelling documentary—surprisingly so at a butt-numbing 147 minutes—that unwittingly provokes serious ethical questions.
   More

 

Wednesday, March 6, 2013 RUTH BROWN

Top Five Films To See At POW Fest

Movie Reviews & Stories Beat Down A runaway teen squeezes into scintillating pink spandex as she follows her wrestling dream. Deanne Foley’s film congenially captures showy wrestling, pubescent awkwardness and familia   More

 

Wednesday, March 6, 2013 ENID SPITZ