Helena Smith/
Edinburgh International Film Festival
In an approach sure to tickle the locals, Sylvain Chomet's "The Illusionist" views the misty slopes of the Scottish highlands and the spooky battlements of Edinburgh though the eyes of a visiting Frenchman and finds them all unutterably magical. Born through a lucky intersection of an uncompleted Jacques Tati script and Mr. Chomet's visit to the Scottish capital with "The Triplets of Belleville" (released as "Belleville Rendez-Vous" in Britain) in 2003, his new animation sings with nostalgia, charm and the painful passage of time.
Continue reading “French Animator Conjures Illusions of Auld Reekie” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Wild Grass (2009)
Christophe Jeauffroy/Sony Pictures Classics
The English title is a direct translation of the French word for those little weeds which sprout up in the cracks in sidewalks; in French the phrase is a metaphor for people who are a little bit unconventional. This movie certainly is different, but it works neither as a straight story nor as a genre exercise; and it seems the director wanted it that way.
Continue reading “Stalking Is Comedy” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The A-Team (2010)
Doug Curran/20th Century Fox
Bolts of testosterone surge through “The A-Team” with blinding force. The mystifying remake of the '80s TV show is so supercharged with machismo, you’d be forgiven if you mistook it for the weight room at your local gym.
Continue reading “Pity the ’80s Fools” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010)
Seth Keal/IFC Films
If there’s one conclusion to be derived from Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg’s documentary about Joan Rivers, it’s this: The 77-year-old comedienne really is “a piece of work.” She’s also — “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” makes clear — much more than the sum of her polarizing public image. Beyond the plastic surgeries and the abrasive demeanor is a driven, passionate woman who’s achieved the miracle of retaining her show business relevance for more than four decades.
Continue reading “Look Who’s Talking” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Greenberg (2010)
Wilson Webb/Focus Features
"Greenberg" is Ben Stiller's "Punch-Drunk Love." That romantic comedy from 2001 starred Adam Sandler as an awkward, unhappy man who, while embarking on a bizarre project, falls in love with a blonde. This time, Mr. Stiller is Roger Greenberg, a carpenter with undefined mental-health problems, who returns to Los Angeles to house-sit while his brother's family is on an extended vacation. This goes great until some people show up unannounced in the pool. Rather than talk to them, Roger rattles around anxiously, peers out from behind some curtains and calls Florence (Greta Gerwig), the family's assistant.
Continue reading “Reality Bitten” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Sex and the City 2 (2010)
Craig Blankenhorn/Warner Bros. Pictures
Twelve years after its launch helped herald a landmark in the dual histories of HBO and pop-culture portrayals of strong women, the “Sex and the City” franchise has officially landed in the toilet. It arrives there courtesy of “Sex and the City 2,” this pathetically moribund sequel to the 2008 movie which robs the material of every aspect of merit and interest while playing up its most vapid qualities to an uncomfortable extent.
Continue reading “Prissiest Queens of the Desert” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Four Lions (2010)
2010 Sundance Film Festival
"Four Lions" and its monumentally stupid suicide bombers will be beyond the pale for some; but as with all of Chris Morris's ferocious satires, its faith in man's ability to cock things up is all too plausible. It would be nice to think that groups of angry young men engaged in low-budget terrorism don't ponder strapping bombs onto crows or occasionally point the bazooka backwards. But whom are we kidding?
Continue reading “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Perrier's Bounty (2010)
IFC Films
There’s a set formula to the witty-Irish-gangster narrative, with its blend of sudden bloody violence and offbeat characterizations. Ian Fitzgibbon’s “Perrier’s Bounty” adheres to that standard firmly, down to the griminess that informs its portrait of the Dublin underworld, the dapperly attired men with guns who spout unexpectedly hip viewpoints and the addled nature of overwhelmed protagonist Michael McCrea (Cillian Murphy).
Still, it’s an effective genre entry, propelled by the strong performances of Mr. Murphy, Jodie Whittaker and especially Jim Broadbent, a cohesive cinematic vision and a narrative that features enough moments of spontaneity to avoid coming across as just a tired rehash.
Continue reading “Grimly Reaping a Bounty” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The Ape (2009)
The Times BFI 53rd London Film Festival
"The Ape" is an unsettling and uncomfortable picture; it's raw, emotive, unforgiving and brutal. It's a trying and difficult piece of work that makes no concessions to its audience and proffers no apologies for neglecting to do so. Writer-director Jesper Ganslandt thrusts his audience into the rapidly unraveling world of Krister (an anxious Olle Sarri) who awakes on a bathroom floor covered in blood. What thus transpires is a visceral insight into Krister's fragmented psyche as he seemingly tries to recall — or indeed forget — what has gone before.
Continue reading “Hell on Wheels” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Robin Hood (2010)
David Appleby/Universal Studios
You don’t need to see Ridley Scott’s “Robin Hood” to know exactly what you’d be in for if you did. For that, one need only look to the director’s “Gladiator” and “Kingdom of Heaven,” or, failing those, any swords-and-sandals Hollywood epic set in medieval England.
The charm and underdog attitude of the bandit of Sherwood Forest and his merry men have been scrubbed out, replaced by Russell Crowe’s intensely serious visage, a glum story about unjust taxation and expertly choreographed large-scale action scenes that are anathematic to the personality-driven legend.
Continue reading “Thickheaded as Thieves” »