MOVIE REVIEW
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009)
Lionsgate
Richard Curtis has a lot to answer for. This does not apply to “Blackadder,” the most amusingly misanthropic show ever. Nor does it apply to his charity work with Comic Relief and the astounding amounts of money it has raised. But it does apply to “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and everything that followed it. Not only the subsequent films he has written, but also those he inspired, “Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel” included.
Continue reading “Back From the Future” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Lymelife (2009)
Screen Media Films
If there’s one type of movie that immediately comes to mind when one thinks of Sundance, where “Lymelife” played after premiering at Toronto, it’s a quirky dysfunctional family drama set in the suburbs. It’s a testament to the quality of the craft of “Lymelife” that it works well despite rigidly adhering to the template.
Continue reading “Love in the Time of Lyme Disease” »
MOVIE REVIEW
The Escapist (2008)
Vertigo Films
The opening shots of “The Escapist” provide an intriguing study in the ways those elements serve as a compacted distillation of the filmmaking interests borne out over the course of a feature. The film begins with Frank Perry (Brian Cox) sitting alone, a serious, concerned look affixed to his face as darkness shrouds him and Leonard Cohen plays on the soundtrack. It’s an introspective, peaceful moment that jarringly contrasts with the film’s next sequence, in which the title is introduced in large letters that fill the screen as we join, in process, the prison escape around which the narrative centers.
Continue reading “Shaking Off the Shackles of Convention” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Modern Life (2008)
Soda Pictures
Director Raymond Depardon is also a photographer of some renown. His website is just astonishing, with painterly, well-composed landscapes and also portraits. This eye for capturing images and ability to position the camera to maximize the beauty of the local landscape is truly remarkable. But he did not win the Louis Delluc prize for the best French film of 2008 due to his eye for images. He won for his ability to tell the French a story about themselves.
Continue reading “A Hard Row to Hoe” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Adventureland (2009)
Abbot Genser/Miramax Films
The 1980s, though steadily receding into history, still remain the most fertile setting for angst-ridden coming-of-age stories on the big screen. The semi-autobiographical “Adventureland,” from writer-director Greg Mottola, brings forth many of the traits commonly associated with John Hughes and the Brat Pack in a period piece that makes up for its lack of dramatic heft with small moments filled with nostalgia and warmth. This isn’t the broad comedy seemingly promised by the trailers and “Superbad,” Mr. Mottola’s previous film, but a distilled dramatization of one of those youthful summers one remembers forever.
Continue reading “The Vacation Not Taken” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Gigantic (2009)
First Independent Pictures
"Gigantic" takes up the particularly quirky strain of family dysfunction that flowed through offbeat indie flicks "Igby Goes Down" and "The Squid and the Whale." Maladjustment foments against the backdrop of New York City, where extreme meets extreme, and eccentricity seems to be the norm. Mismatched personalities mix in every relationship, in a manner that is just far enough over-the-top to feel slightly believable. In this case, the resulting brew is heady at times but frequently misses its mark.
Continue reading “Mattress Professional Dreams a Little Dream” »
MOVIE REVIEW
In the Loop (2009)
IFC Films
Armando Iannucci is one of the most successful satirists in contemporary British television, a revered writer-director whose influential news spoofs "On the Hour" and "The Day Today" launched the careers of Steve Coogan, Chris Morris and playwright Patrick Marber in the 1990s. Because of Britain’s lamentable record of translating its TV heroes into cinematic damaged-goods, the arrival of "In the Loop" has been greeted with some understandable trepidation in Britain, borne out of the fear that only the curse of the "British comedy film" can bring down a reputation as unblemished as Mr. Iannucci’s.
Continue reading “Rematch for American Independence” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Alien Trespass (2009)
Roadside Attractions
There have been frequent cinematic tributes to the sci-fi classics of the 1950s, the golden age of B moviemaking. “Mars Attacks,” “Tremors" and a lot of other films have replicated the look and feel of movies like “It Came from Outer Space" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still." None, however, have done so with quite the painstaking affection director R. W. Goodwin bestows on the genre in “Alien Trespass.”
Continue reading “The Decade Science Fiction Stood Still” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Tulpan (2008)
Zeitgeist Films
There are no cross-cultural faux pas involving a clueless newsman who aims to benefit his glorious nation, but the new Kazakh film “Tulpan” is every bit as amusing as “Borat.” Come to think of it, the two films make for a truly fascinating study in contrasts. “Borat,” a faux-Kazakh mockumentary made by Hollywood, was bodacious because of its Candid Camera-esque pranks. “Tulpan,” an authentic import from Kazakhstan, seems miraculous for all the impromptu appearances by Mother Nature herself that constantly upstage an otherwise droll tale about the romantic misadventures of recently discharged Navy serviceman and aspiring herder, Asa (Askhat Kuchinchirekov).
Continue reading “Dispatches From the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” »
MOVIE REVIEW
Fast & Furious (2009)
Jaimie Trueblood/Universal Pictures
“Fast & Furious,” the fourth picture in the car-fetishizing quadrilogy begun with 2001's “The Fast and the Furious,” inspires some interesting questions. For example: What changes in the audience’s response to a movie, and what does it signify, when all that separates a film from its predecessor is the absence of “the” in the title? What are we to make of the implication that Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker), reunited at last, are now simply fast and furious instead of “the fast” and “the furious?”
Continue reading “With Careers Stalled, Restarting a Franchise’s Engine” »