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Short Review: "Lust, Caution"

Bad buzz is starting to circle Ang Lee’s new film Lust, Caution (****), which is a shame, because it is a flawed movie but still a pretty goddamned good one, difficult and slowly paced and too damn long but fascinating a…
Theatre Hopping: "The Kingdom" and "The Darjeeling Limited"

Peter Berg’s The Kingdom (****) is an action picture with a brain, a revenge movie with a conscience, a film that wants (admirably) to have it both ways, and mostly succeeds. It throws the crew-of-experts police-procedur…
Theatre Hopping: "The Assassination of Jesse James" and "In The Wild"

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (*****) may have a long and unwieldy title, and a running time to match, but make no mistake about it: Andrew Dominik’s epic drama is fascinating, lyrical, and f…
Theatre Hopping: "In The Valley of Elah" and "Eastern Promises"

I was not an admirer of Paul Haggis’ Crash, but I do tend to let my frustration regarding the over-praising (hello, Ebert) and over-awarding (hello, Oscar) color my dislike for the film, which is not a terrible picture, …
Theatre Hopping: "Across The Universe" and "In The Shadow of the Moon"

Through one of those strange, unpredictable accidents of timing, I find myself, for the second time in one week, contemplating a strange new film that tries to make the musical palpable for a modern, art-house audience. …
Mumblecore: "Funny Ha Ha" and "Quiet City"

It’s called “mumblecore”. It’s some sort of new movement in indie film (though the makers of these films, of course, don’t like the name “mumblecore”), spotlighted by IFC in a two-week festival called “The New Talkies: G…
Short Review: "Romance & Cigarettes"

John Turturro’s Romance & Cigarettes (***) comes loaded with a good deal of back-story; it was completed back in 2005 and scheduled for a regular theatrical release, until it was lost in one of those studio-buyout su…
Theatre Hopping: "2 Days In Paris" and "I Want Someone To Eat Cheese With"

Julie Delpy can usually be counted on to light up damn near any movie she’s in (even trash like Killing Zoe), but Before Sunset was the first hint for the casual moviegoer that she is more than just a reliable actress; s…
Theatre Hopping: "Hatchet" and "Shoot 'Em Up"

The tagline (and overall sales pitch) of Hatchet (*) is “Old School American Horror”, and in spite of the considerable buzz this (apparently) low-budget item is picking up all over the World Wide Interwebs, I call bullsh…
Theatre Hopping: "Dedication", "Death at a Funeral", and "The Nanny Diaries"

Mandy Moore has been very good in two not-very-good movies this year (that’d be Because I Said So and License to Wed), so it is with a sigh of relief that I can tell you that she has finally made a film that is worthy of…