Friday, February 10 2012
‘Return’ Keeps Tight Focus on a War Veteran’s Experience
Now back in a small world, a world both familiar and strange, Kelli does her best to return to the way things were.
‘Perfect Sense’ Presents Global Disaster and Intimate Loss
Perfect Sense presents the end of the world using an irresistible sci-fi/allegorical hook: humanity is literally losing its senses.
‘Journey 2: The Mysterious Island’ Is Obvious
As Sean looks for something "real" in Journey 2, he's drawn to the Vernians' diehard faith in the non-fiction of Jules Verne's books.
‘The Vow’ Is Conventional, with Complications
The Vow is a conventional love story with a ghostly chasm in the middle, a weepie for Valentine’s Day cinemagoers.
‘Safe House’ Is Ersatz Edgy
This distinction between what the film's designated pros know and what you know -- or can guess, based on your experience with these sorts of films -- quickly turns tedious in Safe House.
Two Days in Sundance: ‘Ai Weiwei’, ‘For Ellen’, ‘Middle of Nowhere’
Unfortunately, the two days didn’t provide enough time to see everything, but that’s what the rest of the year is for.
Thursday, February 9 2012
ReelAbilities Day 1: ‘Body and Soul’ and ‘Defining Beauty’
Body and Soul and Defining Beauty: Ms. Wheelchair America both feature admirable subjects who have "overcome obstacles," and also take refreshingly unconventional approaches to these subjects.
Wednesday, February 8 2012
‘The Miners’ Hymns’: Labor and Poetry
Beautifully and evocatively, Bill Morrison's film traces the changes of fortune for the mines and miners, the industry and communities of Northern England.
Tuesday, February 7 2012
‘Unfinished Spaces’ Revisits Cuba’s Schools of Art
The journey in Unfinished Spaces begins with reconsidering the hopes and confusions of Cuba just after the Revolution, the politics and the struggles that go on to this day.
Monday, February 6 2012
‘Our School’ Shows Effects of Poverty and Prejudice
Our School doesn't press its case -- that racism and inequality pervade the lives of Roma ("Gypsy") children in a small Romanian town -- as much as it lets it unfold.
Saturday, February 4 2012
‘Windfall’ Illustrates a Town Divided
Windfall's long panning shots of the beautiful hills of Meredith, in the Catskill region of New York, show what residents want to preserve.
Friday, February 3 2012
‘Big Miracle’: TV Saves the Whales
The context for the whales' plight is conveyed in Big Miracle by TV, glimpsed in the backgrounds of scenes where people are talking about... TV.
‘Chronicle’ Makes Your Job Too Easy
Chronicle misses the point of the found-footage film -- that the point of view is unstable and immersive, making you doubt what you see.
‘The Woman in Black’ Is an Old-Fashioned Ghost Story
Mrs. Drablow’s creepy, dilapidated mansion, Eel Marsh House, is the most fantastic haunted house imaginable, both attracting and repelling us.
Thursday, February 2 2012
‘The Innkeepers’ Is Smart Horror
As Claire thinks through -- and the film shows -- her subjective, isolating, and increasingly frightening experience, you're left to guess if it's "just a story."
Wednesday, February 1 2012
‘This Is Where We Take Our Stand’ Remembers What Wars Do
The soldiers mean to speak to each other and also, publicly, with the hope that the stories might raise awareness of what happens in the war in a general population that has, for the most part, been able to ignore it.
‘One for the Money’: Heigl Is Relaxed and Plucky
Despite Stephanie's sputtering, unevenly paced progress, the movie does improve as it goes on: the family shtick drops off, the editing smooths out, and One for the Money becomes watchable.
‘The Girl with Black Balloons’ at Stranger Than Fiction
Bettina's boxes are filled with photos of herself as a young woman, photos she's taken from her window looking down on passersby, as well as some images taken face to face, on sidewalks and in evocative interiors.
Tuesday, January 31 2012
‘After Fall, Winter’ Is Less Cyclical Than Repetitive
After Fall, Winter confuses homages to other films with borrowing their ideas to prop up the wandering fantasy of Michael and Sophie's love affair.
Monday, January 30 2012
‘Declaration of War’ Shows Crises Met and Overcome
Like the war on TV, the couple's war -- their struggle with their baby's cancer -- occasionally slides into the background.
