Friday, February 3 2012
‘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.
Friday, January 27 2012
‘Come Back, Africa’ Tells Many Stories
Independently made and distributed in 1959, Lionel and Elinor Rogosin's exposé follows survivors of injustice in South Africa and the systems designed to repress them.
‘Namath’: Broadway Joe Looks Back
As Namath ends with images of the young quarterback in action, you're reminded of how Broadway Joe came to change the game.
‘Man on a Ledge’ Is Content to Distract
Being standard-movie-issue New Yorkers, the gawkers are increasingly vocal about their desire to see the man on a ledge jump.
‘The Grey’ Reflects on Faith, Fatherhood, and Survival
While the wolves provide some big jump-scares, The Grey is even more harrowing when it lingers on the idea of death, rather than the violent event.
Thursday, January 26 2012
Architectural Forms of Flight: ‘How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr. Foster?’
While the film provides any number of commentaries on the majesty and wonder of architect Norman Foster's work, none of these verbal summaries is definitive.
Wednesday, January 25 2012
In Tahrir Square: 18 Days of Egypt’s Unfinished Revolution
Premiering on HBO2 exactly one year after the revolution commenced, the film is mostly observational and often fragmented, emulating the chaos of those 18 days while also granting you a way through it.
Tuesday, January 24 2012
‘The Divide’ is Another Post-Apocalyptic Nightmare
Michael Biehn's Mickey is not Reese: he's not noble or gallant. He's afraid, cynical, and mean.
Monday, January 23 2012
I’m Not Good With Feelings: ‘Underworld: Awakening’
In the fourth film, the Underworld series makes some technical adjustments while remaining in a chilly stasis.
Friday, January 20 2012
Steven Soderbergh’s ‘Haywire’ Showcases MMA Star Gina Carano
In frames that are both rough and precise, in skewed angles on clandestine meetings or long tracking shots of Mal in motion, you're invited to think of the world like she does.
Lucasfilm’s ‘Red Tails’ Is Well-Intentioned But Thin
Red Tails is enjoyable enough and, like other George Lucas films, more throwback pulp than somber drama.
‘The City Dark’ Looks at Effects of Too Much Light
These scenes don't come together so much as they offer a series of impressions, circling around the idea that light pollution is bad. Still, the film allows, that's not to say darkness is good.
Wednesday, January 18 2012
‘Crazy Horse’ Shows Stripping is Working
Crazy Horse is focused on the laborers who make strip show fantasies, the artists and technicians, trainers and performers.
