‘Room’: Unable to Break Free
With such rich source material, this film is both superficially gripping and psychologically rich.
Marisa LaScala
‘God Help the Girl’ Is a Belle and Sebastian Jukebox in Movie Form
With its mix of silliness and seriousness, and music and melodrama, God Help the Girl is top-to-bottom charming.
You Can’t Sink Your Teeth Into Any of the Ideas in ‘Annabelle’
Annabelle pales in the shadow of its predecessor, the far superior The Conjuring.
The Jokes and Michael Caine Impressions Are Still Fresh in ‘The Trip to Italy’
Even though it lacks the novelty of its predecessor, The Trip to Italy is nonetheless just as hilarious.
Does ‘Marry Me’ Mark the Year of the Rom-Sitcom?
Why shouldn’t a maligned genre -- and romantic comedies are nothing if not maligned -- follow in drama's footsteps?
‘Obvious Child’ Looks at Unplanned Pregnancy from a New Angle
Even when Obvious Child lacks interesting conflict, it still admirably presents women in a way atypical from mainstream cinema.
‘Mulaney’ Is Like Seinfeld, But Without Elaine
Mulaney and Motif’s third roommate, Jane is underdeveloped, and thrown into subplots that focus on typical -- if not offensive -- female storylines and stereotypes.
‘Gotham’ Is No Place for Nice Guys
Gotham is off to a good start, so good that it's possible to watch the entire premiere without missing Batman one bit.
‘Transcendence’ Is a High-Tech Mess of Subplots
Like Dr. Caster's (Johnny Depp) experiments, Transcendence is much smarter in theory than it is in practice.
A Small Sampling of Disney: ‘The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad’ and ‘Fun and Fancy Free’
For the most part, the shorts are some of Disney's strongest, and taken as a whole they offer a variety of animation styles, characters and tones.
‘Need for Speed’ Is About the Thrill of the Ride, Not the Script
Besides just lavishing attention on the cars, director Scott Waugh loves placing them in the context of other, classic driving movies, from Bullitt to American Graffiti.
Mysterious Aliens and Inscrutable Humans: ‘Under the Skin’
The simple yet transformative hat-trick of Under the Skin is that it is the humans who are alien.