Movie Reviews

Is There a Connection Between Baumbach's 'Frances Ha' and Bujalski's 'Funny Ha Ha'?

It seems so obvious. “Frances Ha.” “Funny Ha Ha.” Coincidence? We think not. But wait… One is about an awkward 20-something delaying adulthood, while her romantic planets fail to get in line. The other is ... well, yeah, pretty much about the same thing. Except that one rocketed to obscurity in 2002...

Review: Acceptable Euro-Thriller 'Erased' Bolstered By Aaron Eckhart's Lead Performance

Aaron Eckhart has quite a diverse body of work to look back on -- in the last two years alone, the actor has brought to the table both a complex portrait of a grieving father in the lauded "Rabbit Hole" and a more workman-like turn in the less-lauded "Battle: Los Angeles." "Erased," also known as "T...

Review: 'Black Rock' A Back-To-The-Wilds Slasher With Brains & Bonding To Go With The Blood

There is, ultimately, something to be said for the pleasures of a simple, sleek and well-shot run-or-kill-or-die thriller. The sort of film where the heroes are trapped in the middle of nowhere and find themselves threatened by hostile locals, and must then strike back to survive. That's what "Black...

VOD Review: 'Splinters' (Riveting Documentary On Life - And Surfing - In Papua New Guinea)

When I first wrote about director Adam Pesce's Papua New Guniea-set documentary Splinters in 2011, I hadn't yet seen it.  And despite Pesce's assertion that he "never set out to make a 'surf movie', that's pretty much what I was expecting when I finally got a chance to view the film.  What...

Now and Then: In Two 'Steel Magnolias,' the Times Are Not A-Changin'

The first thing one notices about "Steel Magnolias" (Herbert Ross, 1989) is the hair. Truvy's Beauty Shop overflows with tight-rolled pastel curlers and foot-high teases, held in place by enough hairspray to commit arson -- a style so far out of fashion it seems historical, as rococo as Marie Antoin...

Review - Egyptian Drama 'Cairo Exit' Is A Sobering Slice Of Life Portrait Of The Disillusioned

Review: 'Fast & Furious 6' Makes Cars Go Boom In A Mostly Satisfactory Way

Has there ever been a franchise like the "Fast & Furious?" Begun over ten years ago with a film most notable for its '50s-style B-movie title, "The Fast & The Furious," it was a modest sleeper hit. Before long the series saw its biggest draw, the potato-headed growl-monster Vin Diesel, exit the seri...

How Terrence Malick's 'Badlands' Addresses the Root Causes of American Gun Violence

All Tomorrow's Parties: "The Great Gatsby" Meet "Spring Breakers"

Within the span of a couple months, audiences and media have witnessed the debauched excess of the American Dream gone sour, of attractive young men and women imbibing themselves to delirium, violence and self-destruction. If there ever were a comment on the failed hopes and ideals of our curren...