Movie Reviews

Variety Reviews "Up"

Of Time and the Country: Olivier Assayas's "Summer Hours"

Early in Olivier Assayas's elegant and elegiac "Summer Hours," grown siblings sit at a table with their aging mother outside their family's country home. Paging through a book of their late great-uncle's art, they notice a picture from generations ago of people sitting at the very same table, in the...

Kicking and Screaming: Carlos Cuaron's "Rudo y Cursi"

"Rudo y Cursi," the debut film by Carlos Cuaron, has a bit of everything. Comedy, drama, satire, nostalgia, sports, music, city, country, tits, ass -- all you could ever want, really. The first film produced under the Cha Cha Cha shingle -- the union of Mexico's cuddly auteurist trinity Alfonso Cuar...

Unholy Redeemer: Erick Zonca's "Julia"

"Julia" is your typical tale of redemption, even as it thrashes against the sentimentality such a designation implies. As fearlessly played by Tilda Swinton -- so often cast in roles for her androgynous appeal or otherworldly, reptilian bloodlessness, but here afforded leeway to get down and dirty -...

Burden of Dreams: Atom Egoyan's "Adoration"

[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.]

A Wet Dream For Horror Fans: Ti West's "House of The Devil"

Ti West's "The House of the Devil" is a wet dream for horror fans, but that should not limit its audience. The classical structure slowly builds tension before erupting into a decisively gory finish, harkening back to a smarter and more nuanced era of spooky storytelling. West's last feature, the hi...

Into the Woods: Götz Spielmann's "Revanche"

As cinematic revenge-seekers go, Johannes Krisch’s Alex, the protagonist of Götz Spielmann's “Revanche,” is something of an anomaly. If the signature gesture of Lee Marvin's character, Walker, in John Boorman's “Point Blank” is his bloody-minded march toward personal satisfaction, and if that of Mic...

Tribeca Snapshot: Marshall Curry's "Racing Dreams"

"If I'm not not racing, I'm not happy," says one of the adolescent drivers in Marshall Curry's "Racing Dreams." Of course, an eleven year old's perception of happiness tends to rely on the whims of the surrounding environment, and the speedy realm of the racetrack can certainly make the the rest of ...

Show and Tell: Deirdre Allen Timmons's "A Wink and a Smile"

[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.]