Current Releases
LIFE OF PI (2012)
Movie Review
Life of PI is a beautiful, moving film that restores our faith in stories even as it reminds us that any good story is, itself, an act of faith. Continue reading
Filed under 2012 Films, Current Releases, MOVIE REVIEWS
SKYFALL (2012)
Movie Review
There will always be an England, no matter how its power waxes and wanes, and so there will always be a Bond, who will be reborn periodically with a new face, a slightly new sensibility, and a reliable fondness for strong women and weak martinis. Continue reading
Filed under 2012 Films, Current Releases, MOVIE REVIEWS
THE MASTER (Movie Review)
The Master is a movie in which nearly everything works, and yet, at the end of its 150 minutes, one feels that all of this excellence—the careful direction, the lovely cinematography, the fine performances—has been in the service of something vague and forgettable. Continue reading
Filed under 2012 Films, Current Releases, MOVIE REVIEWS
LOOPER (Movie Review)
There is little we haven't seen before in Looper, but the skill and care director Rian Johnson brings to it makes it all feel fresh and original. Appropriate for a time-travel movie, Johnson makes the old seem new again. Continue reading
Filed under 2012 Films, Current Releases, MOVIE REVIEWS
COMPLIANCE (Movie Review)
Emotionally harrowing, thought-provoking, and never less than fascinating, Compliance nevertheless fails to make us completely believe in all the turns of this lurid tale, and never manages to offer much insight or illumination into how and why events happen. Continue reading
Filed under 2012 Films, Current Releases, MOVIE REVIEWS
KILLER JOE (Movie Review)
Flawed, fatalistic, and foul, Killer Joe is not a film I can endorse. However—if you have a strong stomach and a prurient curiosity—it is definitely a film you will remember. Continue reading
Filed under Current Releases, MOVIE REVIEWS
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Movie Review)
It is now clear that Nolan has not just been making three films, but telling one story in three-acts. In retrospect, the long setup of the first film, and the unremitting darkness of the second film, were both necessary to set up this triumphant third act. Continue reading
Filed under 2012 Films, Current Releases, MOVIE REVIEWS
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (Review)
With The Amazing Spider-Man,, the Spider-Man franchise has only been rebooted: it has not been reconceived, and it has certainly not been reinvigorated. This is murky, paint-by-numbers movie-making, with too many stock elements, too little imagination, and far too few surprises. Continue reading
Filed under 2012 Films, Current Releases, MOVIE REVIEWS
BRAVE (Movie Review)
After 75 years of Disney heroines who staked their happiness on finding a man, Merida may offer little girls a different definition of what "happily ever after" can look like. Continue reading
Filed under 2012 Films, Current Releases, MOVIE REVIEWS
PROMETHEUS (Movie Review)
Visually stunning, and filled with all the promise in the world, Prometheus eventually degenerates into an incoherent assemblage of mismatched elements, and a wasted opportunity on an epic scale. Continue reading
Filed under 2012 Films, Current Releases, MOVIE REVIEWS
THE AVENGERS (2012)
Movie Review
The Avengers is not a Citizen Kane for the capes-and-cowls crowd, nor does it try to be a superhero film for people who hate superheroes. What it tries to be instead—and pretty much succeeds in being—is the film for which people who love superheroes have been waiting all their lives. Continue reading
Filed under 2012 Films, Current Releases, MOVIE REVIEWS
