Movies
Short Reviews
Sinister
October 18th, 2012
Ellison Oswalt (Ethan Hawke) is a true-crime author in need of a hit, and he doesn’t tell his family that he’s moved them into a house that was the scene of a mass murder. Read more »
Short Reviews
Here Comes the Boom
October 18th, 2012
Scott Voss (Kevin James) is a burned-out high school biology teacher, a single man barely able to muster the gumption to ask out the school nurse (Salma Hayek). Read more »
Movies
Taken In
Somebody kidnapped the plot of this action sequel
October 11th, 2012
Taken 2 is so much lousier than need be, and its action sequences look as if they were put together by someone who doesn’t know what he’s doing. That’s a problem. And not even the charismatically weather-beaten face and basso profundo action-star delivery of Liam Neeson can compensate. Read more »
Movies
Early Genius, Haltingly Reanimated
This expansion of a 1984 Tim Burton film isn’t as lively as the original
October 11th, 2012
Before things took off with Pee-wee’s Big Adventure and Beetlejuice, Tim Burton made a live-action black-and-white film, in 1984, called Frankenweenie. You can find it on YouTube. Read more »
Short Reviews
Looper
October 11th, 2012
In filmmaker Rian Johnson’s imaginative sci-fi thriller, futuristic criminals in the 2070s are sent back in time to 2044 Kansas, and there, standing at the ready with a nasty rifle called the Blunderbuss, is the “looper,” the gun for hire. Read more »
Movies
Man vs. (Future) Self
An assassin faces a paradoxical job in this smart tale of illegal time travel
October 4th, 2012
For about an hour, Looper really cooks. Its second half is more of a medium boil, and less fun. But watching it, I realized how few commercial entertainments hold up straight through to the end point. Read more »
Movies
First Bloom
Wallflower delicately captures a shy teenager’s emotional growth
October 4th, 2012
Sometimes an inexperienced filmmaker can use a helping hand from his cast. That’s exactly what Stephen Chbosky got from Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller and Emma Watson in the adaptation of his popular young adult novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Read more »
Short Reviews
Trouble With the Curve
October 4th, 2012
Clint Eastwood plays Gus, an aging Atlanta Braves baseball scout whose eyes are failing and whose contract is up. Read more »
Short Reviews
The Master
October 4th, 2012
In Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest, Freddie (Joaquin Phoenix) is an alcoholic World War II vet suffering from a nervous condition. Read more »
Short Reviews
End of Watch
October 4th, 2012
Officers Taylor and Zavala (Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Pena) are good friends and valiant protectors of the people. Read more »
