Reviews

February 21, 2008

The Counterfeiters

True story of money-making and survival during the Holocaust a sharp-paced thriller

By Michelle Orange

Be Kind Rewind

Gondry's sweet, raucous film-fest too shabby for its own good

By Michelle Orange

The Duchess of Langeais

A private affair grows stifling in Rivette's creaky story of obsessive love

By Vadim Rizov

February 14, 2008

Jumper

The motion's the thing in Liman's frantic version of sci-fi hopscotch

By Eric Kohn

Definitely, Maybe

Brooks loves the '90s in his nicely structured, sweet-toothed romantic comedy

By Michelle Orange

February 13, 2008

Ezra

Child soldier story's indicting purpose gets lost in a host of muddled sensibilities

By Eric Kohn

February 7, 2008

The Band's Visit

Newcomer Kolirin presents an unstriking Israeli-Egyptian story with a strikingly tender eye

By Michelle Orange

Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show

Vaughn's funny valentine to heartland values is a laugh- every-other-minute affair

By Vadim Rizov

In Bruges

McDonagh's gangster goofballs bring verve to a film that doesn't quite deserve it

By Vadim Rizov

January 31, 2008

Caramel

Labaki's look at life in Beirut is a heartfelt gift to a city that couldn't deserve it more

By Michelle Orange

January 30, 2008

The Silence Before Bach

Portabella explores the craft of making music with the same lightness of the music itself

By Eric Kohn

January 29, 2008

Praying With Lior

Lior's supreme underdog moment feels a little too long in coming

By Michelle Orange

January 24, 2008

4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Vaunted Romanian drama a finely crafted -- yet somehow incomplete -- bureaucratic epic

By Vadim Rizov

Orthodox Stance

Spunky doc swings away with potent if uneven blend of Hebrews and haymakers

By Michelle Orange

January 22, 2008

Doc

Reasonably amusing portrait of literary flameout and acid burnout Humes strains for relevance

By Vadim Rizov

January 17, 2008

Cloverfield

The secret of J.J. Abrams's clunky commercial vehicle is that there isn't one

By Eric Kohn

Cassandra's Dream

Farrell's performance the highlight of Allen's uneven blend of high drama and afternoon telly

By Michelle Orange

Teeth

Lichtenstein's toothless sexual satire isn't nearly as subversive as it thinks

By Vadim Rizov

Taxi to the Dark Side

Gibney's sharp, shaming torture exposé tracks another Great American Meltdown

By Michelle Orange

January 9, 2008

The Business of Being Born

Boobs, birth and babies abound, but Epstein's witty, well-considered doc is all Business

By Michelle Orange

Woman on the Beach

Korean director gets accessible with his latest portrait of sex, power and chain-smoking

By Vadim Rizov

December 21, 2007

Sweeney Todd

Hollywood's most consistent force serves up another slice of gothic heaven

By Eric Kohn

December 20, 2007

Charlie Wilson's War

Nichols and Co.'s foreign policy caper puts up a decent fight, but Hoffman wins the War

By Michelle Orange

Walk Hard

Biopic parody owes a debt to the Zuckers with comedy that's big, silly and very surreal

By Matt Singer

There Will Be Blood

P.T. Anderson's monumental departure from form draws blood

By Vadim Rizov

December 13, 2007

The Kite Runner

Adaptation nails blandness of Hosseini's prose, but not the book's redeeming cultural engagement

By Michelle Orange

Youth Without Youth

Coppola returns with a dense, intricately cinematic meditation on the limits of creative ambition

By Keith Uhlich

December 12, 2007

Nanking

Chronicle of an atrocity lacks insight into -- but not the relentless horror of -- its subject

By Vadim Rizov

December 6, 2007

Atonement

Wright's adaptation hits its tearjerking marks but misses the book's central idea

By Vadim Rizov

The Walker

Schrader's sex and politics ethical thriller gets caught -- and stuck -- in the wayback machine

By Vadim Rizov

December 4, 2007

Juno

Despite some tonal overkill, this teen pregnancy comedy's sweetness feels earned

By Michelle Orange

The Violin

Vargas drops a worthy calling card with a low-key study of Mexico's political underground

By Eric Kohn

November 28, 2007

The Savages

Jenkins gives her story of siblings, bad dads and loss a quasi-fairy tale twist

By Michelle Orange

Oswald's Ghost

Dispassionate and thorough, Ghost is a dull but convincing conspiracy-buster

By Vadim Rizov

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Handsomely composed and minimally maudlin, Bauby biopic is competent but unmemorable

By Vadim Rizov

November 21, 2007

I'm Not There

Haynes revisits persona and image-play in his compelling, sometimes overreaching portrait of a legend

By Vadim Rizov

Starting Out in the Evening

Ambrose and Langella make an engrossing pair in stirring, strange adaptation

By Michelle Orange

Yiddish Theater: A Love Story

The race to save a New York -- and Jewish -- institution raises questions about the cost of cultural evolution

By Vadim Rizov

November 15, 2007

Redacted

De Palma fights misinformation with caricature in his irresponsible Iraq manifesto

By Vadim Rizov

Love in the Time of Cholera

Newell turns a classic love story into a tour de force of trite

By Michelle Orange

Margot at the Wedding

Baumbach's latest family freak show is more redolent of bad television than Bergman

By Keith Uhlich

November 14, 2007

Southland Tales

Kelly's all-American, mondo apocalypto allegory has to be seen to be believed

By Eric Kohn

November 8, 2007

Steal a Pencil For Me

A happy ending to a story of the holocaust, infidelity and some seriously crazy love

By Michelle Orange

Lions For Lambs

Despite pounding on blunt political keynotes, Redford comes up with a referendum on star power

By Vadim Rizov

No Country For Old Men

Don't call it a comeback -- the blood spilled in Coens' triumph is not that simple

By Eric Kohn

Fred Claus

Likeable slice of Christmas schmaltz is the ultimate test for the Vaughan persona

By R. Emmet Sweeney

November 1, 2007

Bee Movie

Seinfeld's great-looking, wildly unbalanced vanity project a Bee Movie about nothing.

By Eric Kohn

Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten

Temple taps Clash frontman's prodigious ego and attendant charisma in galvanic biography

By Vadim Rizov

Martian Child

The Cusack conundrum is in full effect in this blandly observed family film

By Eric Kohn

American Gangster

Airless, stilted and bored with itself, Scott's Gangster is handsomely empty hack work

By R. Emmet Sweeney

October 25, 2007

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Lumet's steady, memorable crime drama embodies existential despair

By Eric Kohn

Mr. Untouchable

Imaginatively bankrupt portrait drains the color from one of NYC's flashiest gangsters

By Vadim Rizov

October 24, 2007

Jimmy Carter Man From Plains

Demme succumbs to the pie-eyed Carter myth in his disappointing documentary

By Keith Uhlich

Lagerfeld Confidential

Largely ephemeral, day-in-the-life doc studded with a few meaty moments

By Michelle Orange

October 18, 2007

Gone Baby Gone

Affleck's debut a twisted love letter to Boston's roughest but a just plain twisted narrative

By Michelle Orange

Reservation Road

Like bad teenage poetry, Terry George's clumsy melodrama insists solely on its own tragedy

By Vadim Rizov

Rendition

Discourse on U.S. torture policies less cogent -- and entertaining -- than it thinks

By Michelle Orange

Wristcutters: A Love Story

Endearing and intelligent vision of the afterlife may soften even the hardest of hipster asses

By Vadim Rizov

October 12, 2007

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

Protestants rule and Catholics predictably drool, but Elizabeth redux is as ideologically confused as it is completely meaningless

By Michelle Orange

October 11, 2007

We Own the Night

Brisk but boring crime drama unmitigated by a few good performances

By Vadim Rizov

Lars and the Real Girl

Sex dolls and sentiment make uncommon bedfellows in this strangely tender small-town tale

By R. Emmet Sweeney

October 8, 2007

Control

Gorgeous black-and-white visuals are the real star of unhappy rocker's biopic

By Eric Kohn

October 4, 2007

Michael Clayton

Gilroy's moral thriller mimics skins of '70s mentors without attaining their soul

By Keith Uhlich

My Kid Could Paint That

Director Bar-Lev cops out on heady questions he raises about truth and art

By Vadim Rizov

The Heartbreak Kid

Heartbreak remake's upped gross-out quotient marks the Farrelly ethos back in effect

By R. Emmet Sweeney

October 3, 2007

Lake of Fire

Kaye's epic abortion documentary proves as divisive as it is meticulously two-sided

By Michelle Orange

September 28, 2007

The Kingdom

Berg's kill 'em all action flick attempts to elevate itself with clumsy, rock 'n roll politics

By Michelle Orange

September 27, 2007

Lust, Caution

The titillation is terrifying in Lee's cunningly effective new period piece

By Eric Kohn

Feast of Love

Unabashedly sentimental, Benton's latest ensemble piece is also a clear-eyed look at love and longevity

By R. Emmet Sweeney

The Darjeeling Limited

Anderson chucks the suffocating quirks from the train for his most emotionally complex film yet

By Vadim Rizov

September 20, 2007

The Jane Austen Book Club

No-brainer chick-pleaser manages a couple of swings above its intellectual weight

By Michelle Orange

Into the Wild

Penn brings an older brother's understanding to the tragedy of a young iconoclast

By Matt Singer

The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

Dominik's poetic, detached James never convincingly joins form with content

By R. Emmet Sweeney

September 13, 2007

The Brave One

Jordan and Foster indulge in vigilante justice and nostalgia-busting for pre-Giuliani New York

By Vadim Rizov

In the Valley of Elah

Haggis brings the heavy in his attempt to weigh in on the cost of the war

By Michelle Orange

Great World of Sound

Small-town scamming opus paves the path of corporate dishonesty

By Vadim Rizov

Eastern Promises

Minor Cronenberg, despite his return to "body horror" and a naked bathhouse fight for the ages

By Vadim Rizov

September 7, 2007

3:10 to Yuma

The actions the thing in Mangold's revisitation (not revision) of the Western

By Vadim Rizov

Romance and Cigarettes

Turturro's long-delayed musical a staunchly heterosexual take on John Waters

By R. Emmet Sweeney

September 6, 2007

The Unknown Soldier

Meditation on the actions of Germany's WWII army an entrancing look at the power of civil identity

By Eric Kohn

Fierce People

The rich are different in Dunne's class-conscious melodrama -- and not in a good way

By Michelle Orange

August 31, 2007

The Nines

August's metaphor-happy allegory for the writer's plight blows everything but your mind

By Vadim Rizov

August 30, 2007

Exiled

The unstoppable Johnnie To's third 2007 release is also the most entertaining film of the year

By R. Emmet Sweeney

August 29, 2007

The Monastery: Mr. Vig and the Nun

Slim and sparsely drawn as its subject, Monastery delivers a meditation on grace

By Michelle Orange

August 23, 2007

Dedication

Theroux's debut a mid-90s redemption romance in the All the Sad Young Dudes mold

By Michelle Orange

The Nanny Diaries

Complacent tone and strangely tame direction make for boring Diaries entry

By Eric Kohn

The Hottest State

First love and first heartbreak compete for psychic space in Hawke's bloody valentine

By Michelle Orange

Resurrecting the Champ

Sexed-up adaptation a treatise on journalistic integrity that strays too far from its source

By Vadim Rizov

August 17, 2007

The Invasion

It's up with pod people once again, but Downfall director's vision gets blurred

By R. Emmet Sweeney

The 11th Hour

If documentary is the new disaster film, Leo's baby is B-movie material

By Michelle Orange

August 16, 2007

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters

Irresistible characters and a classic trajectory ensure another surefire, nerd-doc hit

By R. Emmet Sweeney

August 15, 2007

Delirious

DiCillo's latest a tired primer on the perils of a fame-obsessed culture

By Vadim Rizov

August 9, 2007

Rocket Science

Blitz's feature follow-up to Spellbound an almost complete delight

By Vadim Rizov

2 Days in Paris

Playful performances buoy Delpy's take on relationships and Paris' dreamy reputation

By Michelle Orange

August 8, 2007

Stardust

The stars aren't blind, but deafening and dumb in lackluster Gaiman adaptation

By Vadim Rizov

August 7, 2007

Descent

Rape-revenge fantasy's title also applies to the fate of its narrative

By Eric Kohn

August 2, 2007

The Ten

Uneven, sketch-y comedy a State of grace for absurdist fans

By Michelle Orange

The Bourne Ultimatum

Bourne again, with the same terse explosions and stand-out chases that hit the spot

By Vadim Rizov

August 1, 2007

Becoming Jane

Austen gets the Austen treatment in another impeccably mannered period charmer

By Michelle Orange

July 26, 2007

No Reservations

Mostly Martha remake's key ingredients get lost in translation

By Michelle Orange

This is England

A glorious collage of youth, hate and ideology in Thatcher's England

By Eric Kohn

July 25, 2007

No End in Sight

Iraq documentary burns through the fog of war with some awful truths

By Michelle Orange

July 18, 2007

Hairspray

A light touch and heartfelt conviction should woo-woo all but the brashest of cynics

By Eric Kohn

Sunshine

Few rays of light in Boyle's pseudo-sci-fi, cliché mash-up

By Vadim Rizov

Cashback

Cashback's inner Sundance comedy lost behind bathetic blather and aisle six T&A

By Vadim Rizov

Metropolis

Poised between dated camp and engrossing melodrama, Metropolis still demands attention

By Vadim Rizov

July 12, 2007

Interview

The hack and the actress square off in overplotted character drama

By Michelle Orange

Talk to Me

Silky biopic moves threaten to overshadow a bromance for the ages

By Michelle Orange

Time

Korean director Kim Ki-duk's latest puts the crazy back in crazy love

By Vadim Rizov

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Dramatically bloated and uneven, Potter the fifth impresses as a gothic visualization

By R. Emmet Sweeney

July 5, 2007

Rescue Dawn

Herzog's retelling of Dengler story conjures a moving if mixed surge of emotions

By Michelle Orange

Joshua

Polished but hollow horror tale succumbs to all ambiguity, all the time

By Vadim Rizov

Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman

Jennifer Fox's freedom isn't free in six-hour travelogue, dialogue and memoir-mentary

By Michelle Orange

July 3, 2007

Transformers

Michael Bay blows a sure thing with a Transformers surprisingly bereft of Transformers

By Matt Singer

June 28, 2007

Evening

Ms. Redgrave sends her regrets in melancholic, should-be melodrama

By Michelle Orange

June 27, 2007

Live Free or Die Hard

In striving for post-9/11 resonance, McClane's return becomes post-itself

By Eric Kohn

June 22, 2007

1408

Cusack and his demons get a room in tiresome thriller

By Matt Singer

Sicko

Moore expands his new American mythology with a look at the health care nightmare

By Vadim Rizov

June 21, 2007

A Mighty Heart

Mariane's version eerily entertaining but lacks passion, outrage and most crucially, her husband

By Michelle Orange

Evan Almighty

Quasi-religious comedy more marketing tool than movie

By R. Emmet Sweeney

Broken English

Zoe Cassavetes' feature directing debut riddled with coincidence and lonely-girl clichés

By R. Emmet Sweeney

June 14, 2007

Fido

Mismatched zombie flick inadvertently introduces the red herring to the genre

By Eric Kohn

June 13, 2007

Unborn in the USA

Alarming doc looks at how pro-lifers may be winning America's "war" on abortion

By Michelle Orange

June 11, 2007

Lights in the Dusk

Finland's best director limns the limitations of his own formula in "Loser Trilogy" capper

By Vadim Rizov

June 8, 2007

Let's Get Lost

Chet Baker documentary brings the pain, and not much else

By Vadim Rizov

Ocean's Thirteen

Third Ocean's installment a surprisingly elegiac regression for the fun-loving franchise

By Vadim Rizov

June 7, 2007

La Vie En Rose

Piaf-aganza fails to connect the dots between its biopic bullet points

By Michelle Orange

June 6, 2007

Belle Toujours

Oliveira's slender sequel a model of efficiency and barbed wit

By R. Emmet Sweeney

May 31, 2007

Crazy Love

Tabloid romance doc goes heavy on the "how," light on the "why"

By Eric Kohn

Knocked Up

Pregnancy comedy for bong-headed boys takes place in oddly conservative dreamworld

By Michelle Orange

Ten Canoes

Sneak attack on problems of ethnographic filmmaking fails to find its sea legs

By Vadim Rizov

May 30, 2007

Day Watch

High-flown sequel for Night Watch fans and devoted Russophiles only

By Vadim Rizov

May 25, 2007

Angel-A

Besson out of his depth in soggy redemption drama

By Vadim Rizov

May 24, 2007

Bug

Friedkin's dumb-at-heart thriller still a solid nerve-wracker

By Vadim Rizov

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Disney franchise's third installment a cynically incoherent spectacle

By Michelle Orange

May 23, 2007

The Boss of it All

A demented von Trier tonic breaks up his miserablist USA trilogy

By R. Emmet Sweeney

May 18, 2007

The Wendell Baker Story

Luke channels Owen (badly) in low-concept comedy

By Matt Singer

Fay Grim

Earnestness and parody at cross-purposes Hartley's Henry Fool follow-up

By Michelle Orange

May 17, 2007

Brooklyn Rules

A mobbed up drama with enough heart and personality to freshen a stale genre

By Michelle Orange

Severance

Weird genre fusion makes for an uneven but entertaining helping of "torture corn"

By Eric Kohn

May 11, 2007

The Ex

Braff/Bateman comedy delivers on its pure, dumb promise

By Vadim Rizov

May 10, 2007

Georgia Rule

Two good maternal melodrama performances stifled by turgid material, stiff execution

By Michelle Orange

28 Weeks Later

Surprisingly potent socio-political critique flips grisly bird at Bush administration

By Aaron Hillis

May 9, 2007

Day Night Day Night

Story of Times Square suicide bomber generates buzz around a void

By R. Emmet Sweeney

May 4, 2007

The Treatment

Big Apple yarn doesn't cop out with rom-com anti-intellectualism

By Eric Kohn

Away From Her

Polley finds grace with story of couplehood in a slow fade to white

By Michelle Orange

May 3, 2007

Spider-Man 3

Mega-budget franchise goes a little too heavy on the heart the third time around

By Matt Singer

Civic Duty

Facile showdown works best as director's Hollywood hack calling card

By R. Emmet Sweeney

April 27, 2007

Jindabyne

Less fun than a corpse in a lake, Jindabyne falls into finger-pointing vortex

By Michelle Orange

April 25, 2007

Election and Triad Election

Double trouble for fans of Johnnie To's revisionist gangster genre vehicles

By R. Emmet Sweeney

Zoo

Strangely arid vibe mars potential of horse-"loving" doc

By Eric Kohn

April 20, 2007

Stephanie Daley

Intensely observed character drama's challenge to its actresses met with riveting success

By Michelle Orange

Hot Fuzz

British genre geeks take on the buddy cop flick with scattershot results

By Vadim Rizov

April 19, 2007

Fracture

Old-school courtroom thriller finds most of its pleasure in Gosling's inspired puttering

By R. Emmet Sweeney

The Valet

Diverting in the best way, Veber's farce is so light on its feet it barely touches the ground

By Michelle Orange

April 12, 2007

Lonely Hearts

True crime remake a meaningless mash of clichés

By Vadim Rizov

Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis

Influential avant-garde artist ushered from oblivion by sober, inquisitive doc

By Eric Kohn

Private Fears in Public Places

Artful plotting and visuals not enough to sustain weirdly hermetic ensemble drama

By Vadim Rizov

April 6, 2007

The Hoax

Hallström calls half-hearted bullshit on Gere's literary hoaxster

By Michelle Orange

Grindhouse

Double trouble tribute to lost genre lovingly made -- and yet lazy in its reinvention

By Aaron Hillis

The TV Set

Pilot season satire's lack of ambition may be its saving grace

By Vadim Rizov

April 4, 2007

Black Book

Verhoeven's high-kicking espionage drama also a bitterly cogent revisitation of the Dutch resistance

By Michelle Orange

March 29, 2007

After the Wedding

Outrageous confluence of worst-case scenarios pushes Danish/Indian melodrama beyond the pale

By Vadim Rizov

The Lookout

Veteran screenwriter's directorial debut true to noir-ish, antihero form

By Michelle Orange

March 28, 2007

The Hawk is Dying

A midlife crisis is a midlife crisis, but a hawk is so much more than a hawk in leaden drama

By Vadim Rizov

March 22, 2007

Reign Over Me

Sandler steps up to nearly redeem scattershot 9/11 postlude

By R. Emmet Sweeney

Air Guitar Nation

Endearing characters and charming trash talk keep air guitar doc rocking

By Michelle Orange

Color Me Kubrick

Real-life Kubrick impersonator's story gets the feather-light farce treatment

By Michelle Orange

Journey From the Fall

Worthy cause meets confused effect in post-Vietnam POW drama

By Vadim Rizov

Offside

A soccer game provides fertile ground for examination of Iran's treacherous gender divide

By Eric Kohn

March 16, 2007

American Cannibal

Sublimely cynical look at the reality TV business may be too good to be true

By Michelle Orange

The Wind That Shakes The Barley

Ken Loach's IRA rebellion epic a study in how movements are made and unmade

By Vadim Rizov

I Think I Love My Wife

Rock's mainstream stab at depicting affluent black life suffers from a split-personality plot

By Vadim Rizov

March 9, 2007

The Namesake

Coming of age means coming to terms with ancestry in Nair's lovingly embroidered adaptation

By Michelle Orange

The Host

Korean deconstruction of the blockbuster offers powerful incitement, guiltless good fun

By Eric Kohn

March 7, 2007

Exterminating Angels

A director's innocence is at stake in cavalcade of onanism, hysteria and whorishness

By Michelle Orange

March 2, 2007

Black Snake Moan

Deep blues haunt Jackson and Ricci in stellar, sweltering Southern drama

By Vadim Rizov

Zodiac

Fincher's serial-killer opus goes long on details, falls short on intrigue

By Michelle Orange

March 1, 2007

Raise the Red Lantern

Vintage Zhang revival a reminder of how much has changed in 16 years

By Vadim Rizov

February 28, 2007

Into Great Silence

The lives of France's Carthusian monks gets the (extremely faithful) silent treatment

By Vadim Rizov

February 23, 2007

Gray Matters

Manhattan coming-out comedy brain dead on arrival

By Eric Kohn

The Taste of Tea

Character drama meets trippy clip show in Ishii's triumphant family saga

By Vadim Rizov

February 22, 2007

The Astronaut Farmer

Billy Bob's wannabe space cadet family drama keeps it light and pleasant

By Matt Singer

February 19, 2007

The Wayward Cloud

Taiwanese formalist turns in a fruit-fisting fever dream -- with a twist

By Vadim Rizov

February 15, 2007

Days of Glory (Indigènes)

Long-view history lesson about Algerians in WWII hits its mark

By Michelle Orange

Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams

A mother and daughter learn to be a family in the aching aftermath of war

By Michelle Orange

February 12, 2007

Bamako

African debt-relief courtroom drama too dogmatic and elusive for embrace

By Vadim Rizov

February 9, 2007

The Lives of Others

Two Good Germans meet at the corner of ethics and empathy in the GDR

By Michelle Orange

February 6, 2007

The Decomposition of the Soul

Former Stasi prisoners supply a fascinating, if insular, look at the shame of the GDR

By Eric Kohn

February 4, 2007

Factory Girl

Miller's performance nearly redeems messy, misbegotten Sedgwick biopic

By Michelle Orange

February 2, 2007

The Situation

Tangled Iraqi drama may have happened too soon for the filmmakers, not the audience

By Michelle Orange

January 30, 2007

An Unreasonable Man

Much-maligned Ralph Nader gets re-branded in absorbing documentary

By Michelle Orange

January 26, 2007

Smokin' Aces

Everyone loses in Carnahan's grisly mash of ultraviolence and pulpy underworld tropes

By Michelle Orange

January 24, 2007

Breaking and Entering

Minghella's morality play almost insulting in its soft-headed symmetry

By Michelle Orange

Shockproof

Fuller and Sirk have double vision in overlooked, auteur-proof collaboration

By Matt Singer

January 19, 2007

The Italian

In his first feature, Kravchuk traces an orphan's Russian arc with unabashed sentiment

By Michelle Orange

January 18, 2007

Eraserhead

Restored print showcases Lynch's masterpiece in all its shadowy glory

By Aaron Hillis

January 12, 2007

Tears of the Black Tiger

Campy melo-western Thais one on for genre dorks

By Vadim Rizov

God Grew Tired of Us

Three of Sudan's "Lost Boys" reinterpret the American Dream in affecting doc

By Eric Kohn

Alpha Dog

Cassavetes depicts true story as "edgy" orgy of snowballing stupidity

By Michelle Orange

January 4, 2007

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Surrealist fable one of the most visually compelling films in recent memory

By Eric Kohn

Miss Potter

Life of children's lit legend gets the white-glove treatment in Noonan's return

By Michelle Orange

December 29, 2006

Pan's Labyrinth

Six knock-out minutes redeem del Toro's mystical examination of the Spanish Civil War

By Vadim Rizov

The Tiger and the Snow

Dreamy Benigni schticks it up -- in Iraq

By Vadim Rizov

The Dead Girl

Joyless L.A. melodrama a host of dreary indie clichés

By Vadim Rizov

December 27, 2006

Notes on a Scandal

Dench and Blanchett deliver the giddy rush of a first-class face-off

By Michelle Orange

December 26, 2006

The Painted Veil

Norton and Watts battle cholera and each other in finely wrought Maugham adaptation

By Michelle Orange

December 25, 2006

Children of Men

Alfonso Cuaron's surprisingly cogent fable the activist achievement of the year

By Eric Kohn

December 22, 2006

The Good Shepherd

Untold story of the CIA a dry espionage drama of epic impassivity

By Aaron Hillis

December 21, 2006

Curse of the Golden Flower

Clumsy, impersonal spectacle may be the worst movie Zhang Yimou has ever made

By Vadim Rizov

December 20, 2006

Rocky Balboa

Punchy with self-reflexivity, Stallone swan song is unremarkable -- and that's a good thing.

By Eric Kohn

Letters From Iwo Jima

Eastwood's flip-side war epic ponders Japanese soldiers' choice between life and honor.

By Matt Singer

The Case of the Grinning Cat

Marker documentary a striking blend of lyricism and political commentary

By Eric Kohn

December 15, 2006

The Secret Life of Words

Silence is golden for Polley and Robbins in Coixet's strangely sensual drama

By Michelle Orange

Dreamgirls

Despite best intentions, Broadway adaptation resembles variety show with too many hollow acts

By Aaron Hillis

The Good German

There's a conceit to offend every movie-lover in Soderbergh's honorable failure

By Vadim Rizov

Home of the Brave

Hopelessly inadequate Iraq drama gunning for worst film of the year

By Vadim Rizov

December 14, 2006

The Pursuit of Happyness

Will Smith vehicle loses its ring of truth to the trappings of truthiness

By Aaron Hillis

December 13, 2006

El Topo

Jodorowsky's restored cult classic a singular experience to be had, not a story to be followed

By Aaron Hillis

The Mystery of Kaspar Hauser

Scathing comedy of manners is also Herzog's most affecting character study

By Eric Kohn

December 8, 2006

Blood Diamond

Disingenuous issue film manages to deliver solid action thrills

By Vadim Rizov

The Holiday

Studio cheese log's polished charms can't overcome paint-by-numbers plot

By Michelle Orange

Apocalypto

Gory, kinetic spectacle masks the flimsiness of Gibson's history lesson

By Michelle Orange

Off the Black

Vibrant screen chemistry doesn't quite burst Nolte melodrama's soapy bubble

By Eric Kohn

December 6, 2006

Inland Empire

Is David Lynch's Hollywood hall of mirrors meta-punking you -- or just misunderstood?

By Michelle Orange

December 1, 2006

The Nativity Story

Original star-crossed lovers flounder in dullest version of greatest story ever told

By Vadim Rizov

November 30, 2006

10 Items or Less

Morgan Freeman's vanity project 10 clicks or less from the Internet bargain bin

By Aaron Hillis

November 29, 2006

The Architect

Black and white family drama drags architectural metaphor all the way downtown

By Michelle Orange

November 22, 2006

The Fountain

Aronofsky's high-concept head-scratcher rewards viewers with rich visuals and profound poignancy

By Aaron Hillis

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny

Toothless rock franchise spinoff showcases manic Black in stoner comedy vacuum

By Vadim Rizov

November 21, 2006

The History Boys

Insightful, poignant stage adaptation patiently unfolds into one of year's best films

By Vadim Rizov

Déjà Vu

Washington and director Scott re-team for an entertaining if mistimed summer action exercise

By Vadim Rizov

November 17, 2006

Bobby

Liberal idealism of the 1960s gets an all-star cast in Estevez's comeback

By Vadim Rizov

Fast Food Nation

Linklater's adaptation of the famous exposé succumbs to its own earnestness

By Michelle Orange

Casino Royale

Daniel Craig brings freshness to Bond franchise; the script, unfortunately, does not

By Matt Singer

November 16, 2006

For Your Consideration

Loathing overtakes humor in Guest's send-up of Hollywood's awards frenzy

By Vadim Rizov

November 10, 2006

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus

Director Shainberg showcases Kidman's portrait -- at his subject's expense

By Michelle Orange

Stranger Than Fiction

Ferrell and Gyllenhaal lead a strong cast out of the meta-plot wilderness

By Michelle Orange

November 3, 2006

Volver

Cruz has the role of her career in Almodovar's hand-stitched, gentle giant of a film

By Michelle Orange

November 2, 2006

Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan

Continuation of boorish TV character's American journey an infuriating, bold comic experience worth having

By Eric Kohn

October 27, 2006

Babel

The lessons of Babel are clear; the lessons of Babel infinitely, infuriatingly less so.

By Michelle Orange

Catch a Fire

Noyce's well-crafted thriller contrasts the confidence of absolute power with the passion it takes to overthrow it

By Michelle Orange

October 26, 2006

Death of a President

Ambitious imagining of Bush's assassination could use a little sense of humor

By Eric Kohn

October 20, 2006

Flags of our Fathers

Eastwood crafts an austere, knowing film about the power of images and the work of the everyday soldier

By Matt Singer

The Prestige

Jackman, Johansson and Bale work their magic in Christopher Nolan's great thriller

By Michelle Orange

October 19, 2006

Marie Antoinette

Coppola's queen has everything she could want -- except for an emotional arc

By Matt Singer

October 18, 2006

Running With Scissors

Magnetic Bening can't save twee Burroughs adaptation from itself

By Michelle Orange

Sleeping Dogs Lie

Goldthwait's unholy blend of gross-out comedy and romantic comedy makes new film peculiarly riveting

By Vadim Rizov

October 13, 2006

Deliver Us From Evil

Wrenching documentary looks at a notorious priest and sexual abuse in the Catholic Church

By MIchelle Orange

October 12, 2006

Man of the Year

Old pros Levinson and Williams turn timely idea into thematic fire sale

By Michelle Orange

October 11, 2006

Infamous

The other Capote film is but a funhouse mirror alteration of its predecessor's droll routine

By Eric Kohn

October 6, 2006

Little Children

Powerful Winslet can't save Field's soapy suburban drama

By Matt Singer

October 5, 2006

The Departed

Style trumps substance in Scorsese's sordid all-star cop romp

By Eric Kohn

October 4, 2006

Wrestling With Angels

For all the merits of its subject, Kushner doc overstocked with hagiography

By Eric Kohn

October 3, 2006

Shortbus

Director Mitchell uses sex as the entry point -- and what he finds is uniformly poignant, lonely and exhausted.

By Michelle Orange

September 29, 2006

A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints

Queens native Montiel makes high-strung directing debut

By Eric Kohn

September 28, 2006

The Last King of Scotland

Messianic melodrama undercuts riveting Whitaker

By Michelle Orange

September 27, 2006

American Hardcore

Misty, watercolored memories of the way punk was

By Michelle Orange