The Finest Hours

Perfect effects and performances made this sea-rescue movie a dandy

"...disastrous storm in 1952, The Finest Hours ends up being not terribly memorable but considerably more exciting than you..."

Jan. 29, 2016 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Get on Up

As James Brown, Chadwick Boseman captures the performer's voice, moves, sweat, and swagger, but this biopic, as a whole, needs a stronger compass.

"...This being a biopic in the tradition of Ray and Walk..."

Aug. 1, 2014 Movie Review by William Goss

Enough Said

James Gandolfini and Julia Louis-Dreyfus co-star in this delicate, uncommon picture of middle-aged new love.

"...from first dates and false starts: “I’m tired of being funny.” Gandolfini's Albert, a gentle giant in dad jeans,..."

Sept. 27, 2013 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

House at the End of the Street

This scary-house movie starring Jennifer Lawrence is a strictly middling nonshocker.

"...fled into the woods and was given up for dead. Beggars can't be choosers, though, and Sarah's dad is..."

Sept. 28, 2012 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

AFF: Diagnosing Why 'Harold's Going Stiff'

Keith Wright explains the anti-zombies of his domestic drama

"...The best zombie movies use the flash-craving undead as a shambling gateway to metaphor, like consumerism in..."

Oct. 26, 2011 Screens Post by Richard Whittaker

Magic Trip

This doc about Ken Kesey's famed bus goes all over the place but never seems to end up anywhere all that revelatory.

"...semi-accompanying audio) is, indeed, a trip. Here they are being pulled over by the cops and snarking their way..."

Sept. 16, 2011 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Source Code

These strangers on a train are players in a gripping science fiction roundelay.

"...of the initial bombing in the guise of the dead man Sean in a desperate bid to determine where..."

April 1, 2011 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Biutiful

Javier Bardem earned an Oscar nod for his performance in this grim but poetic Spanish drama.

"...and there with his ability to communicate with the dead. There is also his bipolar wife Marambra (Álvarez), from..."

Jan. 28, 2011 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Dinner for Schmucks

Corporate climbers get their schadenfreude on in this new Steve Carell comedy.

"...– aren't even human or even, really, characters. They're dead prop mice: stuffed, costumed, and posed in tiny, dramatically..."

Aug. 6, 2010 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Killing Kasztner

This documentary is about the little-remembered figure Rudolf Israel Kasztner, who negotiated with Adolf Eichmann for the release of 1,700 Jews from Hungary, only to later be castigated for Nazi collaboration.

"...actress – she survived George Romero's Dawn of the Dead – and she appears to have developed a taste..."

May 7, 2010 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Gentlemen Broncos

With this new film, Jared Hess elicits none of the naive charm or flagrant silliness of his earlier movies, Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre.

"...Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre. Their lucky streak stops dead in its tracks, however, with their new comedy, Gentlemen..."

Nov. 6, 2009 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

The director of Doom takes on another video-game franchise, this time one about a female martial artist seeking justice.

"...the gutter and end up with a neon-streaked, hyper-saturated, dead sexy action-adventure film. So it boggles the mind that..."

March 6, 2009 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

This third Pirates outing is an empty vessel haunted by the ghosts of its sabre-rattling betters.

"...on the joke, of course, the gag in question being Depp's portrayal of the pirate Jack Sparrow as Keith..."

June 1, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Lucky You

This romantic drama is set against a Las Vegas background and stars Eric Bana and Drew Barrymore, but it rolls snake eyes all the way.

"...to walk away from every game in Lucky You dead broke. He haunts the casinos of his native Las..."

May 11, 2007 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

28 Weeks Later

This continuing story of a populace that fears infection from a "rage virus," forges ahead with panic-paced sequences of graphic, random violence.

"...life, things are much, much worse now. London is dead, and the zombified hordes have eaten everyone in sight..."

May 11, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Running Scared

Wayne Kramer's follow-up to his crime drama The Cooler has no moral compass, and swings wildly out of control while blanketed in hyper-violent digital gore effects and a thick, black nausea of the soul.

"...armed with dull knives and well-thumbed copies of Sartre's Being and Nothingness. It's not just a bad movie –..."

March 3, 2006 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

Although the film hasn't the distinctive fingerprints of Eternal Sunshine director Michel Gondry, Chappelle's party is nevertheless a fun blast of impromptu musicmaking, filmmaking, and comedy.

"...great performances by Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Kanye West, Dead Prez, Jill Scott, the Roots, and a reunited Fugees...."

March 3, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

An Unfinished Life

An Unfinished Life never transcends its simple storyline to charter original ground, but it’s the kind of movie you can’t fault too terribly much, primarily because its heart seems to be in the right place.

"...number of themes, with the healing power of forgiveness being the most prominent of them. The film’s principal conflict..."

Sept. 16, 2005 Movie Review by Steve Davis

The Reckoning

A traveling troupe of actors in medieval England stumble upon a mysterious murder and end up single-handedly inventing the morality play.

"...Father Nicholas as he lights out for the forest, being in trouble with his flock thanks to some ill-advised..."

April 2, 2004 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Out of Time

Denzel does a Southern-fried potboiler.

"...if you don’t normally think of those two as being more or less in the same ballpark (and most..."

Oct. 10, 2003 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Cold Creek Manor

Dennis Quaid and Sharon Stone are home alone in a haunted house in this film that was not screened before press time.

"...hell, a crumbling Southern manse complete with rusting playscapes, deadly swimming pools, and a mysterious tenant in the attic...."

Sept. 26, 2003 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Dancer Upstairs

"...Nicholas Shakespeare. The great running gag in Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovich was that everybody recognized the actor’s name..."

May 16, 2003 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

A Mighty Wind

Christopher Guest and his recurring cast of players give Sixties-era folk music a gentle poke in the ribs.

"...Like previous efforts from Guest and company, Wind is dead-on, lampooning gee-whiz minstrel singers ("Ramblin’ Sandy Pitnik and the..."

May 9, 2003 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

Colombani's debut features a finely nuanced and altogether striking performance by Tautou, whose wide eyes adroitly reflect an inner world that ricochets from hopelessly in love to simply hopeless.

"...brigade, it might well have come under fire for being borderline misogynistic. As it is, though, Colombani pulls a..."

March 7, 2003 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Daredevil

"...of his face (OK, 80% smug-free); Garner, for her dead sexy mix of attitude and adrenaline; and the grunting,..."

Feb. 14, 2003 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Dragonfly

"...routine thriller that uses kids as a conduit for dead people to commune with the living -- in this..."

Feb. 22, 2002 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Domestic Disturbance

"...Domestic Disturbance has that base covered, in addition to being loaded down with some of the postmodern attributes of..."

Nov. 2, 2001 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Megiddo: The Omega Code Two

"...film, which contains graphic images of Middle East warfare, dead Arabs, terrorists, and other Biblically inspired mayhem perhaps best..."

Sept. 28, 2001 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Almost Famous

This sweet, amiable, and knowing coming-of-age tale is Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical boyz-to-men story about how he grew into the role of a rock & roll journalist in 1973.

"...whenever William finds himself stuck between rock and a deadline. Bangs' mantra to William is to “be honest and..."

Sept. 22, 2000 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Fantasia

"...Comics approach to the Great Books, the end result being a product desired by kids and grown-ups alike. Yet..."

June 23, 2000 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

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