The Cave of the Yellow Dog

Shot on location in Mongolia with a real nomad family, The Cave of the Yellow Dog blurs the line between documentary and fiction and, in doing so, creates its own singular dramatic language.

"...It passes like a reverie, slow and contemplative, the camera sitting back like a respectful anthropologist who’s content to..."

Dec. 29, 2006 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

The Holiday

Nancy Meyers’ follow-up to Something’s Gotta Give mines the same go-girl terrain but is far less interesting, featuring stock characterizations and a blandly upbeat vibe.

"...will do the bump and laugh uproariously, and the camera will trickle backward out of a snowy window. If..."

Dec. 8, 2006 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Shut Up and Sing

The Dixie Chicks' struggle with the conflicting demands of art and commerce as portrayed in this documentary shows that they're still not ready to make nice.

"...of art and commerce is ready-made for this director's camera. The film also captures the sustaining friendship that gets..."

Nov. 17, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Marine

WWE wrestling champion John Cena makes his film debut in this action film.

"...maelstrom of gunfire, explosions, car chases, fistfights, and action-movie camera trickery, as Triton takes out the kidnappers one by..."

Oct. 20, 2006 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

Zen Noir

A hard-boiled detective investigates a murder at a Buddhist monastery.

"...a world of deep-breathing, symbolic hallucinations, and freshman-year film-school camera tricks. To top things off, Zen Noir looks like..."

Oct. 13, 2006 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

The Protector

Thai martial arts star Tony Jaa, who made a strong stateside impression in the recent Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior, stars in this follow-up action picture, that plays like an invigorating Free Willy with elephants.

"...incredible skill, both behind and in front of the camera. In one virtuoso set-piece, an uninterrupted steady-cam shot follows..."

Sept. 15, 2006 Movie Review by Brian Clark

Crossover

The story of the friendship and contrasting paths to success of two natural ballplayers, both of whom appear to be too old to be playing teens, Crossover tries hard but never makes the leap.

"...his ark.) Whitmore tries out all sorts of zappy camera edits, yet when it comes to filming a basketball..."

Sept. 8, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Little Miss Sunshine

Like any indie comedy worth its weight in quirkiness, Little Miss Sunshine is packed with offbeat characters, all struggling to find meaning in life – in this case on a road trip to a children's beauty pageant. And the film is so much fun, it's almost impossible not to enjoy the journey.

"...six-member family. But while precisely stylized use of the camera evokes a boldness reminiscent of The Graduate or early..."

Aug. 11, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Step Up

This snooty-dancer-meets-street-dancer musical romance is so painfully intent on teaching its characters life lessons every few minutes that it forgets to be trashy.

"...WB. Hollywood choreographer Fletcher makes the jump behind the camera but displays a greater aplomb for staging than drama,..."

Aug. 11, 2006 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Wassup Rockers

Larry Clark, the director of Kids, is back 10 years later with this look at a group of teenage male Latinos in Los Angeles who have more than the usual difficulties finding somewhere to fit in.

"...his focus to the other coast and points his camera at an exclusively male group of 14 to 16-year-old..."

July 14, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

I Am a Sex Addict

If you leave the theatre with that awkward too-much-information feeling after peering into the director's self-exposed psyche, you will also remember his high-wire act that combines fact and fiction, drama and self-deprecating humor, honesty and self-delusion.

"...of heterosexual sex and blow jobs enacted for the camera. But here, especially, Zahedi’s humor and distancing tactics help..."

June 23, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Racing junkies would be better off browsing the many online drifting videos in which the camera doesn't cut and the people don't speak.

"...off browsing the myriad online drifting videos where the camera doesn't cut and the people don't speak. Film buffs..."

June 16, 2006 Movie Review by Brian Clark

Clean

With an award-winning performance by Maggie Cheung, Clean is one of the most emotionally honest movies about drug addiction ever made.

"...change. Capturing the subdued drama is Assayas’ fluidly moving camera (by DP Eric Gautier) that hunts for the interesting..."

June 2, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Duck Season

Despite being a movie about youthful inertia among some Mexico City adolescents stuck at home by themselves, Duck Season is squirmy, restless and avidly visual.

"...its characters struggle to achieve and maintain momentum, the camera stays desperately trapped in its one interior location, literally..."

March 24, 2006 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Private

This Italian film presents a modern parable about a Palestinian family, whose home in the West Bank is abruptly taken over by Israeli soldiers.

"...its premises. Private is shot with a hand-held DV camera that gives most of the action that jittery vérité..."

March 10, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Tristan & Isolde

This new version of the timeless love story is a dopey, mopey, all-around bore.

"...T&I’s canned grape); cinematographer Artur Reinhart dinges everything his camera glances upon (the battle scenes are a mess of..."

Jan. 13, 2006 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

The Producers

The film's wonderfully over-the-top performances often feel constrained by first-time film director Susan Stroman, whose inexperience behind the camera is all too apparent.

"...by first-time film director Stroman, whose inexperience behind the camera is all too apparent. While it would have been..."

Dec. 30, 2005 Movie Review by Steve Davis

Naked in Ashes

This documentary follows a group of spiritual voyagers through a series of pilgrimages and trips to Indian ashrams and holy festivals in order to create a portrait of the yogi life.

"...nonfiction to suggest a strong creative presence behind the camera. Fouce lets the yogis speak for themselves about why,..."

Nov. 25, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Three ... Extremes

This lush and horrific anthology film from three of the finest craftsmen working today – Fruit Chan, Chan-wook Park, and Takashi Miike – is an instantly memorable and squirm-inducing assemblage.

"...backed by a trove of talent both behind the camera and in front of it. Fruit Chan’s opener, "Dumplings,"..."

Oct. 28, 2005 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Everything Is Illuminated

An amusing road trip through Ukraine leads to epiphanies of history and memory in actor Liev Schreiber's only partially illuminating adaptation of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel.

"...Liev Schreiber, who in his first turn behind the camera shows a warm sensitivity toward his characters and their..."

Oct. 14, 2005 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Tony Takitani

This adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s eponymous short story is a delicate little curio, lighter than air and gravely philosophical at once.

"...Sakamoto’s exquisite tea-room piano score and filmed in a floating-camera mise-en-scène that surveys its cast of two like figurines..."

Oct. 7, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

Burton's best work in ages is eye candy of the highest order and as eminently watchable as a hilltop Halloween pyre or a Día de los Muertos parade run amok.

"...It’s also arguably Burton’s most self-assured turn behind the camera in ages. Since his last truly great film, 1994’s..."

Sept. 23, 2005 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

À Tout de Suite

Shot in jittery black-and-white 16mm, this French film's on-the-fly aesthetic captures the shiftlessness of bourgeois youth and some of the spirit of the French New Wave.

"...a person’s life. As such it’s fascinating stuff. Jacquot’s camera loves Le Besco – her swishy hair, the Botticelli..."

Sept. 23, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

The Island

If you like Maxim, you'll love this latest from adrenaline fiend Michael Bay.

"...which would be interesting if Bay weren’t flinging the camera around hyperactively in every single shot. One virtual-reality fight..."

July 22, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Rize

Celebrity photographer David LaChapelle casts his lens toward the newest L.A. dance craze.

"...often seems more photo shoot than film as LaChapelle’s camera fixates on the gyrating bodies tossing off beads of..."

July 1, 2005 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Torremolinos 73

In this comedy set in Seventies Spain, a married couple makes porn movies for Scandinavian consumption.

"...decidedly quaint in their lovemaking, whether it’s for the camera or for each other. The film’s central conceit, which..."

June 24, 2005 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Mondovino

Sprawling documentary about the globalization of the wine industry is ambitious but frequently directionless – for true connoisseurs only.

"...Nossiter hits the ground running – with a spastic camera to prove it – and rarely slows down in..."

June 10, 2005 Movie Review by Kimberley Jones

Les Choristes

A box-office smash in its native France, this kindly and spirited film doesn’t exactly break the mold of the heartwarming, humanistic boarding-school dramedy.

"...rise above his circumstances, makes an impression with his camera-ready cheekbones and angelic voice. (Evidently "JB" is something of..."

May 20, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

House of Wax

An occasionally creepy but mostly rote remake of the 1953 horror classic, with some putatively clever jibes at a certain high-profile hotel heiress.

"...at a certain high-profile hotel heiress (involving a video camera, of course, and a box full of cell phones..."

May 6, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Bride & Prejudice

This Jane Austen adaptation takes the Bollywood out of India and leaves us something too familiar.

"...practically everything you could stuff in front of a camera, with the possible exception of Rip Taylor throwing confetti...."

Feb. 25, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

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