Shrink

A well-chosen cast props up this otherwise shallow story that stars Kevin Spacey as a therapist who turns to pot in the wake of a personal crisis.

"...but maybe that’s a faithful replication of the psychiatric experience: a quiet shutting of the barn door once the..."

Aug. 14, 2009 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

In the Loop

In the Loop is a scabrous and funny study of how an offhand remark by a career politician can metastasize into an international conflict and, ultimately, war.

"...sabers. Both are shocking and awfully, giddily exhilarating to experience in this deliciously bleak, black political satire from British..."

Aug. 14, 2009 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Sin Nombre

Winner of dual awards for directing and cinematography at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, this immigrant drama is suffused with gritty realism, poetic imagery, and melodramatic hokiness.

"...that add nothing to our understanding of the border-crossing experience. Despite the unevenness of the ride, however, the memory..."

April 17, 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.

"...comedy (e.g., JCVD). Director Bartkowiak has had some previous experience helming video-game-inspired crap action films (Doom), but the former..."

March 6, 2009 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Page Two: Inertia, Inverted

It isn't the outside world but oneself that most often determines the nature of experience

"...pleasure of Books on Tape, I finally managed to experience the miles racing by the whole time...."

Jan. 9, 2009 Column by Louis Black

Girl Talk's Gestalt

Gregg Gillis and his monster mash-up brain

"...cannot be distinguished from one another. It’s this dual experience that raises his music above the novelty that defines..."

Oct. 20, 2008 Music Post by Austin Powell

Flow: For Love of Water

Documentary about the degradation of the world’s water supply through environmental indifference, chemical irresponsibility, mass privatization, and corporate chicanery.

"...of us probably should; it isn’t the most enjoyable experience you’ll have at the movies this year, but I..."

Oct. 17, 2008 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

August Evening

This quiet, contemplative gem of a film paints a painfully accurate portrait of familial love, loss, and healing-by-degrees among the migrant communities bordering San Antonio.

"...of the film's two leads had any previous acting experience. Castaneda, who was nominated for a Film Independent Spirit..."

Oct. 10, 2008 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Edge of Heaven

This Turkish film is a transgenerational, transborder microcosm of modern cultural melding.

"...and all reflecting some part of the modern cross-cultural experience, both in Old Europe and the soon-to-be-New Europe. It’s..."

Sept. 19, 2008 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

The Magic of Mushrooms

Study participants say a hallucinogenic experience has increased their sense of well-being

"...64% of the study participants say that the hallucinogenic experience has increased their sense of well-being, Johns Hopkins University..."

July 7, 2008 News Post by Jordan Smith

Speed Racer

The Wachowski brothers' hyperbolic film is supersaturated with outrageously eye-popping visuals, but there's nary an honest emotion in sight.

"...unspoken, vaguely transgressive joke is that their Speed Racer experience – I just can't bring myself to call this..."

May 9, 2008 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Ott Taps More Fort Worth Talent

Anthony Snipes named city chief of staff

"...with Snipes back in Cow Town; he says "His experience in the city government will be a vital asset..."

May 8, 2008 News Post by Wells Dunbar

The Band's Visit

A lost band of Egyptian musicians from a police orchestra find refuge with some Israeli townspeople.

"...the night, if for no other reason than to experience something different. On paper, The Band’s Visit sounds like..."

March 7, 2008 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

Ott Names Own Assistant City Manager

Ott names Robert Goode new ACM.

"...engineering and operations. “Robert Goode brings a wealth of experience to the City of Austin and a fresh perspective..."

Feb. 28, 2008 News Post by Wells Dunbar

Cloverfield

Cloverfield is a pure-blood, grade A, exultantly exhilarating monster movie in the grand tradition.

"...Cloverfield so memorable and such a genuinely riveting filmgoing experience has less to do with the creature itself, whatever..."

Jan. 18, 2008 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Julian Schnabel's unorthodox but true story about a protagonist who is stripped of all self-movement and expression is equal parts reverie, despair, and social experiment.

"...a stunning visual sense that blurs the line between experience and memory, between desire and reality; a bottomless well..."

Jan. 11, 2008 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

30 Days of Night

This film's high-concept stroke of genius lies not with its vampire clan but with the setting: a tiny Alaskan hamlet where nightfall indeed lasts all month.

"...tiny hamlet of Barrow, Alaska, where residents do indeed experience the title's lengthy nightfall. On the eve of this..."

Oct. 19, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Kingdom

Initially, The Kingdom seems like it might be another of this season's politically charged movies, but it actually plays more like an explosive episode of CSI: Riyadh.

"...half of The Kingdom does not sufficiently sour the experience of watching it, then the film's closing sentiments about..."

Sept. 28, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

No Reservations

While No Reservations is no Big Night, it's surprisingly winsome in parts, by virtue of Catherine Zeta-Jones' performance, and a romantic fable that lingers on the palette of the mind's eye.

"...may have more to do with the culturally fraught experience of watching a tautly Teutonic, perfectionist German foodie defrost..."

July 27, 2007 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The TV Set

David Duchovny and Sigourney Weaver star in this dyspeptic drama about the work of creating television shows.

"...fart jokes and catchphrases. Clearly wanting his audience to experience some of the pain he must have felt at..."

May 4, 2007 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

I Think I Love My Wife

Who would have ever guessed that Chris Rock would be the guy to film an American remake of Eric Rohmer's meditation on fidelity, Chloe in the Afternoon?

"...his meditations on triviality that break open the human experience with comic pathos. Onetime SNL regular, Rock is known..."

March 23, 2007 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Dreamgirls

Dreamgirls is an infectious experience of sequins and songs that lives up to the hype. Opens Monday.

"...group loosely modeled on the Supremes, is an infectious experience of sequins and songs that lives up to the..."

Dec. 22, 2006 Movie Review by Steve Davis

The Nativity Story

Sadly, this familiar tale is presented with a yawn-inducing neutrality more reminiscent of a community-center Christmas pageant than an epic story of divine humanity.

"...Castle-Hughes gives such a stone-faced performance, it’s difficult to experience the humanity of the person. Despite her charming breakout..."

Dec. 1, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

For Your Consideration

Although it attempts to skewer Hollywood, this new comedy from Christopher Guest, and his loyal troupe of improv actors doesn’t have even a drop of affection for its characters.

"...right. But it makes for a remarkably unpleasant movie experience, like you’re being forced to wallow in a dark..."

Nov. 24, 2006 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

13 (Tzameti)

This first feature by Georgian-born French immigrant, Gela Babluani, marks a memorable debut: It's a taut and stylish thriller despite its brutal psychological duress.

"...into thinking it discloses all the story’s surprises.) We experience the story much as, Sébastien does, seizing a mysterious..."

Nov. 3, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Flicka

Girls and their horses. They're grist for this new update of Mary O'Hara's beloved novel My Friend Flicka.

"...and absence of genuine emotion result in a moviegoing experience that involves a lot of eye-rolling. Lohman has a..."

Oct. 27, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

The Departed

Watching this new film by Scorsese is tantamount to falling in love with the director all over again.

"...say about the Irish mob, or how their immigrant experience echos that of their Italian counterparts in New York,..."

Oct. 6, 2006 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

School for Scoundrels

Although it stars Billy Bob Thornton and Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder and is jam-packed with multitalented comedians and stars, School for Scoundrels is just not funny.

"...movie and is as eager to get through the experience as the audience will be. Roger enrolls in Dr...."

Sept. 29, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Jackass: Number Two

Strange as it may be to say, Jackass: Number Two is just the kind of vicarious excitement for which the movies were invented.

"...the heart of what moviegoing should be about: shared experience – of fear, humor, dread, disgust, pity, wonder –..."

Sept. 22, 2006 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

The Science of Sleep

Michel Gondry's film is messy, confusing, painful, and ultimately, thanks in no small measure to the unfettered talents of Gael García Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg, utterly rewarding.

"...nighttime interludes, which makes for a truly trippy moviegoing experience. It's messy, confusing, painful, and ultimately, thanks in no..."

Sept. 22, 2006 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

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