Hell Ride

This grindhousey biker film, executive-produced by Quentin Tarantino, is a convoluted, overly snazzy-looking tale of bad blood between even worse people.

"...enough at the best of times in our post-Pulp Fiction world, but Hell Ride – a grindhousey biker flick..."

Aug. 8, 2008 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Under the Same Moon

The film's parallel stories of a mother and son seeking each other across geographical divides is never more than one small step away from mawkishness and cliché – but as a sociological study, it’s fascinating.

"...reunite with his mother. As a work of dramatic fiction, Under the Same Moon isn’t anything to ring bells..."

March 21, 2008 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

Starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman, and directed by the writer of Stranger Than Fiction, Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium has whimsy coming out of its ears.

"...is writer/director Helm, the creator of 2006’s Stranger Than Fiction, which was also whimsical but had the common decency..."

Nov. 16, 2007 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

Love in the Time of Cholera

Funny when it’s supposed to be serious and awkward when it’s supposed to be romantic, every twist in this Gabriel García Márquez adaptation is a near miss, except for the performance of Javier Bardem.

"...both one of the most romantic heroes in modern fiction (Florentino Ariza in Love in the Time of Cholera)..."

Nov. 16, 2007 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Martian Child

Only in Hollywood can a movie about alien children be boring, although the terrific performances of John Cusack and Bobby Coleman help redeem this predictable mush.

"...film follows David (Cusack), a widower and successful science fiction author who decides to adopt a 6-year-old boy (Coleman)...."

Nov. 2, 2007 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Day Watch

The second in a Russian science-fiction trilogy is a fantastic sight to behold, but don't try explaining the plot.

"...Galina Tyunina, Victor Verzhbitsky and Dima Martynov. This Russian science-fiction film is the middle work in a planned trilogy..."

June 15, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Other Conquest

This amazing-looking Mexican epic is a work of historic fiction by a first-time filmmaker, and focuses on the aftermath of the takeover in 1519 of the Aztec empire by Spanish conqueror Hernando Cortés.

"...Conquest (La Otra Conquista) is a work of historic fiction that focuses on the brutal aftermath that followed the..."

May 11, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Last Mimzy

Solid performances elevate this mild but hardly magical children's sci-fi story.

"...state-of-the-art visual voodoo and are likely to disappoint the science-fiction aficionados. Curiously, The Last Mimzy is directed by New..."

March 23, 2007 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Wild Hogs

John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, and William H. Macy star as middle-aged friends who seek life's purpose while on a cross-country motorcycle trip.

"...Urban Cowboy and even the cool killer from Pulp Fiction are hazy memories amid his over-the-top performance from the..."

March 2, 2007 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

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.

"...the Yellow Dog blurs the line between documentary and fiction and, in doing so, creates its own singular dramatic..."

Dec. 29, 2006 Movie Review by Josh Rosenblatt

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus

From the director and writer of Secretary comes this odd fictional biopic about this photographer's impulses.

"...photography studio. And from here, the story spins its fiction. Interesting cinematic moments flicker past in the colorful fashion..."

Dec. 8, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

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.

"...remember Zahedi’s breathtaking high-wire act that combines fact and fiction, drama and self-deprecating humor, honesty and self-delusion, home movies..."

June 23, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Lake House

This tale of magical realism has potential for delightful originality, but the Sandra Bullock-Keanu Reeves love story lacks heat and the science fiction premise spirals into senselessness.

"...delightful originality, the love story lacks heat, the science fiction premise spirals into senselessness, and the third-act twist is..."

June 16, 2006 Movie Review by Toddy Burton

Doogal

A clunker if there ever was one, Doogal is so mind-numbingly incoherent that parents and children alike will stare dazedly at the movie screen wondering what the heck is going on.

"...freeze the world is peppered with references to Pulp Fiction, pop songs, and – yes – the occasional flatulence..."

March 3, 2006 Movie Review by Steve Davis

Date Movie

What's left to spoof? Why, romance movies, of course.

"...you came in second in the annual Bulwer-Lytton Bad Fiction Contest. And having Date Movie on your résumé? That’s..."

Feb. 24, 2006 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Les Saignantes

This Cameroonian-French science fiction satire with Godardian influences is as fascinating as it is obscure.

"...Abossolo M'bo. AFS@Dobie Les Saignantes is a Cameroonian-French science fiction satire with Godardian intertitles that is as fascinating as..."

Feb. 24, 2006 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Juarez: Stages of Fear

This film is a passionate if clunky cri du coeur for the kidnapped and murdered women of Juarez, Mexico – a silent epidemic of as many as 450 crimes in the last 10 years.

"...to the subject, but Alejandro is more of a pulp-fiction storyteller. Thus the film follows an American businessman (Penn)..."

Dec. 9, 2005 Movie Review by Marrit Ingman

Get Rich or Die Tryin'

The film story of Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's tough road to success is so melodramatic that if it weren't real it would be laughable.

"...great, riotous bouts of melodrama that if it were fiction it’d be laughed off the screen, or possibly adopted..."

Nov. 11, 2005 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Assisted Living

Greenebaum's superstylized first feature attempts to mesh fiction with nonfiction while remaining a narrative, and it attempts to do it almost entirely in the confines of a nursing home, entirely in one day.

"...understandable. Greenebaum's superstylized first feature attempts to mesh the fiction with the nonfiction while remaining a narrative, and it..."

April 8, 2005 Movie Review by Shawn Badgley

The Manchurian Candidate

Is it Gulf War syndrome or justified paranoia? The Manchurian Candidate thrills again.

"...the new film’s ending coda and the brain-drilling science fiction aspects, are less successful transpositions. Nevertheless, this new Manchurian..."

July 30, 2004 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Good Bye, Lenin!

Popular German comedy generates nostalgia for the pre-unification years.

"...videotaped newsreel footage with his buddy that creates a fictional Germany of the imagination – a fantasy that may..."

April 9, 2004 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

AKA

Eighteen-year-old Brit from an unhappy background re-invents himself as a member of the aristocracy. He's also working out his gay identity. And it's told in triptyches, too.

"...Camille Sturton. Profoundly interesting yet rarely compelling, this semiautobiographical fiction from British writer-director Duncan Roy is an unconventional work...."

March 5, 2004 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Big Fish

Tim Burton is all grown up and getting serious.

"...at his father’s deathbed determined to separate fact from fiction in the stories of his father’s life. It’s all..."

Dec. 26, 2003 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Rules of Attraction

Roger Avary does Bret Easton Ellis.

"...Writer/director Roger Avary (Killing Zoe and co-writer of Pulp Fiction) is up to his old stylistic tricks here in..."

Oct. 11, 2002 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

The Kid Stays in the Picture

"...Evan's own whiskey and cigarette husk, part truth, part fiction, and all legend. It's hardly impartial -- if you..."

Aug. 16, 2002 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Vanilla Sky

"...Möbius strip of murder mystery, horror, and ultimately science fiction, before coming to rest with a dull clatter where..."

Dec. 14, 2001 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

The Monkey's Mask

"...Cherchez la femme: That's rule No. 1 in detective fiction, n'est-ce pas? So even Down Under, the lesbian private..."

Oct. 12, 2001 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

Original Sin

"...by many people as the father of noir crime fiction. Among the more than 25 films adapted from his..."

Aug. 3, 2001 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Cats & Dogs

"...real-world dog-gone cases is anyone's guess, but in the fictional world of Cats & Dogs that's the way things..."

July 6, 2001 Movie Review by Marc Savlov

Bread and Roses

"...comes so swiftly that it could only occur in fiction. Bread and Roses presents a slice of life that..."

June 1, 2001 Movie Review by Marjorie Baumgarten

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