9 years ago
Theatrical (10 posts found)
Coming to a theater near you
“My Old Lady” A Largely Forgettable Endeavor In Spite of Its Cast
Dame Maggie Smith does the courtesy of giving us fair warning in the opening minutes of My Old Lady of her character’s introduction: “I’m 90,” she portents. “Subtlety is no longer something that interests me.” Nor too does it appear to interest Israel Horovitz...
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“Forrest Gump” Keeps Running Away
Forrest Gump is never sure of what it is or what it wants to be. Directed by Robert Zemeckis from a script by Eric Roth (reshaping Winston Groom’s novel), the film is an ungainly mix of cheap drama, unearned sentimentality, and questionable humor that asks the...
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“Last Days in Vietnam” Flattens the Fall of Saigon into Bland Apologia
A riveting tale told in the most pedestrian and unimaginative fashion possible, director Rory Kennedy’s Last Days in Vietnam squanders some stunning archival footage and a few heartbreaking interviews, flattening the Fall of Saigon into an oatmeal-bland apolog...
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“Rocks in My Pockets” An Encouraging, Delightfully Morbid Animated Memoir
Since the turn of the millennium, cartooning has exploded as a medium for autobiography. The acceptance of comic books as an art form and the possibilities offered by the Internet have made it possible for anyone halfway decent with a drawing tablet to become ...
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In “Frontera,” Border Crisis Blends With Melodrama
It's 2014, and there's still an immigration crisis brewing on America's borders. Considering that ours is a nation of immigrants, the ongoing dispute over illegal immigration and paths to citizenship is sort of mind-boggling. So kudos to Michael Berry for havi...
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“God Help The Girl” An Earnest, Trilling Songbird of a Movie
I’ll give God Help the Girl this much: while I can’t give it any love, it was at least able to make me feel bad for feeling that way. This is an adorable little trilling songbird of a movie, pretty and sweet. And it’s so, so earnest, sincerity radiating in wav...
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“Kelly & Cal” A Cozy Indie That Should’ve Been Pricklier
For those of us who came of age in the early 90s watching Juliette Lewis’ wackadoo wild-child performances --from Cape Fear to Natural Born Killers and beyond– it’s pretty much impossible to imagine her as somebody’s mom. The amusing central conceit of Kelly &...
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“Wetlands” A Spectacularly Septic Laugh- and Cringefest
Finally a film that addresses the age-old, burning, itching question: Can romance exist in the wake of an anal fissure? Opening in U.S. cities this month like a fresh, gaping wound is Wetlands, a spectacularly septic coming-of-age story from Germany that revel...
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The Elmore Leonard Adaptation “Life of Crime” Fails to Impress
Back when I was moving to the Big City, the first movie I unpacked was Jackie Brown. I escaped the towers of boxes, piles of bags, and unassembled IKEA furniture to get lost in the darkly funny and surprisingly human caper based on the Elmore Leonard novel Rum...
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“As Above, So Below” Will Make You Wish You Were In Hell
The great worth of horror cinema lies in the lessons it teaches us: don’t have underage sex, don’t have casual sex, don’t have casual underage sex, and don’t go wandering around in dark, forbidding places. Ever. This last one feels especially important because...
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