Film
Land of the Lost: Will Ferrell Chases the Lunchbox Demo
Notwithstanding all the boomer studio executives who grow misty-eyed recollecting nerdy childhoods parked in front of the Krofft…
Film
Angels & Demons: Tom Hanks Banishes Evil From the Vatican
At the tail end of The Da Vinci Code, having traipsed around scenic Paris and London for over…
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Shall We Kiss?: The Problems of the French
If they’re French, even dweebs get to lounge around tastefully beige Paris interiors clutching long-stemmed glasses of merlot…
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The Soloist: Jamie Foxx Battles With Inferior Script
An old-fashioned tale for a newfangled world, Joe Wright’s overwrought drama turns on a series of columns begun…
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Everlasting Moments: Ma Joad With a Nikon
Lovely to look at but too slow to get lost in, Jan Troell’s new movie is a tribute…
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Two Lovers: Joaquin Phoenix Falls Hard for Gwyneth Paltrow
If Joaquin Phoenix, who plays a lovelorn bachelor in James Gray’s Two Lovers, were 12 years old, the…
Film
PICK The Class: French Schoolroom Drama Deserves Its Oscar Nom
Compare and contrast Laurent Cantet’s terrific The Class with Mr. Holland’s Opus and Dangerous Minds. Note the structural…
Film
Hes Just Not That Into You: Nor We With the Movie
The smirky, overbearing, and subliminally hostile romantic primer He’s Just Not That Into You—which sold a regrettable two…
Film
Defiance: James Bond Saves the Jews
Will there be a special Academy Award for Best Aryan Costume Design this year? Everywhere you turn in…
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The Reader: Kate Winslet Likes the Little Boys
Like Doubt, Stephen Daldry’s The Reader is low-budget, high-profile, and beamed straight at the Academy of Motion Picture…
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The Tale of Despereaux: Adorable Animated Mice
Kate DiCamillo’s 2003 children’s novel about a big-eared mouse with an inspiring case of shining-knight envy is one…
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Doubt: Meryl Streep Scares the Devil Out of Us
Back in the early 1980s, when I was a graduate student in Boston, a prominent professor I knew…
Film
Australia: Nicole Kidman Versus the Kangaroos
You don’t have to have been raised on colonial Brit Lit, classic melodramas, Westerns or war movies, or…
Film
PICK Bolt: John Travolta Goes to the Dog
Like every other kids’ movie coming off the studio line these days, the charming and well-crafted animated feature…
Film
Ive Loved You So Long: Would You Trust Kristin Scott Thomas With Your Kids?
As Juliette, a Frenchwoman newly released from prison, Kristin Scott Thomas is so relentlessly unbending, so full of…
Film
The Unknown Woman: An Execrable Italian Snuff Film
Remember Giuseppe Tornatore, who made the overrated but harmlessly cute Cinema Paradiso, about the grumpy projectionist who made…
Film
Changeling: Angelina Jolie Makes a Desperate Oscar Bid
Rescued from a City Hall junk heap by journalist-turned-screenwriter J. Michael Straczinski, this 1928 true tale of a…
Film
The Secret Life of Bees: Weve Had Enough of Dakota Fanning Already!
From its attention-grabbing B-movie beginning, this family drama (based on the bestselling novel by Sue Monk Kidd) chugs…
Film
What Just Happened: Robert De Niro Cast in Mirthless Hollywood Satire
Jaw-droppingly arcane and dripping with self-regard, Barry Levinson’s tedious excuse for a Hollywood caper asks us, as if…
Film
Rachel Getting Married: Anne Hathaway Has a Filthy Mouth
Those who believe that Jonathan Demme went all soft with Philadelphia and never recovered may not be reassured…