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Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame: Tsui Hark’s Comeback
Tsui Hark’s visually sumptuous Detective Dee is a strong comeback for the veteran Hong Kong wuxia-maker. Magnificent and…
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Drive: Ryan Gosling as Chivalrous Psycho
As stripped-down and propulsive as its robotic title, Drive is the most “American” movie yet by Danish genre…
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Amigo: John Sayles’ Imperialist Prologue in the Philippines
John Sayles’ Amigo aspires more to educate than entertain, but it’s no less engrossing for that. Torn from…
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Magic Trip: An LSD Trip Best Avoided
The subject of Magic Trip is the LSD- powered, cross-country road movie orchestrated by novelist Ken Kesey in…
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Into Eternity: More Nukes, More Waste, More Fear
Danish artist Michael Madsen’s Into Eternity documents an anti-monument to negativity. Admirably forward-thinking, if undeniably quixotic, Finland’s government…
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Terri: Can John C. Reilly Save This Teen?
Directed by Azazel Jacobs, Terri concerns an obese 15-year-old, a de facto orphan, living in a ramshackle home…
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City of Life and Death: The Rape of Nanjing, Recounted Again
Lu Chuan’s City of Life and Death has the title and the feel of a monument. This wide-screen,…
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Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives: The Latest Strangeness From Apichatpong Weerasethakul
The acme of no-budget, Buddhist-animist, faux-naive, avant-pop magic neorealism, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee is a movie in which…
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Super 8: J.J. Abrams Creates a Nifty Sci-Fi Mystery
A big-bang demolition derby, J.J. Abrams’ much-anticipated, greatly enjoyable Super 8 seems bound for box-office glory. Set in…
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Le Quattro Volte: Deep Into the Soul of Italy
Grave, beautiful, austerely comic, and casually metempsychotic, Michelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quattro Volte is one of the wiggiest nature…
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Meeks Cutoff: Michelle Williams Searches for Oregon
Tenacious indie Kelly Reichardt has specialized in quirky, minimalist quasi–road movies in which loners come unmoored in some…
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Cave of Forgotten Dreams: Werner Herzog’s 3-D Adventure!
One of the few justifiable recent excursions into 3-D, Werner Herzog’s new documentary charts a secret wonder of…
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Certified Copy: Juliette Binoche in a Hall of Mirrors
Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy is exactly that: The Iranian modernist’s first feature to be shot in the West…
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Cold Weather: Mumble-Noir in Portland
Aaron Katz’s Portland-set junior detective mystery stakes a claim as the founding work of mumble-noir. The 29-year-old director’s…
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Kaboom: Scooby-Doo With Sex, Drugs, and Tattooed Hotties
As spacey as its title suggests, Gregg Araki’s latest youth film is an occult mystery set in the…
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The Woodmans: True Believers in the Church of Art
Precocious, ambitious, and deeply disturbed, photographer Francesca Woodman committed suicide in 1981 at the age of 22; her…
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Cedar Rapids: John C. Reilly Is the Devil!
Miguel Arteta’s amiable Cedar Rapids is a mild comedy of embarrassment, set in the dark heart of Middle…
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The Eagle: Channing Tatum Discovers the Limits of Rome
Directed by Kevin Macdonald, this adaptation of a 1954 historical novel about second-century Roman legions and youthful derring-do…
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The Illusionist: Jacques Tati Lives! (As a Cartoon)
Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist breathes life into a celluloid fossil, lovingly animating an unproduced script by the great…
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The Green Hornet: Seth Rogen’s Star Vehicle Turns Crime Fighter Into Jerk
Only inertia will bring people to Michel Gondry’s new 3-D spectacle. Opening amid persistent negative buzz in the…