Film
Water Lilies: French girls discover sex
The camaraderie of the undesired: Invisible to everyone else, pinched, late-blooming Marie (Pauline Acquart) pairs with Anne (Louise…
Film
The Wackness: Ben Kingsley kissing Mary-Kate Olsen? Fine. Then theres the movie
A mixtape of clichés. Writer-director Jonathan Levine takes cuts from a dozen or more “life-affirming” coming-of-age melodramas and…
Film
Gunnin for That No. 1 Spot: Adam Yauch presents his own Hoop Dreams
Beastie Boy Adam Yauch’s sports documentary concerns a phenomenon proliferated by the broadband age: premature national sports stardom…
Film
The Fall: Gorgeous international nonsense
Something like a pain-fueled, R-rated Princess Bride, The Fall straddles the intertwined worlds of storytelling and story. One…
Film
The Forbidden Kingdom: Jackie Chan in Dreads!
The plot is pure choose-your-own-adventure: A bullied wuxia fanboy from South Boston (Michael Angarano) is teleported back into…
Film
Chaos Theory: Is Ryan Reynolds the New George Clooney?
Who can lift the American screen comedy from a vast muck of sniggery boner gags and crap-pop bricolage?…
Film
Sex and Death 101: Just Rent Heathers Instead
Writer-director Daniel Waters, who scripted Heathers eons ago, inexplicably keeps gigging. Here, the name of the game is…
Film
The Singing Revolution: Everything You Wanted to Know About Estonia But Were Afraid to Ask
The title refers to the Estonian independence movement, incubated through the country’s stifled years as a Soviet satellite,…
Film
Lost in Beijing: Chinese Babies Are Up for Sale
Two modern couples of distant social strata convene at crotch-level in Lost in Beijing. Lin Dong (Tony Leung…
Film
Penelope: Christina Ricci as Porcine Sex Symbol
“A Fairy Tale Like No Other”? Penelope‘s influences are right up front—there’s the Tim Burton production design…
Film
Persepolis: Abba Versus the Mullahs!
Persepolis is a small landmark in feature animation. Not because of technical innovation—though it moves fluidly enough and…
Film
First Sunday: Tracy Morgan Cashes Easy Paycheck
LeeJohn (Tracy Morgan) is the screwup-schemey one; Durell (Ice Cube), the should-know-better buddy. Their latest very awful…
Film
Revolver: Guy Ritchie Meets Deepak Chopra
For any high-fivin’ “Movies for Guys Who Like Movies” bros hoping for the Guy Ritchie of yore,…
Film
Holly: Ron Livingston Says No to Child Sex Trafficking
Shot concurrently with a “raising awareness” documentary on child prostitution in Southeast Asia (by the tellingly named Priority…
Film
Finishing the Game: Bruce Lee, Still Dead
It’s 1973. The dirt has barely settled on Bruce Lee’s grave, and the exploitation rush is on. A…
Film
Darfur Now: Don Cheadle Wants Your Guilt, Charitable Donations
Can-do pep is the resonant key in Ted Braun’s profile of six individuals, spread across three continents, working…
Film
Khadak: Mongolia Looks Great, but Not So Dramatic
Bagi (nonprofessional Batzul Khayankhyarvaa) is a young Mongol herder sharing a yurt with his depleted family on their…
Film
We Own the Night: Joaquin Phoenix Stars in a Straight-Ahead Cop Flick
Of a generation of filmmakers who all wanted to be the next Scorsese, James Gray was different: He…