Film
Oscar-Nominated Shorts 2012: As Usual, the Cartoons Are Best
This year’s shorts offer a little something for every viewing temperament, though some categories require sitting through a…
Tim Grierson
Film
Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Animation and Live-Action
The live-action entries are a diverse mix. The clear winner of the pack is writer/director/star Luke Matheny’s God…
Film
PICK Absurdistan: A Nonstop Charm Machine
A droll comic fable about a water shortage, a battle of the sexes, and the teenage lovers caught…
Film
PICK Coraline: A Stop-Motion Wonderland
If Alice in Wonderland were retold by the Mad Hatter, it might look something like the 3-D, stop-motion…
Film
PICK 2009 Academy Award-Nominated Shorts: 10 Films, Half of Them Good
Don’t expect all 10 entries here, divided into the live-action and animated categories, to be mini-masterpieces. Nonetheless, there’s…
Film
PICK Pray the Devil Back to Hell: More Bad News From Africa
Some political documentaries suffer from overselling the urgency of their agenda, but director Gini Reticker’s Pray the Devil…
Film
Bedtime Stories: Adam Sandler Bores Us
In his usual underdog role, Adam Sandler palys a lowly Los Angeles handyman recruited by his sister (Courteney…
Film
Dark Streets: Like Chicago Without the Star Power
So obsessed with mimicry it’s practically a tribute band of a movie, Dark Streets throws copious amounts of…
Film
The Other End of the Line: Bollywood Attempts a Crossover
This meager cross-cultural romantic comedy stars Jesse Metcalfe as ultra-smooth New York advertising executive Granger and Bollywood actress…
Film
Nights in Rodanthe: Diane Lane, Still Cougar-Hot
Nights works so strenuously to satisfy its target audience’s every desire that it’s a minor surprise that the…
Film
Henry Poole Is Here: Luke Wilson wants to die
Henry Poole is dying. Diagnosed with an unspecified fatal disease, Poole (Luke Wilson) retreats into the numbing sunniness…
Film
The Stone Angel: Ellen Burstyn overcome by Canadian flashbacks!
A stubbornly affecting drama that’s far stronger in its quieter moments, writer-director Kari Skogland’s adaptation of the late…
Film
Street Kings: Keanu Reeves Kicks Ass, Takes Names, Bores Us
Though conceived as yet another sobering frontline report on law enforcement’s ever-expanding gray area, director David Ayer’s grim…
Film
Control: Joy Division Return From the Grave
Rock films come in two forms. The first is the concert/documentary variety, the best of which dynamically pinpoint…
Film
The Final Season: Ex-Hobbit Stars in Small, Pleasing Baseball Tale
Formulaic but not cynical, The Final Season has some sweet, thoughtful passages in what is otherwise just one…
Film
Great World of Sound: Music Swindlers Sell Their Souls
Unemployed and living with his artist girlfriend, Pam (Rebecca Mader), in Charlotte, N.C., rudderless Martin (Pat Healy) takes…
Film
Casting About: 184 Alternatives to La Lohan
With its sterile anonymity and forced intimacy, it’s hard not to think of the audition room as an…
