Film
Searching for Sugar Man: A Forgotten Musician Receives His Due
Fluid, open-ended documentaries that demand more of an audience than foregone assent or fleeting bouts of passive outrage…
Film
The Last Ride: Another Myth Is Added to Hank Williams’ Mythology
Country-music devotees will either love or hate this speculative account of the last three days in the life…
Film
The Green Wave: Iranian Youth in Revolt
Social media’s role in the would-be Iranian revolution of 2009 is by this point much hyped, but no…
Film
Celeste and Jesse Forever: Rashida Jones Writes Herself a Winning Role
Newly separated, Celeste (Rashida Jones) is told by her un-flamboyant queer co-worker (Elijah Wood), “It’s time get your…
Film
OC87: A Director Documents His Own OCD
A largely first-person documentary about living with a range of disorders, OC87 is also, in a sense, about…
Film
Compliance: We’re All Living in Abu Ghraib Now
After its Sundance premiere, Compliance might be infamous as the film that inspired a woman to cry out…
Film
Milos Forman: What Doesn’t Destroy You…: The Czech Director Deserves a Better Profile
After his Oscars for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus, the career of Czech-born director Miloš…
Film
Cosmopolis: Don DeLillo Is Well-Served by Robert Pattinson
Robert Pattinson’s casting as Eric Packer, a 28-year-old finance prodigy ensconced in a stretch limo on a 24-hour…
Film
The Odd Life of Timothy Green: Jennifer Garner’s Mommy Dilemma
“Lots of people hate anything that’s different,” says Cindy Green (Jennifer Garner) to her Pinterest/vision-board child Timothy (CJ…
Film
Old Goats: A Local Tale of Idle Geezers
Taylor Guterson, son of the local novelist David Guterson, turns an affectionate eye on Northwest geezer-dom in this…
Film
Splinters: Surfing and Sociology in the South Pacific
There is the expectation in a surfing movie that we should see plenty of wave-riding shots, those sun-bronzed…
Film
360: Rachel Weisz and Jude Law Spin in Circles
Is there something intrinsic to these wide-net, “We’re all connected” ensemble movies that makes their authors think they…
Film
Killer Joe: Matthew McConaughey Will Kill You Now
At one point in Killer Joe, based on Tracy Letts’ play, a hideously funny tabloid noir set on…
Film
Sleepless Night: A Taut French Crime Flick
Ingeniously simple yet deceptively intricate, this French police thriller abounds in post-Woo/Tarantino action tropes: the usual galloping gun…
Film
Julie Delpy Is Fighting Everything That’s Wrong With Movies
“My son is sick right now, covered in zits. It’s not contagious — I mean, it’s contagious, but…
Film
Rashida Jones Steps Out on Her Own
In terms of looks, charisma, and talent, Rashida Jones should have been a star a long time ago.…
Film
Unforgivable: An Overbearing Novelist in Venice
Unforgivable? Interminable is more like it. Veteran writer/director André Téchiné (The Witnesses, The Girl on the Train) employs…
Film
The Campaign: Zach Galifianakis vs. Will Ferrell
The Campaign begins with an onscreen quote attributed to Ross Perot: “War has rules. Mud-wrestling has rules. Politics…
Film
The Queen of Versailles: How the 1 Percent Crashes to Earth
Vividly bringing to life the question Don DeLillo poses in Cosmopolis—whether self-denial is a social responsibility—Lauren Greenfield’s new…