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Like Crazy: Young Love in the Age of Skype
Anna (Felicity Jones) is an aspiring journalist, a wee wisp of a girl come from Britain to study…
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J. Edgar: Leo DiCaprio as Closet-Case FBI Director
Clint Eastwood goes deep into Oliver Stone territory and emerges victorious with J. Edgar. Although hardly flawless, Eastwood’s…
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The Revenge of the Electric Car: Would You Like to Buy a Tesla?
I couldn’t get my parents to watch Who Killed the Electric Car?, Chris Paine’s indictment of the forces…
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Le Havre: A Return to Form for Aki Kaurismaki
Aki Kaurismäki’s Le Havre is something of a comeback for the Finnish filmmaker. His warmhearted comedy of underdog,…
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Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey: The Hand Beneath the Muppet’s Butt
Constance Marks’ documentary on Kevin Clash, the kind, gentle man who created the Muppet beloved by every single…
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Public Speaking: Fran Lebowitz Talks a Blue Streak
A butch Dorothy Parker with flashes of Wildean rhetorical flourish, Fran Lebowitz, the subject of this tonic portrait…
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Tower Heist: This All-Star Heist Flick Actually Ain’t Bad
A revenge of the have-nots playing on the clear class stratification of the luxury high-rise, Tower Heist pits…
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Oranges and Sunshine: Emily Watson Discovers an Adoption Scandal
Based on the true story of the collusion between British and Australian governments to illegally ship tens of…
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3: A German Love Triangle With a DNA Twist
Tom Tykwer’s new romantic triangle is a comedy with a genetic premise. One of its Berlin trio is…
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The Double: Richard Gere, Fire Your Agent
Michael Brandt’s post–Cold War spy film is grade-B hokum, but it’s not without its occasional generic thrills. Apparently…
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Puncture: An Important Medical Issue, Poorly Dramatized
Puncture is proudly “Based on a True Story.” As is so often the case, this means an indifference…
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The Skin I Live In: Pedro Almodovar Mixes Camp and Horror
The mad-scientist tale has remained more or less fixed since the beginning of sound cinema: From Dr. Frankenstein’s…
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Anonymous: A Pointless Elizabethan Thriller
Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, is the close-second candidate for authorship of the 37 plays of…
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Janie Jones: Abigail Breslin as Teen Country Crooner
Ethan Brand (Alessandro Nivola), front man for a small-venue alt-rock band about to splinter thanks to his drunken…
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Ne change rien: A Musical Salute to French Cabaret Star Jeanne Balibar
Pedro Costa, legendary for his intimate, epic, underlit, and often inaudible portraits of Lisbon slum dwellers, here ponders…
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The Rum Diary: Johnny Depp as Drunken Journalist
Written and directed by Bruce Robinson, The Rum Diary adapts a novel Hunter S. Thompson began in the…
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Finding Joe: Celebrating Joseph Campbell
There’s much to savor in director Patrick Takaya Solomon’s documentary about the life—but mainly the work—of the late…
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Weekend: Two Dudes Fall in Love
Naturalistic without being ineloquent, heartfelt yet unsentimental, Weekend is the rarest of birds: a movie romance that rings…
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Martha Marcy May Marlene: Out of the Cult and Into the Fire
As taut and economical as its title is unwieldy, Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene is a deft,…
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Margin Call: Kevin Spacey Confronts the Subprime Mortgage Crisis
Sure to be drowned out by the drum circles at Occupy Wall Street, writer/director J.C. Chandor’s lifeless Margin…