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Southland Tales: Richard Kelly Scrambles the Future
Richard Kelly shoots the moon with his rich, strange, and very funny sci-fi social satire. The political phantasmagoria…
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Love in the Time of Cholera: Bardem Gets a Pass for This Stinker
Easily the worst adaptation of a major novel by a Nobel Prize–winning author. Easily. Director Mike Newell (Harry…
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Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium: Natalie Portman Keeps Her Clothes On
Writer-director Zach Helm’s amiable but nerveless kids’ movie about a 243-year-old toy-store owner (Dustin Hoffman in shell-shocked hair,…
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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…
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No Country for Old Men: Javier BardemScariest Haircut Ever!
“Hold still”–it’s what the hunters say to the hunted in the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men.…
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Holy Modal Rounders: Bound to Lose: Acid Casualties Persevere
Every musical-footnote band eventually gets the documentary it deserves, and this ragged, affectionate chronicle suits the forgotten acid-folk…
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King Corn: Death on the Cob!
Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis can trace their roots back to a couple of patches of Iowa soil…
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Fred Claus: Vince Vaughn Will Scare Your Kids
Vince Vaughn delves into the preteen demo, hoping that parents will enjoy the added value of seeing their…
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Lions for Lambs: Professor Redford Leads Seminar on Untarnished Idealism.
Less a war drama than a set of dueling position papers, Robert Redford’s Lions for Lambs may be…
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Music Within: Ron Livingston Lifts a Mighty Load of Earnestness
There’s no disputing the sincerity with which Steve Sawalich tells the true-life tale of Richard Pimentel, the man…
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P2: At Last! A Movie About Parking!
After being KO’d in the underground parking garage of her Manhattan office building, Angela (Rachel Nichols), a workaholic…
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Crossing the Line: What Kind of a Jerk Would Defect to North Korea? Oh
In 1962, U.S. Army Pvt. James Dresnok walked north across the Korean demilitarized zone, firing upon his own…
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The Bubble: Gay Sex in the Holy Land!
Eytan Fox continues his exploration of Israeli and Palestinian queer identity in The Bubble, a favorite from SIFF…
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Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten: More Alive Than Anything on the Radio Today
Julien Temple’s engrossing portrait of the late Clash frontman uses snippets of everything from Raging Bull to an…
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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…
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Quixotic: Cervantes Meets Digital Video
There are no windmills, only wind—and trees and grass and sunlight extinguishing the dawn—in writer-director Albert Serra’s extraordinary,…
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Terrors Advocate: Learning to Love Pol Pot
Anyone wishing to ponder the origins and fate of the European New Left, as well as the development…
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In Between Days: Behold the Bold, Beautiful, Melancholy Stasis of Life!
In Between Days is instantly compelling. Dwarfed inside a fur-rimmed parka, a young girl trumps through snow, her…
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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…
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Soldiers of Conscience: Iraq War Still Sucks, According to Troops
More even-handed than you might expect, this SIFF 2007 documentary about conscientious objectors in the U.S. military doesn’t…