Washington as subterranean hero.

Film

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3: Where’s Walter Matthau When We Need Him?

Want to know how a city works? Start by watching 1974’s The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,…

OSS 117: Lost in Rio

Film

SIFF Week 4: Picks and Pans

Wednesday, June 10 7 p.m., Harvard Exit The Fortress One of several films about illegal immigrants in Europe…

Murphy has no time for Shahidi.

Film

Imagine That: Eddie Murphy Taps Into the Parent Market

Eddie Murphy is Evan, a Denver investment consultant with a workaholic schedule that leaves little space for 7-year-old…

‘Shroom hunter Larry Evans.

Film

Know Your Mushrooms: Go to Uwajimaya Instead

No, don’t. And neither does this inane documentary by leftie director Ron Mann (Grass) know anything significant or…

Peña hacks the system.

Film

Sleep Dealer: Welcome to El Matrix

Science fiction easily lends itself to allegory, but while the dystopian near-future of co-writer/director Alex Rivera’s feature debut…

Cute can’t save Krasinski and Rudolph.

Film

Away We Go: Dave Eggers’ Movie Not a Work of Staggering Genius

The first original screenplay by hipster lit-world phenom Dave Eggers is, much like his 2001 memoir A Heartbreaking…

Zagar looks for inspiration.

Film

In a Dream: Obscure Artist Gets Lost in Process

“I’m fascinated by giganticness,” reveals Santa-bearded mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar, whose compulsive, nearly half-century-long mission to create candy-colored…

Vardalos: Good for the Greeks?

Film

My Life in Ruins: Why Does Nia Vardalos Hate Greece?

Substitute “career” for “life” in the title of this stillborn travelogue comedy, and you’ll have a succinct verdict…

Motoki (left) learns about local customs from Takashi Sasano.

Film

Departures: The Surprise Oscar Winner Ain’t So Awful

Trailing mostly justified ill will for having trounced the critical favorite, Waltz With Bashir, for Best Foreign Film…

Galifianakis: the man we’d like to be.

Film

PICK The Hangover: We Heart Zach Galifianakis

Old School fans, remove your earmuffs: This messy, raunchy farce about three groomsmen (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach…

Against the Current

Film

SIFF Week 3: Picks & Pans

By Brian Miller and SW Staff

Ferrell hates bugs! Bugs!

Film

Land of the Lost: Will Ferrell Chases the Lunchbox Demo

Notwithstanding all the boomer studio executives who grow misty-eyed recollecting nerdy childhoods parked in front of the Krofft…

Zombies of Mass Destruction

Film

SIFF: Axis of the Undead: Zombies Invade Kitsap!

How an Oscar-nominated producer and first-time director made a gore-soaked satire of post-9/11 America.

You see: Liberal values lead to cannibalism.

Film

Axis of the Undead

How an Oscar-nominated producer and first-time director made a gore-soaked satire of post-9/11 America on the Kitsap Peninsula.…

Matsumoto in non-heroic mode.

Film

Big Man Japan: Life Ain’t So Super for This Superhero

Hitoshi Matsumoto, half of a legendary Japanese comic duo, debuts as a big-screen director/star with this goof on…

Old man Carl keeps the movie grounded.

Film

PICK Up: Pixar’s Winning Streak Continues

First of all, Up is not a movie about a cranky old coot who, with the help of…

Justin Long's Mac can't save him here.

Film

PICKDrag Me to Hell: Sam Raimi Makes a Welcome Return to His Roots

Often a drifting virtuoso in the years before finding his Spider-Man gig, with Drag Me to Hell director…

Binoche joins the Assayas clan.

Film

PICK Summer Hours: Fresh From SIFF, a French Family’s Foibles

With Summer Hours, director Olivier Assayas stages a tactical retreat from the hookers and junkies of his Boarding…

Small Crime

Film

SIFF Week 2: Picks & Pans

By Brian Miller and SW staff

Two decades later, Tomlinson returns to the scene of a groovy gathering.

Film

SIFF: Children of the Revolution: Two New Docs Wrestle With the Old Hippie Idealism

After the peace movement of the ’60s, hippies became a tarnished brand, even a scary one. The alternative…