Taken for what it is — and that includes a final third that comes with its own unique set of loopy, nonlinear terms — this followup from Precious writer-director Lee Daniels does just fine as a smutty sex-and-servitude potboiler that never bores. The 1969 murder of a small-town sheriff in …
A grown-up movie for kids, if by grown-up you mean gleefully cynical about human nature, fascinated with ugliness, and spiced with sexual references of varying heat. Perhaps it would be better to call it a movie that views kids as little more than miniature grown-ups; all the best gags land …
A nonstop joke machine (Billy Crystal) and his equally overbearing wife (Bette Midler) are forced to spend time with their work-obsessed daughter (Marisa Tomei), son-in-law (Tom Everett Scott), and a trio of estranged grandchildren, all of whom have Dr. Kevorkian on speed-dial. The set-up seemed idiot-proof: stick a pair of …
An unhappy, youngish wife opens her mouth and pours our her heart to her wounded, unconscious husband. Once the words start to flow freely, well, actions may follow.
According to the terms of his estranged father’s will, Chris Pine must deliver $150,000 in a shaving kit to Elizabeth Banks, the 30-year-old sister he didn’t know existed. Initially reluctant to hand over the cash to Dad’s hippie love child, Pine manages to become a major part of his sister’s …
Filmmaker (and former lawyer) Austin Vickers pleads his case on your behalf, hoping to get you sprung from whatever prison you’ve built for yourself. A jail term following a drunk-driving accident serves as an Everyman play for modern times and also illustrates the themes laid out by a parade of …
Eileen (Kathleen Turner) hopes to be Catholic Woman of the Year, even though she drops holy wafers on the church floor near her priest (Richard Chamberlain). Onward to douchebag humor! Eileen, torn up about her lesbian daughter (Emily Deschanel), starts to feel like a nun in hell. In Anne Renton’s …
A chef (Ewan McGregor) and an epidemiologist (Eva Green) fall in love while the world around them gives way to a sensory-depriving epidemic. Be it zombies or infectious plagues, an assault on the immune system has long been a staple of horror and melodrama. Not since Todd Haynes’s Safe has …
Author Stephen Chbosky adapted and directed this version of his bestselling young adult novel about Charlie (Logan Lerman), an emotionally damaged high school freshman who is lucky enough to fall in with a couple of senior step-siblings: the fabulously gay Patrick (a barely restrained Ezra Miller) and the adorable Sam …
Slavoj Zizek — you will no doubt remember him from The Pervert's Guide to Cinema — riffs his way into more erudite climes. Ideology! It sounds so...intellectual. But movies are still his mode of movement. So maybe the rest of us can play along.
An elegant, heartfelt, never-sappy salute to the late German choreographer Philippina “Pina” Bausch and her dancers. Veteran fan and auteur Wim Wenders uses 3-D superbly to put us inside intensely kinetic, body-stressing dances (most in short form). They can be a little retro-vanguard but are always vivid, witty, and/or beautiful. …
A sequel to the reboot, but not a reboot of the sequel to the original. Instead, a barely-there story (as opposed to the swimsuits, which are often not there at all) about piranha invading a tawdry water park. (Are there really other kinds?) It’s okay, though – you’re not here …
Aardman Animations makes a solid case for its brand of gussied-up claymation (contra the grandeur of Pixar and the flash of Dreamworks) with this story of a foppish swashbuckler who just wants to be Pirate of the Year. You could spend a good chunk of your time just studying the …
Senagalese men attempt to cross the ocean to Spain in an oversized rowboat. It's dangerous, but staying at home seems hopeless.
The problem: geek culture has ascended to the point where it's difficult to portray, say, college guys who do a capella renditions of pop songs as lovable losers who have to triumph over their own peculiarity to win the respect of their peers. Even if they're not the Big Men …