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Review: Up In the Air

Flight pattern: Reitman takes a familiar turn
No director pulls off the bait-and-switch as craftily as Jason Reitman. He gets you thinking that you're watching a hip, caustic comedy subverting the status quo, but by the end, he's vindicated all the platitudes he seemed to scorn.

By PETER KEOUGH | December 02, 2009

Review: Z (1969)

Z lives on 40 years later
John F. Kennedy wasn't the only political leader murdered in 1963. On May 22 of that year, Gregoris Lambrakis, a left-leaning, pacifist member of the Greek parliament and an aspiring presidential candidate seeking to replace the reigning right-wing government, was assaulted after a peace rally in Thessaloniki. He died five days later.

By PETER KEOUGH | December 01, 2009

Review: Defamation

Documentary takes on anti-Semitism
Yoav Shamir, a young Israeli documentarian, goes off to America and Eastern Europe with a camera and a question: is anti-Semitism an important concern today for Jews, or are those anxious about it being unduly paranoid?

By GERALD PEARY | December 02, 2009

Review: The House of the Devil

The '80s revival hits the horror genre
Have you walked near a college campus lately? You might notice that the ’80s are creeping into fashion, the way the ’70s did a few years back, and with the same lack of irony. It’s happening in cinemas, too — something that’s not entirely unwelcome when it comes to the horror genre.

By BRETT MICHEL | December 02, 2009

Review: Julia

Tilda Swinton goes crusty
When the once-æthereal muse of the late Derek Jarman wiped sweat from her armpits in Michael Clayton , a new persona was born.

By PETER KEOUGH | December 02, 2009

Review: Pandora and the Flying Dutchman

1951 melodrama fails to convince
In this soupy 1951 romantic melodrama, Ava Gardner plays Pandora, a self-loathing vixen who toys with the affections of sundry panting males while waiting without hope for her real love to appear.

By GERALD PEARY | December 02, 2009

Review: The Strip

Springs from the format of The Office like a blurred reproduction from a bad copy machine.
In lieu of Steve Carell’s hopelessly inept and earnest manager, we have his creepier duplicate, Glenn. Instead of the boorish brown-noser played by Rainn Wilson, there’s the more obnoxious Rick.

By PETER KEOUGH | December 02, 2009

Review: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Knight of the Iguana: Nicolas Cage at his best
Nicolas Cage is at his best in Bad Lieutenant

By PETER KEOUGH | November 24, 2009

Review: The Road

No country for all men: John Hillcoat doesn't stray from Cormac McCarthy's Road
John Hillcoat doesn't stray from Cormac McCarthy's Road For those who found the Coen Brothers' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men too lighthearted, John Hillcoat's relentlessly faithful version of the author's post-apocalyptic Pulitzer-winning novel might hit the spot.

By PETER KEOUGH | November 24, 2009

Review: Red Cliff

John Woo returns east
Hong Kong auteur John Woo hit commercial and artistic pay dirt in the US with Face/Off , his loopy Nicolas Cage/John Travolta neo-noir, but once he’d directed Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible II , was there anywhere left to go?

By BRETT MICHEL | November 25, 2009

Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Welcome to the Dahl-house
In The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Wes Anderson excelled at telling adult stories with childlike whimsy. Telling children’s stories with adult whimsy is another matter.

By PETER KEOUGH | November 25, 2009

Review: The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Like you'll even be able to hear anything over all the shrieking
Chris Weitz comes on board to direct Twilight ’s hotly awaited sequel, New Moon , but the second bite doesn’t sate quite like the first. Bella (Kristen Stewart) celebrates her 18th birthday with vampire boyfriend Edward (Robert Pattinson); when she gets a paper cut at the party.

By MADDY MYERS | November 23, 2009

Review: Old Dogs

Might be time to hang 'em up
Director Walt Becker re-teams with his Road Hogs star and apparent muse John Travolta for another execrable entry in the aging boomer buddy “comedy” genre.

By ALICIA POTTER | November 25, 2009

Review: Oh My God

Ringo Starr, authority on religion
If Michael Moore can bring in Wallace Shawn as an economics expert, I guess director Peter Rodger can enlist Ringo Starr as an authority on religion in his worldwide search for an answer to the question “Who is God?”

By PETER KEOUGH | November 25, 2009

Review: Ninja Assassin

A real bloodbath
So much blood splashes across the screen in James McTeigue’s martial-arts madness, you’d think the human body consisted of nothing but.

By TOM MEEK | November 25, 2009

Review: Precious

Purple's prose makes for wrenching melodrama
If you thought Celie in Alice Walker's The Color Purple had a tough time of it, wait till you get a load of Precious.

By PETER KEOUGH | November 18, 2009

Review: The Messenger

The Iraq War hits suburbia
The Iraq War hits suburbia

By SHAULA CLARK | November 17, 2009

Review: The Blind Side

Despite what you may think, it's not a Sandra Bullock movie
It’s tough for any self-respecting critic to refrain from joyously tackling a Sandra Bullock movie — so it’s a good thing The Blind Side isn’t one.

By CHRIS FARAONE | November 17, 2009

Review: Bronson

Tom Hardy is mesmerizing
From Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn comes a fantasy bio-pic of Britain's notorious Charlie Bronson, a larger-than-life character who, after swiping his identity from Charles Bronson transformed from bare-knuckle prizefighter into "Britain's most violent prisoner."

By SHAULA CLARK | November 17, 2009