Movies

Review: Spread

God, is it uncomfortable
If only there were some way to watch a con-artist houseboy give his cougar sugar mama a squirming reach-around, charm the pants off a candy-necklace string of countless empty-eyed Hollywood stick figures, lose his heart to an untouchable social chameleon, and, in the process, find himself .

By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | August 19, 2009

Review: GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra

If only they'd brought Mr. Potato Head into the mix.
In the hands of director Stephen Sommers, who did better with the Mummy series, Joe looks like a cheap video game brightened by good actors.

By TOM MEEK | August 13, 2009

Review: Bandslam

Where the Disney Channel and MTV2 intersect
This Todd Graff film suggests a year's worth of Degrassi plots squished into one overcomplicated bouillon cube.

By SHAULA CLARK | August 12, 2009

Review: Ponyo

Visually stunning, but leaves you shaking your head
In a film like Spirited Away (2001), Hayao Miyazaki takes flight and creates his own seductive animated universe. When tied to a Disney fable about the environment and true love, he lurches from cliché to myth to things that just leave you shaking your head.

By PETER KEOUGH | August 12, 2009

Review: Cold Souls

Paul Giamatti can't heat up Cold Souls
What if human souls were as interchangeable as hearts, kidneys, movie concepts, and auto parts? Writer/director Sophie Barthes's feature debut toys with the notion, but instead of breaking new ground, Cold Souls settles for rehashing elements from other films.

By PETER KEOUGH | August 17, 2009

Review: District 9

Apartheid gets the sci-fi treatment
You have never seen anything like District 9 — or so went the early buzz for Neill Blomkamp's feature-length directorial debut. The concept is the stuff nerdgasms are made of: a vérité sci-fi thriller set in an alternate-reality South Africa where 2.5 million Cthulhu-faced bug aliens crash-land into human society and a zillion boffo explosions ensue.

By SHAULA CLARK | August 12, 2009

Review: A Perfect Getaway

Well-crafted, entertaining pulp
David Twohy's film may be pulp, but it's well-crafted, entertaining pulp.

By JEREMY MASSLER | August 13, 2009

Love, truth and videotape

Paper Heart wears its heart on its sleeve
Is there anything more heartwarming than watching a little girl officiating at the marriage of two of her favorite dolls? Is there a purer form of love than the kind that a pre-pubescent might project onto the union of a plush Miss Piggy and a put-upon Kermit the Frog?

By BRETT MICHEL | August 10, 2009

Review: Adam

Sensitive and subtle
As opposed to what happens in most films about mentally challenged characters, the protagonist of Max Mayer's debut feature does not regress into a stereotype. Instead, he shows by contrast how stereotyped all the other characters are.

By PETER KEOUGH | August 06, 2009

Review: Aliens in the Attic

No amount of shitty CGI can save it
As a kid, I was absurdly unpicky about my entertainment: shoddy '80s anime , reruns of This Old House , staring cross-eyed at our basement's pegboard wall to achieve a Magic Eye 3-D effect — these were all totally acceptable ways of whiling away an afternoon.

By SHAULA CLARK | August 04, 2009