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BETSY SHERMAN

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Review: Identity Thief

Seth Gordon directs this funny, though formulaic, mismatched-duo comedy in which Jason Bateman's straight-laced family man must nab Melissa McCarthy, the identity thief who has ruined his credit, and haul her from Florida to Denver for prosecution.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | February 20, 2013

Review: Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary

Brief encounters
For this year's program of Oscar-nominated documentary shorts, it's best to bring tissues. Things can get emotional.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | January 30, 2013

Review: The Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action and Animated

Highlights of the live-action shorts include the beautifully direct performances by Somali refugees in "Asad," a contemporary story (with folkloric undertones) of a boy who wants to be a pirate; the del Toro–esque fantasy setting of "Death of a Shadow"; the blend of dark comedy and gritty drama in the New York story of a little girl and her black-sheep uncle, "Curfew"; and the warmth of memory giving way to cold reality for an elderly man in "Henry."

By: BETSY SHERMAN | January 30, 2013

Review: A Liar's Autobiography

Graham Cracked
The discovery of tapes of Graham Chapman reading from his 1980 A Liar’s Autobiography has made it possible for the expired Monty Python member to star, posthumously, in his own biopic.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | January 25, 2013

Review: Parental Guidance

Billy Crystal and Bette Midler star in what could have been a decent comedy, if director Andy Fickman hadn't made it such a tearjerker.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | January 02, 2013

Review: Les Misérables

For his adaptation of the kitsch-fest known as Les Miz, Tom Hooper ( The King's Speech ) bets heavily on his cast, and mostly wins.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | December 20, 2012

Review: The Guilt Trip

Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand make a snappy comic duo in this road movie about a tetchy mother-son relationship.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | December 20, 2012

Review: Possession

A Cold War of body and soul is waged in this 1981 English-language horror film by Polish director Andrej Zulawski, set in a nearly deserted Berlin.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | November 12, 2012

Review: Alex Cross

The level of writing in Alex Cross is inferior to that of your fourth-favorite TV cop show.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | October 24, 2012

Review: Somewhere Between

Upon her adoption of a Chinese baby girl, filmmaker Linda Goldstein Knowlton wondered how, in years to come, her daughter would view her racial identity.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | October 18, 2012

Review: Beloved/Les bien-aimés

Christophe Honoré's melodramatic excesses
For the musical drama Beloved , writer-director Christophe Honoré's melodramatic excesses are tempered by the subtle performances of his leading ladies.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | September 11, 2012

Review: Planet of Snail

Overcoming physical challenges
Patience is a necessity in the lives of Young-chan, a man who's been deaf and blind from a young age, and his wife Soon-ho, a woman who despite her own physical challenges helps him accomplish tasks both modest and awe-inspiring.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | September 04, 2012