Film
-
Shakespeare as Summer Sizzler
This is not hyperbole: Much Ado About Nothing reflects Joss Whedon's skill as a director as much as it celebrates Shakespeare's timeless words. (Blasphemy, you...
-
Somber Superman
Zack Snyder, visionary director. The title gets plastered across ads for every movie he makes, but lately, it's more the butt of a joke than...
-
Friendship in Black and White
A single line by the funky British pop band Hot Chocolate sums up the pleasant worldview of Frances Ha: ''Everyone's a winner, baby, that's the...
-
Star Trek Returns
What does it mean to make a Star Trek movie? Director J.J. Abrams skirted this question when he brought the U.S.S. Enterprise back to life...
-
Wretched Excess
What kind of maniac tries to adapt The Great Gatsby? Few books are legitimate touchstones in American culture, and for better or for worse, F....
-
Texas Hold 'Em
A decade ago, when Texas-based filmmaker Yen Tan regularly commuted between Dallas and Houston, he wondered if he was alone out there. ''I would stop...
-
Flash over Substance
Let's just get this out of the way: Robert Downey Jr. is, and always will be, magnificent as Tony Stark. The character's cocky wit blends...
-
Puzzles
I want to like Trance. It's a mostly good-looking movie, with talented actors and a talented crew, all attempting to do something bold within the...
-
Magic Show
What happened to Steve Carell? He set the comedy world on fire with his naive-fool shtick in The Office and The 40-Year-Old Virgin, sweetening his...
-
Woes of Oz
There's something rotten in the state of Oz. It reeks of the billable hour, the legal retainer, the foul stench of litigation. Yes, that fiend...
-
And the Oscar Goes To…
There are only three things certain in life: death, taxes and petty arguments about the Oscars. (Well, four if you count Joan Rivers. She will...
-
Die Hard Death Knell
Almost a quarter-century after Die Hard premiered, the travesty of John McClane lives on. He's bruised and balder, wrinkled and wearier. Whatever once seemed charming...
-
Swan Song
This is the end for director Steven Soderbergh. He says he's packing up, retiring from film, moving on to other artistic projects. If he is...
-
Zom Rom Com
A geeky-looking boy is mired in existential despair. He worries about his pale skin, his poor diet, his bad posture. He wants to meet people....
-
Hunting Bin Laden
Zero Dark Thirty is not a ''pro-torture'' film. It's also not much of an ''anti-torture'' film, either, in so far as it isn't simply interested...
