Movies
Movies
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Precision, tension and an angelic cult leader make for a nifty paranoid thriller
May 17th, 2012
As the skillfully told, small-scale drama Sound of My Voice unfolds, a young couple—Peter (Christopher Denham) and Lorna (Nicole Vicius)—join a mysterious, smock-wearing cult of budding survivalists operating secretly, and seemingly benignly, out of a suburban basement. Read more »
Movies
Fanged Out
This Tim Burton/Johnny Depp reboot of a classic TV soap feels too familiar
May 17th, 2012
Some of director Tim Burton’s costume parties are livelier than others, and the new Dark Shadows—from the man who gave us Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland and other chalkface-makeup spectaculars starring Johnny Depp—feels like a placeholder, a meandering first draft of an adaptation of the supernatural soap opera that ran on ABC from 1966 to 1971. Read more »
Short Reviews
The Five-Year Engagement
May 10th, 2012
Believe it or not, this is actually a quality, enjoyable rom-com, starring Jason Segal and the fabulous Emily Blunt. Read more »
Short Reviews
Safe
May 10th, 2012
Mei (Catherine Chan) has a string of memorized numbers that the Chinese and Russian mafias want. Read more »
Short Reviews
The Avengers
May 10th, 2012
Here it is. The great conjunction. The culmination of it all. Read more »
Movies
Outsourcing Charm
A great cast elevates this predictable tale of a British retirement home in India
May 10th, 2012
A comedy-drama saved by the casting bell, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel arranges for a tiptop collection of British character women and men to bring out the best in a pleasantly predictable story. Wait. Shouldn’t that be “unhappily predictable?” Read more »
Movies
What to Expect When You’re Special-Effecting
This blockbuster season brings manly sequels, vibrating inventions and Channing Tatum’s rippling pecs
May 10th, 2012
The summer movies are stampeding into Las Vegas theaters like drunken, pool party-bound tourists, leaving dollar signs and crushed popcorn in their wake. Over the next three sweltering months you’ll be subject to a nonstop onslaught of 3-D, CGI-stuffed action and spectacle, tempered with a few broad comedy bunts, arthouse indies and the requisite buzzy horror flick (Chernobyl Diaries, out May 25, from Paranormal Activity writer/director Oren Peli). But looking over the season’s roster, it’s hard to miss a few unmistakable patterns: Read more »
Movies
Safe Is a Sound Thriller
A cage fighter battles bad guys to save a little girl
May 3rd, 2012
His Awesomeness, Jason Statham, has let it be known that he chooses his films based on the fight choreographer the producers hire. Often as not, that blows up in his face. Why else would the Human Bullet from Britain end up in dogs such as War, Transporter 3 and Death Race? Read more »
Movies
Love Waits
A great film arises from wedding plans deferred
May 3rd, 2012
A lot of terrible romantic comedies come along in a given year, and after five or six you begin to question your belief in anything—romance, comedy, movies, even terribleness itself. So. When something as sharp and funny as The Five-Year Engagement comes along, it means something. Read more »
Short Reviews
The Lucky One
May 3rd, 2012
This latest Nicholas Sparks adaptation isn’t The Notebook, but it, like the author, knows its audience. Read more »
