Messy genre jumbling has rhyme and reason in Leaves of Grass, as it speaks directly to the film’s portrait of life’s unpredictability and uncontrollability.
Cunningham is astutely defined here as not simply a traditional photographer of clothing, but an anthropological historian.
Bilal’s Stand is a case of a heartwarming backstory failing to elevate substandard filmmaking.
Minor Sheridan, perhaps, but freakishly well-acted by Toby Maguire and young actresses Bailee Madison and Taylor Geare.
This lyrically titled film resonates deeply as a portrait of idealistic beliefs co-opted and mutated.
The film is a stark example of misbegotten chemistry and its resultant pitfalls.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid presents a cartoon vision of tween life as a series of skirmishes fought on social battlegrounds.
Teaming Ben Stiller with Greta Gerwig and Mark Duplass is Noah Baumbach’s transparent attempt to meld Big Hollywood with mumblecore.
Dogtooth unnerves with a rigorous focus and technical dexterity.
Radu Jude’s film might have benefited from more dramatic or comedic vigor.
Despite various portraits of small- and large-scale influence and control, The Law is a tad too glossy and frivolous to truly plumb its stories’ suggested depths.
Welcome doesn’t even attempt to seriously tackle the thorny complications of France’s urgent immigration issues.
Whatever isn’t conveyed about Frontier Blues by its title is dealt with in the film’s 30 minutes.
Hunting & Sons builds toward its squirm-inducing denouement slowly, amassing a raft of quotidian incidents and details.
Subversive pranksterism takes center stage in The Red Chapel.
One of Almodóvar’s weakest films is worth checking out on DVD for Carmen Machi’s performance in the short film The Cannibalistic Councillor.
The film creates tension from the nagging sense that more urgency and surprise should be forthcoming from such an amazing tale.
When it comes to modern action directors uninterested in spatial lucidity, Paul Greengrass has gotten off pretty easy.
Apocalyptic amour fou corrupts the earth in Happy End, Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s adaptation of Dominique Noguez’s 1991 novel about love, loss, and nuclear bombs over Moscow.
Majestic animation fails to conjure a sense of enchantment in The Secret of Kells, a beautiful two-dimensional work devoid of dramatic vigor.