First Position
First Position takes a look behind the scenes as six young dancers prepare to compete in the Youth America Grand Prix in New York City, the world’s largest student ballet scholarship competition. Directed by Bess Kargman, the documentary follows these performers as they tirelessly train all over the world in the hopes of winning awards, scholarships to prestigious dance schools, or even a chance to be placed in a professional ballet company.... read more
The Raven
Taking the collected works of America’s original master of horror and drawing on their most gruesome murders as the inspiration for something resembling the love child of Saw and Sleepy Hollow might have seemed like a good idea to director James McTeigue. After all, the former protege of the Wachowski brothers had directed V For Vendetta and Ninja Assassin, films that strain to commodify and stylize bloody violence into some semblance of a meaningful story. Having all the murders already written for you by an American literary icon must have seemed like quite the head start. Unfortunately, the only thing... read more
Citizen Gangster
Citizen Gangster, Nathan Morlando’s gripping directorial debut, is inspired by the true story of notorious Canadian bank robber and gang leader Eddie Boyd. After serving in World War II, Boyd finds himself at home in Toronto with a growing family and no real prospects. There are few jobs, and Boyd is both a dreamer and impulsive—a dangerous combination.... read more
Jesus Henry Christ
Most of us are suckers for a good child prodigy story. Be it Bobby Fischer, Akeelah Anderson, Salinger’s Glass family or Anderson’s Tenenbaums, we gawk at the seemingly miraculous abilities, identify with the weird families, weep at the ostracism and cheer at the victories. All of these factors are in play in Dennis Lee’s Jesus Henry Christ, the story of a remarkable boy named Henry and his quest to find his biological father.... read more
Sound of My Voice
The first ten minutes of Sound of My Voice are some of the most claustrophobic, dread-filled moments to grace American cinema in years. With no preamble, we follow a young couple as they voluntarily submit to an ominous set of late-night rituals beginning with handing over their valuables and allowing themselves to be handcuffed and blindfolded, and culminating in an elaborate secret handshake and meeting with a mysterious leader in a basement somewhere in the San Fernando Valley.... read more
Darling Companion
Lawrence Kasdan’s Darling Companion, which he co-wrote with his wife Meg, is a perfectly serviceable family drama centered on a dog. It’s unclear, however, who its audience is. Although it features an animal, which is typically kid territory, it’s too long and slow for a young audience. (Besides, it’s rated PG-13.) And although it does deal with adult issues like empty nest syndrome and professional ageism, it doesn’t do so very seriously. It might be a safe bet for your mom’s movie group because, well, it plays it safe.... read more
Downtown Express
David Grubin’s first feature film will prove quite the experience for musicians, music lovers and, well, pretty much everyone else. In Downtown Express, the esteemed television documentarian and producer marries his passion for classical music to his deep interest in the American immigrant’s personal, political and cultural experience. The resulting product is a story not entirely unfamiliar to the viewer or the big screen: after immigrating to the States, a parent and child clash as they develop conflicting notions of the American Dream. However, the musical essence of the film (which has no score, but a constant, live flow of... read more
The Moth Diaries
The Moth Diaries takes another hapless bite out of the popular high school vampire saga, attempting to provide an interesting twist on a genre we should all have overdosed on by now, fans of fangs or not. However, with an intriguing premise and American Psycho director Mary Harron behind the wheel, The Moth Diaries has the potential to be a film worth the 82 minutes invested. Alas, the optimism fades as storylines are introduced and never full fleshed out and there is little to no explanation as to exactly how Rebecca (Sarah Bolger) can be so certain that new student... read more
The Lady
For 24 years, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has opposed Burma’s oppressive military regime and advocated for true democracy for her people—at great personal cost, including 15 years of house arrest and years of separation from her English husband and two sons. With Malaysian-Chinese actress Michelle Yeoh in the title role, Luc Besson’s The Lady illuminates the contemporary politics of this Southeast Asian country through the filter of an epic love story between the heiress of a Burmese political dynasty and an Oxford professor of Tibetan and Himalayan studies.... read more
Blue Like Jazz
Blue Like Jazz represents Steve Taylor’s sophomore outing as a feature director. A riotous adaptation of Donald Miller’s book of essays reworked by Taylor, Miller and co-writer Ben Pearson into a tale of coming of age and crisis of faith, the film follows young Donald Miller (Marshall Allman) as he breaks free from his fundamentalist Christian life in Texas to explore the larger world via Portland, Ore.... read more
How To Grow A Band
Oz, the wizard, seemed great and powerful indeed—until Dorothy looked behind the curtain. She found the Goldbergian machines that made a voice echo and flames leap. Certainly, she and her fellow pilgrims were helped by Oz, but I have always wondered if Dorothy regretted exposing the deus ex machina.... read more
Playback
Part The Ring and part Hugo, Playback takes a potentially intriguing concept and punctuates it with extreme gore rather than thrilling suspense. Throw in some uninspired writing and nonsensical plot details, and you’ve got an exercise in irritation.... read more
The Cabin in the Woods
For a movie chock-full of twists, perhaps the biggest is that despite all appearances to the contrary, The Cabin in the Woods is a heartfelt love story. Mind you, not between any of the young and pretty college students who tempt fate at the cabin in question. No, this romance is between creators Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard, and the scary-movie genre as a whole. A ménage à terror, if you will.... read more
Lockout
It seems unfair to demand air-tight plotting from the sci-fi thriller Lockout. Co-written and produced by Luc Besson, France’s leading pulp-film purveyor, Lockout takes place in 2079 and depicts a hostage rescue from a Supermax prison—that happens to be orbiting the Earth. Directors James Mather and Stephen St. Leger aren’t making 2001: A Space Odyssey here.... read more
American Reunion
Feeling nostalgic for the late ’90s? Perhaps it’s because Titanic is sailing back into theaters this week—or the American Pie gang has reunited for its, uh, 13-year high school reunion. Jim (Jason Biggs), Oz (Chris Klein), Kevin (Thomas Ian Nicholas), Finch (Eddie Kaye Thomas) and, of course, Stifler (Seann William Scott) are back at East Great Falls High, and some things have changed while others haven’t: They’re old now—a point driven home repeatedly as they interact with their Michigan hometown’s current crop of teenagers—but Stifler’s still the resident dick (a designation that yields one of the film’s funnier, more satisfying... read more
Monsieur Lazhar
Director Philippe Falardeau’s new film, Monsieur Lazhar, presents various lives with seemingly few similarities forced to deal with tragedy in ways that are remarkably and movingly similar. At a French-Canadian school in Montreal, a teacher has just committed suicide in a classroom, traumatizing her highly impressionable and innocent students. Into her place steps Monsieur Lazhar, an Algerian immigrant who is recovering from an unspeakable personal calamity in his own recent past. Such a meeting of two disparate worlds, especially in a classroom setting, has been played out time and time again in film, often in the most clichéd manner. But... read more
The Raid: Redemption
The Raid: Redemption is the type of hyper-violent action film that makes grown men wince (and then chuckle) and their girlfriends and wives wince, roll their eyes (and then wonder what is wrong with men?!). Yes, guys, it’s that good.... read more
We Have a Pope
Perhaps, in some parallel universe, there’s a version of We Have a Pope that simultaneously works as an existential drama, a light sitcom and an absurdist romp. The one in our universe limply stumbles through all three possibilities.... read more
Damsels in Distress
Whit Stillman fans have had to wait a long, fourteen years since his last film, The Last Days of Disco. While diehard enthusiasts may be satisfied with his latest effort, Damsels in Distress feels too episodic and light to fully endorse despite some snappy dialogue and charming dance numbers. Actress Greta Gerwig makes a sharp departure from her mumblecore beginnings and pulls off Stillman’s highly stylized banter, as do several of the other actors. Ultimately, though, the banter feels empty and little more than dressing on a meandering plot.... read more
The Hunter
Though of a different genre, style and ideology, The Hunter parallels last year’s Drive in story and focus. Pensive and patiently paced, the film places an outsider in a perilous world where, amid a mission of crime, he entangles himself in the lives of a woman and her children, experiencing love and compassion for perhaps the first time. By film’s end, the tale has become a grand and gripping moral dilemma that, unlike Refn’s bleaker vision, plays out not as poetic justice but, instead, as divine grace.... read more
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