AltWeeklies Wire
'Role Models' Counters the Apatow Curse with More than Self-Indulgencenew
David Wain's film looks like another of those comedies about boorish males that threaten to turn American cineplexes into frat houses or romper rooms, but it flips the script instead.
New York Press |
Armond White |
11-06-2008 |
Reviews
'The Guitar' Hits Some Right Notes Before Falling Flatnew
An indie version of Queen Latifah's Last Holiday, Amy Redford's directorial debut tells the story of the emotionally dead Melody, a woman told she has two months to live just a few hours before being fired from her job.
New York Press |
Mark Peikert |
11-06-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Amy Redford, The Guitar
Angelina Jolie is Mother on a Mission in Clint Eastwood's Latestnew
Changeling isn't suspenseful: It's creepy. Lacking the historical veracity of De Palma's Black Dahlia, its style is a bizarre form of old-school storytelling, mixing masochistic dread with ugly reportage.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-23-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Clint Eastwood, Changeling
'Fear(s) of the Dark': Parts of a Holenew
Fear(s) shortcoming(s) reveal the omnibus film's illusion of intricacy.
New York Press |
Simon Abrams |
10-23-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Charles Burns, Fear(s) of the Dark
In 'Noah's Arc' Movie, We Meet the Black Carrie Bradshawnew
The LOGO show makes the jump to the big screen -- showing a completely different African-American experience.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-23-2008 |
Reviews
'Max Payne' Prefers Good Looks to Smartsnew
Gorgeously shot as a color noir (though the colors are more likely to run the gamut from gray to black than red to gold), Max Payne is one of those ludicrous action movies based on a videogame that's all style and little substance.
New York Press |
Mark Peikert |
10-23-2008 |
Reviews
Charlie Kaufman Turns to Philip Seymour Hoffman to Tackle His Neurosesnew
Entirely too "clever," this story about an upstate New York theater director parades all of Kaufman’s neuroses: sexual frustration, creative surfeit (not a creative block), body hatred and celebrity paranoia. What's missing is universality; that's swallowed up by Kaufman's intellectual egomania.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-23-2008 |
Reviews
Softcore Porn Leads to Love in the Strange New Romcom 'Good Dick'new
Whatever success Good Dick may achieve as a film is almost entirely thanks to Jason Ritter's performance. Without his charisma and boy-next-door appeal, the movie would be just a cautionary tale about not using Netflix.
New York Press |
Mark Peikert |
10-16-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Good Dick, Marianna Palka
'What Just Happened?' Proves Barry Levinson Still Can't Directnew
In addition to getting wrong the proverbial Hollywood shibboleths (about violence, pets, etc.), Levinson and screenwriter Art Linson fake concern over selling out when everybody knows it is the way of things: Our tabloid media specializes in celebrating it.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-16-2008 |
Reviews
Oliver Stone Doesn't Settle for Easy Ridicule, He Looks Deep Inside Bush's Soulnew
The hard work of Stone’'s new film about George Bush -- that uses the synecdoche title W. -- is to avoid impertinence and rebuild the concepts of fairness and empathy while examining the Bush enigma.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-16-2008 |
Reviews
Guy Ritchie Manages to Upend Thuggish Machismo in 'RocknRolla'new
Guy Ritchie didn't make the mistake of putting his wife Madonna in RocknRolla; but his latest gangster film queers a sense of Macho to match Madonna's sense of Slut. Hopefully, Ritchie's fantasy won't roll back human progress; but this time it's shaped an unexpectedly enjoyable movie.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-09-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Guy Ritchie, RocknRolla
Mike Leigh Gets at the Heart of Joy and Painnew
Like Rachel at the Wedding, Happy-Go-Lucky latest suggests that life goes beyond partisan politics and that politics is what happens moment to moment, day by day. Both are authentically social visions, and they're sure to rank as the best films this year.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-09-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Mike Leigh, Happy-Go-Lucky
'Ballast': An African-American Indie Film Fantasy Made for White Liberalsnew
Director-writer Lance Hammer shows a black Mississippi family torn apart by a double suicide attempt, drugs and alienation. But you have to see through these ludicrous black phantoms to the actual white middle-class fantasies at the film's core.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-02-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Ballast, Lance Hammer
The Gospel According to Bill Mahernew
A documentary hoax readymade for the bitter barroom politico.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-02-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Larry Charles, Religulous
'Blindness' is Just Apocalypse Pornnew
Who'd guess that Miracle at St. Anna wasn't the worst film of the week? That honor goes to Fernando Meirelles' Blindness.
New York Press |
Armond White |
10-02-2008 |
Reviews
Tags: Fernando Meirelles, Blindness
