Monthly Archives: January 2013

Beautifully back-lit bodies are suspended in water and suspended from the 3D screen in “Sanctum,” the new trapped-in-a-cave thriller that James Cameron produced as a way of showing off his love of all things underwater. It’s a solid, old-fashioned action … Continue reading →

Those “There’s Something About Mary” Farrelly Brothers try to get their edge back with “Hall Pass,” a rude and seriously crude riff on taking a vacation from marriage. But as they get older, they’re having more and more trouble balancing … Continue reading →

Finally going into WIDE release on a lot of screen, “Silver Linings Playbook” cracked the top three, with a $10 million weekend. “Mama,” a better-than-average horror tale with Jessica Chastain and the imprint of producer Guillermo del Toro, did a … Continue reading →

“Life’s not always kind, is it?” a sympathetic character says, trying to comfort a friend in “Another Year.” But in the films of Mike Leigh, there are almost always kind people, sympathetic even — generally working class and always always … Continue reading →

The late French filmmaker Claude Chabrol, who died in September at 80 after a long career in movies and TV, will be remembered for his place within the 1950s French New Wave (“Le Beau Serge, “1958) and such later movies  … Continue reading →

At one point in her quiet and downright languorous Hymn to Hollywood, “Somewhere,” Sofia Coppola points her static camera at her star, Stephen Dorff, as his head is encased in goo. He’s a movie star who needs to have a … Continue reading →

Ugliness earns the label “art” in “Biutiful,” a film so gritty, grungy and depressing as to stand alone in a cinema built around beauty. Lovely but downbeat in the extreme, this seemingly personal project from Alejandro González Iñárritu (” Amores … Continue reading →

  Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directing debut (he stars in it, too) is “Don John’s Addiction,” and Relativity Media has reportedly paid a staggering price for the indie comedy about a porn-addicted “playa” who tries to mend his ways. They must sense … Continue reading →

A film, a famous wag – OK, it was a comic strip character – once said is “a movie we don’t quite understand.” Thus we come to “Holy Motors,” a trippy celebration of cinema history and an episodic series of … Continue reading →

“Quartet” is the aging opera singer retirement home comedy by Dustin Hoffman, with Maggie Smith et al still hitting the high notes — if not as singers. Michael Gambon, Billy Connolly, Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins — Dustin put a lot … Continue reading →