movie reviews
Fast & Furious 6
Vin Diesel, Paul Walker
Directed by: Justin Lin
Nothing classic here, except the vehicles. But if you’re looking for revved-up cars, trucks, tanks and tunnel racing, F&F6 is King Kong on wheels. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and the Rock don’t really act – their dialogue is like spoken tweets. But the new energy from 2011’s Fast Five still holds. And dynamo Michelle Rodriguez is back from the dead (don’t ask) as Diesel’s lost love. It’s kickass trash that never pretends to be more. Bonus points for t... | More »
The Hangover Part III
Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis
Directed by: Todd Phillips
What happened, bitches? Didn't the letdown of The Hangover Part II – basically Part I set in Thailand but minus the laughs – teach you anything? Guess not. I left Part III thinking that everyone involved went dutifully through the motions. Nothing more. The first movie left you with an exhilarating rush. All that Part III leaves is, well, a hangover. There are a few smiles. First, it's nice to see the Wolfpack back. Bradley Cooper as teacher Phil, Ed Helms as dentist St... | More »
Before Midnight
Ethan Hawke, Julie Delpy
Directed by: Richard Linklater
It's got the talk – lovers having at each other until they get the final word. It's got the sex – the cozy familiarity of sensual nuzzling until things turn fierce and carnal. Whatever a modern love story is, Before Midnight takes it to the next level. It's damn near perfect. But it's also stealthy about playing its hand. What's modern about two lovers, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy), who aren't teenagers – or even vampires? And su... | More »
Star Trek Into Darkness
Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chris Pine
Directed by: J.J. Abrams
J.J. Abrams is often dinged by Trekkers for daring to futz with the Star Trek universe (they'll probably stone him when he revives Star Wars). I thought his 2009 Trek reboot proved the naysayers nuts. And now Abrams boldly goes into Star Trek Into Darkness, and crushes it again. It's more fun and more intense, without giving less to the characters. The Enterprise crew is back, plus a sexy stowaway (Alice Eve). Zachary Quinto is a marvel as the Vulcan Spock, war between intellect and... | More »
Frances Ha
Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver
Directed by: Noah Baumbach
A single girl trying to make it in Manhattan: Filmmaker Noah Baumbach isn't exactly exploring new territory. But Frances Ha, his alternately beguiling and bruising comedy, makes you fall in love with the idea again. It's impossible not to fall hard for Greta Gerwig, who wrote the script with Baumbach and plays Frances with such smart, rumpled radiance that you bask in her glow. Frances is hardly a success. Her faith in her talent is so far unshared by anyone who might hire her. She... | More »
The Great Gatsby
Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire
Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Shush. Listen. That's F. Scott Fitzgerald turning in his grave. Fitzgerald's 1925 The Great Gatsby, a Jazz Age tale of sex, lies and conspicuous consumption, is a great American novel, maybe the greatest. But the tale of dirt-poor Jay Gatsby reinventing himself to win the woman he loves has defied five attempts at filming. Try staying awake during the 1974 version with Robert Redford. Enter Aussie director Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) to make the sixth time the charm. He brought visi... | More »
Stories We Tell
Sarah Polley
Directed by: Sarah Polley
Many movies out there warn critics about spoilers. "Don't ruin Iron Man 3 for your readers." Why not? The dude doesn't die. Did you really think he would? He'll live to sequel again. Other movies actually deserve that spoiler warning. Case in point: Stories We Tell, which filmmaker Sarah Polley calls a documentary. That's a tricky proposition for a film that's out to mess with our heads. Canadian actress Polley (indelible in films as diverse as The Sweet Hereafter an... | More »
Iron Man 3
Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow
Directed by: Shane Black
This may sound like heresy, but I'm getting Robert Downey'ed-out – at least as Iron Man and his alter ego, Tony Stark. The loose-cannon vibe that hooked us in the 2008 original has atrophied into shtick. And after a 2010 sequel and last year's The Avengers, isn't it time for this dynamo to move on to – dare I say it – acting? He won't, of course. The franchise needs feeding, and Iron Man 3 is already a hulking box-office behemoth. I admit the movie h... | More »
Greetings From Tim Buckley
Penn Badgley
Directed by: Daniel Algrant
Aspiring musician Jeff Buckley (Penn Badgley), 24, leaves California for New York in 1991 to reluctantly perform in a concert tribute, at Brooklyn's St. Ann's Church, to his singer-songwriter father, Tim Buckley, who died of a heroin overdose in 1975, at 28. That's pretty much what there is of narrative drive in Greetings From Tim Buckley. Yet director Daniel Algrant (Naked in New York, People I Know), working from a script by Emma Sheanshang and David Brendel, etches a haunti... | More »
Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's
Directed by: Matthew Miele
Is shopping an art form? It is at Bergdorf Goodman, the Manhattan store that's been selling luxury for more than a century. Don't expect Matthew Miele's dazzling doc to be a salute to consumerism. In tracking Bergdorf's from tailor shop to couture mecca, Miele reveals the blood, sweat and financial muscle that go into building a myth. Top designers, from Armani to McQueen, fought to get in. We go to work with Linda Fargo, the fashion director who keeps barbarians outside t... | More »
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