movie reviews
At Any Price
Zac Efron, Dennis Quaid
Directed by: Ramin Bahrani
Welcome to hard times. And the world of Ramin Bahrani, a director (Man Push Cart, Chop Shop, Goodbye Solo) with a penchant for morality tales that tend to burden characters with more than they can carry. Not to mention audiences. Say this for Bahrani – born in North Carolina to Iranian parents – he's a filmmaker with a conscience. Where do you find that in Hollywood, where toys for boys and a snide Michael Bay-like cynicism rule the box office? At Any Price puts Bahrani knee... | More »
Oblivion
Tom Cruise, Olga Kurylenko
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Earth is a garbage dump. Alien wars have left the future in ruins. The remnants of humanity have taken refuge on a space station. A pair of unlikely lovers are assigned from on high to do the robotic work of reclaiming vital resources and maybe saving the planet. OK, that's the plot of Pixar's WALL-E. Minus the animation, it's also the motor that drives Oblivion, a fantasy without an original thought in its sleek, empty head. Director Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy) knows from ... | More »
42
Chadwick Boseman, Harrison Ford
Directed by: Brian Helgeland
No one argues that Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson could slide into a base like a man on fire. It was a bitch to tag him out. 42, the film that details Robinson's groundbreaking start as the first African-American since the 1880s to cross major league baseball's color line, would be easy to tag out as a tear-jerking civics lesson like The Blind Side. But writer-director Brian Helgeland touches home on the story's sheer emotional velocity. 42, named for the jersey number Robinson ... | More »
Disconnect
Jason Bateman, Alexander Skarsgard, Paula Patton
Directed by: Henry-Alex Rubin
I've read a lot about Disconnect being a rant against the Evil Empire of Digital that instead of bringing us together really does the opposite. What a bore that movie would be. Not to mention so last century. But here's the thing: Disconnect is not that movie. It's 2013: A Cyperspace Odyssey, a techno-thriller driven by genuine feeling. First-time feature director Henry Alex Rubin, working from a script by Andrew Stern, sees social media as a fact of life, like sex, drugs and ... | More »
To the Wonder
Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Olga Kurylenko
Directed by: Terrence Malick
Film genius to miss the mark. Case in point: Terrence Malick's To the Wonder, a beautifully empty exercise that – so glacial is the pace – makes Malick's Tree of Life look like G.I. Joe: Retaliation. As ever, you can't accuse Malick of being plot-heavy. We spot lovers Neil (Ben Affleck) and Marina (Olga Kurylenko) walking the Normandy beach near the monastery of Mont St. Michel. "Love makes us one," she says. Not exactly. When Neil and Marina, a Ukrainian divorcee ... | More »
Trance
Rosario Dawson, James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel
Directed by: Danny Boyle
Danny Boyle's trippy, Inception-like thriller is a hypnotic head trip that demands you trust no one. I'm down with that. Boyle, an Oscar winner for Slumdog Millionaire and the twisted mister behind Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, 28 Days Later, 127 Hours and the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, is out to dazzle us with Trance. And, boy, does he ever! You're in for a mind-bending spin. The script, by Joe Ahearne and John Hodge, is a setup, a series of them. James McA... | More »
The Company You Keep
Robert Redford, Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie
Directed by: Robert Redford
Right-wingers have their panties in a bunch misreading Robert Redford's The Company You Keep as a celebration of the Weather Underground, who were 1960s radicals committed to the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. It's the corruption of Sixties idealism that sparks the interest of Redford as actor and director. In adapting Neil Gordon's novel, screenwriter Lem Dobbs tells us about extremists who went into hiding. When a present-day New York housewife, Sharon Solarz (Susa... | More »
The Place Beyond the Pines
Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes
Directed by: Derek Cianfrance
Director Derek Cianfrance shows ambition for days in The Place Beyond the Pines. One story links to another and then another and another, over decades. Hold on tight. It's a beast of a movie, an emotional roller coaster that threatens to go off the rails, and does. But Cianfrance, working from a scrappy script he wrote with Ben Coccio and Darius Marder, takes you on a hell of a ride. Ryan Gosling, who teamed brilliantly with Cianfrance on Blue Valentine, is spectacular as Luke, a motorc... | More »
The Host
Saoirse Ronan, William Hurt, Diane Kruger
Directed by: Andrew Niccol
A human girl, possessed by something alien and undead, must choose between two cute boys. WTF! Is this another Twilight? Nope. But The Host is born from the mother of all things Twilight, Stephenie Meyer, which is the next best – or worst – thing, depending on your point of view. Meyer's 2008 bestseller has its moments; the movie has fewer, owing to director Andrew Niccol's bizarre decision to drag things out. Ever. So. Slowly. The MVP is 18-year-old Irish miracle worke... | More »
Room 237
Directed by: Rodney Ascher
Repeat looks at a favorite film are no big whoop. But the five fans of The Shining in Rodney Ascher's mesmerizing Room 237 are obsessed to near psychosis with Stanley Kubrick's 1980 thriller. ABC journalist Bill Blakemore, college professor Geoffrey Cocks, playwright Juli Kearns, author Jay Weidner and musician John Fell Ryan are heard but unseen. The visuals are all from the film, based on Stephen King's novel, with Jack Nicholson as a caretaker haunted by the Overlook Hotel, ... | More »
Movie Reviews
-
star ratingParamount Pictures -
star ratingWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures -
star ratingIFC Films
-
star ratingRoadside Attractions -
star ratingWarner Bros. Pictures -
star ratingParamount Pictures
The Travers Take
-
- February 21, 12:30 PM ET
Make Your Oscar Picks in Peter Travers' 2013 Academy Awards Ballot
-
- August 15, 3:40 PM ET
-
- April 25, 3:51 PM ET
-
- April 19, 4:30 PM ET
-
- April 13, 11:30 AM ET
- More Posts »
Photos & Videos
We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.
