'Django Unchained'

Mar 1, 2013

'Django Unchained'

Way back in 1992 there appeared a hot new indie flick called “Reservoir Dogs” by a then-unknown video-rental clerk turned director called Quentin Tarantino. This newcomer’s knack was to take a classic genre movie — the heist flick — and pump it full of ...

'Dark Horse'

Mar 1, 2013

'Dark Horse'

Todd Solondz never makes comfortable films, and “Dark Horse” is no exception, featuring as its protagonist an overweight, overbearing 30-something nebbish named Abe (Jordan Gelber) who’s a toy-collector nerd and still living at home with his parents. Classic comedy-loser material, in other words, but ...

'Obey'

Mar 1, 2013

'Obey'

Director: Temujin Doran Language: English Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning correspondent who left the New York Times after it censured him for voicing opposition to the Iraq war. “Open,” a documentary based on Hedges’ book “Death of the Liberal Class,” is composed of ...

'Martha Marcy May Marlene'

Feb 22, 2013

'Martha Marcy May Marlene'

You’re fed up with your family, your upbringing, your school, your social class. You don’t fit in and are reminded of it. The rules and social norms that other people seem to follow so blindly seem to you phony, trite, suffocating. You develop an ...

'Zero Dark Thirty'

Feb 15, 2013

'Zero Dark Thirty'

"Money shot" is a term that originally came from the pornographic-movie industry, referring to, ahem, a male actor fulfilling his contractual obligations.

Moonrise Kingdom

Feb 1, 2013

Moonrise Kingdom

Wes Anderson is one of those directors who, love him or hate him, has been remarkably consistent. Each film, from “Rushmore” right on down, is an artfully constructed and totally hermetic world unto itself, with flawed or absent father-figures, a closet’s worth of funky-yet-chic ...

'Life of Pi'

Jan 25, 2013

'Life of Pi'

Director Ang Lee’s adaptation of author Yann Martel’s Man Booker Prize-winning “Life of Pi” feels almost like two films sandwiched into one. In the core, you have the succulent special-effects-driven story of a young Indian survivor of a shipwreck who’s adrift in a lifeboat ...

'Pi' among 'unfilmable' books conquered at last on the screen

Jan 24, 2013

'Pi' among 'unfilmable' books conquered at last on the screen

There are certain novels they say just can’t be filmed, but guess what? Most of them have been. “Dune”? “Naked Lunch”? “The Virgin Suicides”? “The 120 Days of Sodom”? “Ulysses”? All done — “Ulysses” twice, even. Call it the inability of a filmmaker to ...

'Armadillo' / 'Cockfighter'

Jan 17, 2013

'Armadillo' / 'Cockfighter'

If you go to see “Armadillo”, you will be in a cinema watching a war movie. A documentary, yes, but one that’s safely on the screen as you sit back and watch Danish soldiers deployed in Afghanistan. You will watch those same soldiers try ...

'The Future'

Jan 11, 2013

'The Future'

Facebook is so awash in shared quotes and clever little sayings attached to graphics, ranging from heartwarmingly New Age to hipster snarky, that few make an impression beyond the time it takes to read them. Still, every now and then you’ll hit one that ...

Comparing notes: What they thought of each other's No. 1

| Dec 28, 2012

Comparing notes: What they thought of each other's No. 1

Who says critics are out of touch? At the time of writing, entertainment website Pia’s “Satisfaction Ranking” for current films has “Intouchables” at No. 3, and “Argo” No. 2. (“Ninkyo Helper” is No. 1.) Kaori Shoji, Mark Schilling, and Giovanni Fazio got together to ...

Hold the McFilms, pass the cinematic cassoulet

| Dec 28, 2012

Hold the McFilms, pass the cinematic cassoulet

It always puzzles me that people turn to the Food page curious to find out about off-the-beaten-track joints that serve up a savory cassoulet or artisan shōchū or whatever, yet so many come to the film page expecting a review of this week’s McBurger. ...