A singular desire is the driving force behind writer/director Haifaa Al Mansour's first feature film, Wadjda. The title character, a Saudi tween (Waad Mohammed), wants a bicycle. But despite the presence of a very real green bicycle, it's more a metaphor that represents all the restrictions women must follow in Saudi Arabia. Not until this April were women allowed to ride bicycles, and they are still laws against women driving, voting and even going to the movies. Read the rest of the review here.
British director Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, United 93) brings his signature shaky-cam style to the true story of the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of American cargo ship Maersk Alabama. But the best tension in Captain Phillipsdoesn't come from the pinball editing of the confrontational, claustrophobic closeups that make up the majority of the film. When Greengrass pulls the camera back to reveal aerial shots of a tiny skiff with a jerry-rigged motor trying to take over the colossal freighter, he is making groundbreaking shifts in the traditional underdog story. Read the full review here.
The premise behind writer/director David E. Talbert’s (First Sunday) second feature film is a flimsy and sad affair. In her insulting and improbable mission to get engaged in the 30 days before her younger sister’s wedding, flight attendant Montana Moore (Paula Patton) stalks her ex-boyfriends — her shortcut to becoming affianced — by letting her co-workers at the airport abuse their authority. With access to passenger manifests and security delays, Montana tarts herself up and on crowded holiday flights sits herself next to these men she previously rejected in the hope that they have since become marriage material. Read the review here.
This is not just the directorial debut for Joseph Gordon-Levitt (50/50, Looper) but he also wrote the screenplay. More than just a pretty face, the actor has a knack for choosing interesting projects, and clearly he's been taking notes while working with the likes of writer/directors Rian Johnson and Christopher Nolan. Not that there aren't moments where Gordon-Levitt's inexperience shows, but Don Jonsucceeds at its humor while still being about something. Read the full review here.
Writer/director Nicole Holofcener (Walking and Talking, Lovely & Amazing,Please Give) doesn’t just create flawed characters; her protagonists are downright horrible. They exhibit a litany of shortcomings — neurotic, shallow, vain, self-centered, insecure. Still, Holofcener never fails to redeem them.In Holofcener's fifth feature film, Enough Said, a hard lesson is learned. Read the full review here.
Villeneuve’s penchant for these shots is also the film’s downfall. He lingers a beat or two too long on clues. Such unmistaken proof, in conjunction with the tightly wrapped screenplay by Aaron Guzikowski, takes out the ambivalence needed to sustain the psychological effect. And its most interesting move, bringing in Terrence Howard and Viola Davis as the other desperate parents, is short-lived. Read the review here.
Give a roomful of monkeys typewriters and enough time and they’ll eventuallyre-create the entire works of Shakespeare. With provided text and a punishing time limit, the typing contests in director Régis Roinsard
’s debut feature Populairehave less lofty ambitions. Good thing they’re the red herring — in glorious Technicolor — in this French romance that seems to owe more to the melancholy output of Douglas Sirk than any madcap battle of the sexes in any Doris Day/Rock Hudson confection. Read the full review here.
There’s plenty poking fun at Austen’s unread fans in Austenland, the movie adaptation of Shannon Hale’s novel. The obvious choice Jennifer Coolidge performs this role suitably well, even for those tired of her shtick. But there’s supposed to be more here than shooting fish in a barrel (or stuffed birds thrown in the air). The actual protagonist of the film knows her Austen, or, at least, says she does, so it’s an even greater disappointment that director Jerusha Hess (Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre), who co-wrote the screenplay with Hale, fails in the execution of what could be a satire as satisfying as one of Miss Austen’s novels. Read the full review here.
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ovie is in deep trouble when pretentious twit Ethan Hawke is its highlight. InGetaway, Hawke plays a former professional racecar driver forced to wreak havoc on Sofia, Bulgaria, in a stolen specially armored Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Super Snake. But this isn’t a regular car chase movie. The car is outfitted inside and out with webcams, so the focus stays on Hawke by way of a claustrophobic, reality show competition-like view of his face as he mows down pedestrians under duress. The repeated close-ups of Hawke's foot expertly slamming the clutch and his tattooed hand shifting gears can be forgiven for their deviation from point of view just because they’re downright sexy. Read the rest of the review here.
The latest film from director John Crowley (Intermission, Boy A) will deceive audiences into thinking they’re at home watching television on a Sunday night. With its overt themes and well-broadcast twists spelled out so they that won’t confuse novice anglophiles or old fogies, Closed Circuit is too tidily wrapped for the big screen and is more in line with the issues-driven programming on Masterpiece Contemporary. Read the full review here.
For his latest movie, Lee Daniels (Precious) acts more as producer than director. First, there’s the matter of his name in possessive being attached to the title. And then there’s the story: exhaustive and sweeping, yet unnaturally literal in its attachment to major historical events. Good direction would have led Lee Daniels’ The Butler away from becoming a primer on the civil rights movement to focus on smaller, more personal reactions to major moments in history. Instead, producer Daniels embraces the ambitious scope, and in the process loses any sense of authenticity. Read the full review here.
Near her 16th birthday, Clary Fray (Lily Collins), the protagonist of The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, begins seeing signs and beings that mere mortals can’t see. Through many frantic yet expository conflicts and quests, she eventually learns she’s the powerful daughter of two half-angel demon hunters (Lena Headey and Jonathan Rhys Meyers) and the only one left who knows the whereabouts of a very important goblet. Still, this film isn’t really about girl power. Clary remains ineffectual at stopping any death and destruction, and keeping her loved ones safe. Ultimately, she can’t even hang on to the magic cup. Read the full review here.
