Men Who Stare at Goats, The (2009)

Comedy Rated R

George Clooney once again indulges his inner three stooges, starring in an espionage farce directed by his Good Night, and Good Luck screenwriter Grant Heslov. Like Clooney’s Leatherheads, this is a better idea than finished film. As an insecure reporter (Ewan McGregor) follows a supposedly psychic American spook (Clooney) into the insanity of the Iraq

Gentlemen Broncos (2009)

Comedy Rated PG-13

“The question isn’t why was Gentlemen Broncos abruptly pulled from theaters. How in the world did the movie even get that far?

Blind Side, The (2009)

Drama Rated PG-13

“The fact that The Blind Side is a terrible movie must be approached gingerly…

In the Loop (2009)

Comedy Rated NR

“Could the entrance into the Iraq War really have been as petty and misguided as this?

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Action/Adventure Rated PG-13

Sherlock Holmes isn’t very good, but it does give you hope that the franchise – and this achingly wants to be a long-running franchise – might some day amount to something. In other words, it’s not a debacle, which is what I expected from a period action flick by director Guy Ritchie with Robert Downey

Get Him to the Greek (2010)

Comedy Rated R

“There are a lot of illegal drugs in Get Him to the Greek, and the movie itself sort of works like one.

Tulpan (2009)

Drama Rated NR

I would call Tulpan the sweetest movie to ever come out of Kazakhstan, except that it’s the only movie I’ve seen from that former Soviet republic. Maybe they’re all as artful and endearing as this. Director Sergei Dvortsevoy trains his patient, observant camera on a family living on a remote Kazakh steppe, where sheep are

Cove, The (2009)

Documentary Rated PG-13

From the creepy thermal-camera footage of its opening credits to the covert missions under the cover of darkness, this activist documentary plays like a spy thriller more than anything else. Centered around Ric O’Barry, dolphin trainer to Flipper who has since become a champion for dolphin rights around the world, The Cove visits Taijii, Japan,

Crazy Heart (2009)

Drama Rated R

Jeff Bridges gives a stumbling, puking, greasy performance in Crazy Heart – it’s one of those “ugly” roles meant to reject Hollywood glamour in hopes of making it to Hollywood’s glammest night of all. Bridges plays Bad Blake, a grizzled country-music legend in the twilight of his career – if by twilight you mean playing

Sugar (2009)

Drama Rated R

The writing and directing team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (Half Nelson) turn their attention to Major League Baseball’s farm system in the Dominican Republic, where promising young player Miguel “Sugar” Santos (Algenis Perez Soto) endures the indentured servitude and eventually shows big-league promise. But what, exactly, is that promise? The second half of