Trouble the Water (2008)

Documentary Rated NR

Cinematic rage against the machine. Documentarians Carl Deal and Tia Lessin capture the Katrina disaster mostly via home video footage taken by Kimberly Roberts, a resident of New Orleans’ doomed Lower Ninth Ward. Her camera recorded the Biblical floods, the astonishing wreckage, the infuriating governmental indifference and the ensuing bureaucratic nightmare. The highlight of Trouble

Ballast (2008)

Drama Rated NR

A quiet stunner. With his assured feature debut, writer-director Lance Hammer explores the tentative relationship between two people on the brink of despair: a suicidal single man (Micheal J. Smith) and his latchkey nephew (JimMyron Ross). With the austere winter landscape of the Mississippi Delta as a backdrop and two novice, riveting actors in the

Revolutionary Road (2008)

Drama Rated R

I wonder if Kate Winslet and her director husband Sam Mendes – who work together in the domestic drama Revolutionary Road – have ever lived in the suburbs. Separately – she in Little Children; he with American Beauty – they have made their own contributions to the familiar Hollywood genre of suburban satire. With Revolutionary

Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, The (2009)

Thriller Rated R

“Travolta barks and giggles and screams, as if creating a memorable nemesis was simply a matter of calling more attention to yourself than anyone else.

Hotel for Dogs (2009)

Family Rated PG

"It may not be Hotel Rwanda, but Don Cheadle does bring a nice dose of compassion to Hotel for Dogs."

Let the Right One In (2008)

Horror Rated R

“…the anti-Twilight of 2008.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

Action/Adventure Rated PG

With Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country – dedicated to series creator Gene Roddenberry, who died the year of its release – the sci-fi franchise manages to find a new way to be oppressively boring. This entry is structured as a police procedural, as Kirk (William Shatner) and “Bones” (DeForest Kelley) are framed for the

Muppet Movie, The (1979)

Family Rated G

The Muppets were formally inventive long before Charlie Kaufman came on the scene. Their big-screen debut opens with a raucous premiere screening of … itself, wherein the Muppets gather to watch the picture they’re in. When Kermit – a usually bright and cheery presence – slips a sarcastic remark under his breath, he often does

Duplicity (2009)

Drama Rated PG-13

Duplicity is a movie built around dazzling dialogue, which makes it a rare and precious thing. There is banter here that could stand up to the snazziest verbal sizzle of Hollywood’s classics, in which Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell or Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert would spar to their own and the audience’s immense amusement.

Reader, The (2008)

Drama Rated R

“Call me a prude, but soft-core porn doesn’t seem a fitting entry point for considering the Holocaust’s agonies.