Drama Rated R
“…works overtime to prove its artistic bona fides.”
Comedy Rated PG-13
If only literary theory could always be this fun. The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is one of those classic novels that few people have actually read, but director Michael Winterbottom has made it entertaining enough to get me to actually consider reading it. Or maybe I’ll just see this witty “adaptation” again
Family Rated G
Many of Walt Disney Pictures’ animated fairy tales have come to be seen as definitive versions of the story they tell simply because they’ve been enjoyed by generation after generation. Yet it isn’t only longevity that gives them such classic status. As Cinderella reveals, Disney and his closest team of animators – dubbed by him
Drama Rated NR
This big-screen version of the cult Japanese television series takes its stylistic cue from its hero: a pathologically bored, futuristic bounty hunter who treats everyone as if he is a 15-year-old and they are his lame parents. That and the eclectic soundtrack lend an atmosphere of carefully cultivated cool to the otherwise familiar anime elements:
Comedy Rated NR
A provocative if limited experiment, CSA purports to be a historical documentary – complete with alternative-universe commercial breaks – that encapsulates the history of the United States as if the Civil War had gone South. It’s a profane joke that doesn’t ruffle quite as many feathers as it should. At first, the shock of the
Documentary Rated R
An unabashed act of nostalgia, this film-buff documentary celebrates the movies of the 1970s as the pinnacle of American cinema. Co-directors Richard LaGravenese and Ted Demme bring a fan’s passion to the subject, along with a fan’s narrow perspective. The ’70s have long been cited as a turning point for American movies, a time of
Horror Rated R
Matinee idols Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt indulge their dark sides in this adaptation of the Anne Rice novel, and both surprisingly manage to save face. Pitt provides the emotional anchor as an 18th-century plantation owner whose wife dies in childbirth. He seeks relief by accepting the “black gift” from the vampire Lestat (Cruise), a
Family Rated PG
Tim Allen pretty much defined his career with this first starring role, an occasionally funny but often idiotic Christmas farce that was gobbled up by audiences like a candy cane. The premise – a cynical, divorced dad has to fill Santa’s boots after the jolly old soul falls off his roof – has promise, but
Though not an improvement on – or even an equal to -the 1947 original, this still offers one of the most endearing Christmas stories in an updated, colorful new way. Richard Attenborough is Santa as he should be, full of jolly, chuckling charm as he attempts to crack the hardened hearts of a mother (Elizabeth
Drama Rated PG
Director Gillian Armstrong combines a documentary-like feel with the elegance of a period piece in this adaptation of the beloved Louisa May Alcott novel about four daughters and their mother (played at different ages by Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Claire Danes and Kirsten Dunst, among others). The result makes you feel like a fifth sibling
