It’s the kind of story that low-budget indie filmmakers often tell: a semi-autobiographical one about the desperateness of peering through the windows of the house of shiny, happy Hollywood, and badly — badly — wanting in. Good for Nothing, the tale of struggling Los Angeles actor Danny, is based on the real-life fight of struggling … more…

Sure, it’s in Chinese, subtitled in English, and lots of moviegoers don’t want to read movies, but this movie kicks ass in exactly the way that 15-year-old boys love. This is a kung-fu flick, with amazing bits of fighting, of course, but it also kicks ass in that figurative sense: it’s fast and funny and elegant; it has a mythic sweep and a breezy, sophisticated graphic-novel sensibility.

Fortunately, Bandits is not about the suspense of forgetting about that gun and being surprised by its reappearance later. It’s about watching Billy Bob and Bruce Willis fight over Cate Blanchett — hey, who wouldn’t? — with all the clever panache of a 1930s screwball comedy.

Mulholland Drive is more than just welcome — it’s a refreshing change of pace for moviegoers who prefer a mind warp over another car chase or meet cute, even if it isn’t everything we might have hoped for from Lynch’s latest.

Ever felt menaced by 18-wheelers on dark highways? Hoo boy, then here’s the flick for you. Lewis Thomas (Paul Walker: Pleasantville) and his brother, Fuller (Steve Zahn: Saving Silverman), break up the dull hours driving across the desolate American West by playing a little CB prank on a trucker calling himself Rusty Nail. Big mistake: … more…

Like much of the oeuvre of hackmeister supreme John Carpenter, Escape from New York is a far better film if you leave the gloss of nostalgia around it intact. Translation: I remember it being a lot better than it actually is. So if you have fond memories of a long-ago viewing of EFNY, I’d suggest not ruining them by revisiting the film again.

The Believer was the toast of Sundance last winter, winner of the Grand Jury Prize (and also recipient of the Gold St. George at this year’s Moscow International Film Festival). But no distributor would touch it. Why? Because it’s a powerful, inflammatory film about religion that dares to question an ancient faith, and about hatred … more…

The film looks gorgeous — all late-afternoon sunlight and adorably elfin-yet-serious child actors — but that truncheon just keeps bashing you in the head: Isn’t! Growing! Up! Scary! Yet! Kinda! Interesting!