Woman in Gold movie review: more than just a pretty picture
A deeply moving and very satisfying piece of entertainment that knits up seemingly disparate elements in a tapestry of family pain and pride.
girls/women
The DUFF movie review: a kinder shade of cruel
This high-school comedy avoids the worst clichés of the genre and resists rather than indulges the worst tendencies of adolescence. Which is a rare thing.
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night movie review: blood pressure
The Iranian skateboarding vampire feminist spaghetti western we have all been waiting for, creepy cool and gorgeously sinister, engorged with suspense and desire.
Wild Tales (Relatos salvajes) movie review: revenge served hot
This anthology of six bleakly funny shorts is a mixed bag that ranges from anticlimactic but intriguing to “Oh my God, did I just laugh out loud at that?”
A Second Chance movie review: cops and fathers
An impossible tragedy, a movie that confounds all expectations and is full of a terrible suspense. You have never seen a cop movie like this before.
Home movie review: lots of places like it
Science fiction with training wheels, fine for sucking the kiddies into geekery but with little appeal for grownup fans of animated genre adventure.
The Divergent Series: Insurgent movie review: being human
Sneakily undercuts tropes of the young-adult hero’s journey. But in a more adventurous movie environment, this wouldn’t feel this fresh as it does.
Suite Française movie review: enemy mine to love
An immediate and intimate tale of forbidden romance and other complex emotions and contradictory obligations. This ain’t history but a very human now.
October Gale movie review: islands in the scream
It’s not very suspenseful or romantic, but the always awesome Patricia Clarkson remains calm and kicks some ass, so that’s something.
Cinderella movie review: fifty shades of ash
A product of the Disney princess machine. Its highest ambition is to move a new line of toys. Or to evoke despair in the fairy-tale-ization of girls’ lives.
