The Love Punch review: below the belt
The jokes are as creaky as the aching bunions and bad backs onscreen, but Emma Thompson and Pierce Brosnan are incandescent together.
heist
Muppets Most Wanted review: that’ll do, frog
Kermit the Frog takes on his biggest challenge yet: dual roles. And truly puts the villain in vaudevillian.
The Art of the Steal review: steal from the best
One of the most fun heist movies ever, bursting with snappy humor and a twisty cleverness that knows that you know that you are getting conned, too…
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug review: are we there yet?
Smaug is a magnificent cinematic creation… but there’s no good reason it takes so damn long to get to him.
Metro Manila review: world cinema writ small
One of the most enrapturing experiences I had at the movies in 2013: fiercely, grandly humanist, and almost unbearably tragic.
The Rise (aka Wasteland) review
Smooth, accomplished British crime indie tweaks clichés of the genre in a marvelously satisfying way.
Elysium review: third world rock from the sun
Neill Blomkamp cements his science-fiction credentials as a filmmaker with a genre vision the likes of which we haven’t seen since the socially conscious SF of the 1970s.
Now You See Me review: popcorn with glitter on top
Most of it makes no sense at all, but who cares? This is cheerful ridiculousness pulled off with panache.
Trance (review)
Deliciously preposterous, with misdirections and red herrings scattered about like enigmatic confetti…
Killing Them Softly (review)
Turns a dark mirror on crime mythology to reflect a startling, unflattering image of America.
