Omar movie review: trust no one
Palestine’s official submission for the Best Foreign Language Oscar is terse, tense suspense drama, and less overtly political than you might expect.
non-English-language
The Lunchbox review: when souls meet (for a meal)
A charming, bittersweet, utterly chaste love affair forged over food and cemented by kindred spirits.
Cutie and the Boxer review: a canvas of her own
A sly, subversive portrait of an artist finally finding her voice… and the “genius” husband in whose shadow she has long lingered.
Ernest & Celestine review: bear and mouse are friends
Might be the most ridiculously cute movie I’ve ever seen, in a way that transforms adorableness into something honest and wise and deeply satisfying.
The Wind Rises review: Jiro dreams of flying
Visually ravishing, as you’d expect from Hayao Miyazaki, but there is, disappointingly, no drama and no conflict here.
Stranger by the Lake review: a cautionary tale about bad boys
As an exercise in style, this minimalist noir erotic thriller is pretty cool. But it loses its way somewhere around the midpoint and never quite finds it again.
Stalingrad review: life among the ruins
Russia’s first 3D IMAX spectacle is visually intense, but I never warmed to a story meant to be about human resilience.
Easy Money and Easy Money: Hard to Kill review: easy money… isn’t
Easy Money is a smart, affecting, slow burn of a movie, a spectacular example of Nordic noir. The sequel suffers by comparison, though.
Gloria review: can you handle the truth?
A smart, incisive portrait of a woman who lives life on her own terms and doesn’t let herself get pushed around.
Oscar Nominated Animated Shorts (86th Academy Awards) review
The French “Mr. Hublot” creates an utterly real yet completely fantastical world, a palpable steampunk environment of gorgeous mechanical loveliness.
