Maidentrip review: all is found
A remarkable documentary about a remarkable kid, and an incredibly optimistic look one young person making her dreams come true.
on the road
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty review: Ben Stiller’s excellent adventure
An airy fairy tale, buoyed by an infectious joy, about the very modern, bittersweetly pragmatic ache that comes with maintaining your soul and integrity as the world falls apart around you.
Walking with Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie review: where is an extinction-level event when you need one?
Sub-vaudeville 1950s sitcom humor and a horrifically dated message about boys as heroes and girls as the heroes’ property. You know, for kids!
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.
Philomena review: suffer the women
A cry-till-you-laugh-dramedy about seeking lost family and finding new purpose; Judi Dench and Steve Coogan are fantastic. Seriously, though: bring Kleenex.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire review: reluctant heroine
A devastating indictment of pop culture as propaganda — about its power and the limits of its powers — and an upending of the typical teen-girl romance movie.
Mistaken for Strangers review (London Film Festival)
Perhaps the least bullshitting, most unostentatious rock doc ever, often as hilarious as This Is Spinal Tap, though with a different aim in mind in the end…
Side by Side review (London Film Festival) (world premiere)
Misses more marks than it attempts to hit, but there’s a refreshing sweetness to this child’s-eye view of grief and tragedy.
As I Lay Dying review (London Film Festival)
If this isn’t a deliberate parody of furiously solemn, self-conscious artistic pretension, it’s an accidental one.
We’re the Millers review: broken bad
Reason No. 34,075 to legalize drugs: it would eliminate painfully unfunny comedies like this one. Comedy shouldn’t make you pity the comedians.
