Interstellar movie review: trading worry for wonder
Thrilling intellectually and viscerally, full of stirring notions of what humanity is capable of, and full of hope. A wonderfully refreshing sort of SF.
reviews
Extraterrestrial movie review: no intelligent life on Earth
Utterly empty. It’s aware of the tropes of the new mythos of alien abductions, but makes no attempt to find anything even the slightest bit fresh in them.
Mr. Turner movie review: in the concrete abstract
This is no stuffy costume drama but a richly lived-in visit to early-19th-century England that is rough, bawdy, often funny, and more often unsettling.
Le Jour Se Lève (Daybreak) movie review: man on the edge
Serious film fans will appreciate the 4K restoration of this 1939 French melodrama, which has been all but unseen for 75 years.
The Book of Life movie review: what’s a woman for?
The animation is fresh, unique, and gorgeous. But we don’t need another tale of a man having exciting adventures while a woman waits around to marry him.
The Babadook movie review: mother of nightmares
Genuinely horrific and deeply scary in a way that draws on the most primal of emotions. A horror flick with rare emotional and psychological resonance.
Citizenfour documentary review (London Film Festival)
Edward Snowden speaks. Buy a ticket to this film… and use your credit card, so the NSA knows you care about this stuff.
23 Blast movie review: do they play football in Heaven?
The clunky script and amateurish performances are not unexpected in the faith-based genre, but its dubious “inspiration” gives even diehard-atheist me pause.
A Picture of You movie review: family secrets
There’s nothing forced or sentimental here, and more than a modicum of bleak humor, but as laid-back indies go, this one may be a tad too laid-back.
Serena movie review: logging for pulp
What starts out as solid romantic melodrama — almost Golden Age of Hollywood stuff — gets so crazy so fast in so many ways.
