The Rise (aka Wasteland) review
Smooth, accomplished British crime indie tweaks clichés of the genre in a marvelously satisfying way.
reviews
Hawking review
An engaging documentary about the world-famous physicist that emphasizes the challenges of his personal life and the resilience of his humor and spirit.
Cold Comes the Night review: eh, lukewarm, anyway
A familiar-feeling crime thriller is enlivened by unexpectedly down-to-earth, hardbitten characters weighed down by the mundane weariness of life on the edge.
The Call review: the call is coming from inside the movie!
The familiar serial-killer flick gets a welcome shakeup, smashing to smithereens the tired trope of woman-as-victim and offering a bracing new perspective on an oft-told tale.
Prisoners review: the unbearable darkness of being
Please see this movie. We need to let Hollywood know that there is, in fact, an audience for sophisticated drama for adults.
Rush review: man + machine vs man + machine
A thoroughly magnificent film on every level, with astonishing performances by Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl; one of the very best films of 2013.
Insidious: Chapter 2 review: ghost of a chance
The simple elegance of the first film has been lost in a jumbled mess that sometimes hits on fresh angles on ghost stories but most often is shoddy, sloppy, and lazy.
In a World… review: the sound of her voice
A fresh, funny slice-of-life, casually cutting in its feminism and utterly charming in its storytelling.
White House Down review: I’d rather be in Philadelphia
It lifts an embarrassing number of beats from Die Hard… but Channing Tatum is no Bruce Willis.
Red Obsession review: wine goes east
Sly, sometimes funny documentary version of Bottle Shock, with China playing the role of 1970s Napa as it creeps up to smack the snooty Old World wine snobs.
