my week at the movies: ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still,’ ‘Doubt,’ ‘Nothing Like the Holidays,’ ‘Yes Man,’ ‘What Doesn’t Kill You,’ ‘Delgo,’ ‘The Tale of Despereaux,’ ‘Valkyrie’ (and on stage, ‘Equus’)

I mentioned in comments here how December for film critics is so insanely busy it feels like there’s no time to sleep. A week like this is what makes me feel this way. Today’s not so bad, as far as being jam-packed with screenings goes, except that today my first screening was at 10am, and … more…

5 reasons I’m psyched for ‘The Brothers Bloom’

All this weekend! 5 movies I’m psyched for in December and 5 reasons why. No. 4: The Brothers Bloom [opens in the U.S. on December 19; no U.K. release date has been set yet]. 1. It’s the sophmore film from writer-director Rian Johnson, whose first feature was the astonishingly unique Brick. That one turned film … more…

Zodiac movie review: killer movie

Fincher rivets us through what could have been an interminable two-hour-and-forty-minute runtime, by daringly jumping through a crime spree that spanned decades with brisk panache, boiling it down into slices of suspense, drama, and fear, with a bit of media criticism thrown in sideways for spice.