NYC Film Critic

Tales From the Script
Directed by Peter Hanson
Featuring Allison Anders, John Carpenter, Josh Friedman and William Goldman
***

Because the subjects profiled in the new documentary Tales From the Script, directed by Peter Hanson and co-written and co-produced by Paul Robert Herman, tell stories for a living, it shouldn’t be surprising that this behind-the-scenes look at the art and commerce of Hollywood screenwriting is filled with memorable yarns.

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The Crazies
Directed by Breck Eisner
Starring Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker
**1/2

As much as I enjoy horror movies, there’s one thing about the genre that frustrates me: all too often, the films require their characters to act like total morons in order for the axe-wielding maniac/possessed toy/ghostly apparition/scaly demon spawn to pick them off one by one.
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The Good Guy
Directed by Julio DePietro
Starring Alexis Bledel, Scott Porter, Bryan Greenberg, Anna Chlumsky, Aaron Yoo and Andrew McCarthy
**

Julio DePietro’s directorial debut The Good Guy is based around a genuinely interesting idea–what happens when a person’s words don’t match up with his or her actions?

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October Country
Directed by Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher
Featuring the Mosher Family
***

I’ve always had mixed feelings about a certain type of documentary that, for lack of a better genre label, I’ll call the “home movie doc.”

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The Red Riding Trilogy
Directed by Julian Jarrold, James Marsh and Anand Tucker
Starring Andrew Garfield, Rebecca Hall, Sean Bean, Paddy Considine, Maxine Peake, David Morrissey and Mark Addy.

Individual Ratings:
Red Riding: 1974: ***
Red Riding: 1980: ***1/2
Red Riding: 1983: **1/2

Overall Rating: ***

As a rule, I’m not the world’s biggest crime buff. If I had to rank my favorite genres, stories involving killers/thieves/all-around bad dudes and the cops/agents/vigilantes that pursue them would come in towards the bottom of the list.

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Edge of Darkness
Directed by Martin Campbell
Starring Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston
**
As much as I’d like to avoid turning my review of Edge of Darkness into a referendum on the state of Mel Gibson’s career, it’s impossible to discuss the movie without at least acknowledging the baggage its leading man brings with him.

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Into the Wild
Directed by Sean Penn
Starring Emil Hirsch, Hal Holbrook and Jena Malone.
***1/2

Into the Wild is precisely the movie that Christopher McCandless, the film’s real-life subject, would have wanted made about his life.

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