Archive for April, 2010

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Tribeca Film Festival Dispatch #2

More reviews from the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.

Comments Off - Posted in Film Festivals by Ethan

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

Q Rating

Behind the Burly Q
Directed by Leslie Zemeckis
**1/2

If nothing else, Leslie Zemeckis’ new documentary Behind the Burly Q functions as a lovingly made scrapbook for the memories of the men and women that populated the burlesque scene in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s.

Comments Off - Posted in Film Review, NYC Film Critic by Ethan

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Tribeca Film Festival Dispatch #1

My first batch of reviews from the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival

Comments Off - Posted in Film Festivals by Ethan

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

Losin’ It

A great cast is wasted in the sub-par comic book movie The Losers, based on Andy Diggle’s hugely entertaining series.  Read my review at Film Journal.

Comments Off - Posted in Film Journal International, Film Review by Ethan

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

I Gave At The Office

Writer/director Nicole Holofcener’s latest dramedy has the goods to be a modest spring hit before the summer move onslaught begins.  Read my review over at Film Journal.

Comments Off - Posted in Film Journal International, Film Review by Ethan

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

Kicking Ass and Taking Names

Kick-Ass
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Starring Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloë Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage.
**1/2
Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass begins in the real world and ends up firmly in comic-book land.  I suppose that’s only appropriate seeing as how the film is adapted from a comic-book, an eight-issue limited series by celebrated comics scribe Mark Millar.  On the page [...]

1 Comment » - Posted in Film Review, NYC Film Critic by Ethan

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Strange Days

When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors
Directed by Tom DiCillo
**
Tom DiCillo’s new rock doc When You’re Strange is subtitled A Film About The Doors, but really it’s a film about that band’s iconic frontman, one Jim Morrison, a controversial figure who continues inspire devotion and loathing in equal measure almost forty years after [...]

Comments Off - Posted in Film Review, NYC Film Critic by Ethan

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Different Strokes

Women Without Men
Directed by Shirin Neshat
Starring Pegah Ferydoni, Arita Shahrzad, Shabnam Tolouei, Orsi Toth
**1/2

Women Without Men is the kind of movie I always feel slightly guilty about not liking more.  A beautifully filmed, richly allegorical picture set against the backdrop of the 1953 coup that replaced Iran’s Prime Minister with the Shah, the film [...]

Comments Off - Posted in Film Review, NYC Film Critic by Ethan

Monday, April 5th, 2010

Hollywood and Whine

Greenberg
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Starring Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans
***1/2

After the disappointing critical and commercial response to Margot at the Wedding (a movie that I actually liked quite a bit), it would have been completely understandable had Noah Baumbach chosen to bounce back by accepting a work-for-hire gig on an upbeat tweenybopper romance or [...]

Comments Off - Posted in Film Review, NYC Film Critic by Ethan

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Titans Assemble!

Those wacky Greek gods are butting heads again in the new Clash of the Titans and its up to Perseus to save the day once more.  (Too bad he leaves the robot owl at home.)  Read my review over at Film Journal.

Comments Off - Posted in Film Journal International, Film Review by Ethan