Film
Oddball ‘Moneyball’ is an Unlikely Success
“Moneyball” is the quintessential anti-sports movie. It is a baseball film in which the actual game barely features, and the players themselves are given mere bit parts in their own story.
Sugar-Coated 'Dolphin Tale' Flounders
One suspects that a Morgan Freeman–narrated documentary about dolphins in their natural habitats would have felt less forced and proven much more compelling.
Korean Film Probes Masculine Ideal
The Korea Institute presented “Bungee Jumping of Their Own,” the first of five films screening as part of the Institute’s Korean Cinematheque program titled “Male Affections: Re-Gendering Korean Masculinity.”
Jonah Hill ‘Just Wants to Make Cool Stuff’
In just over five years, Jonah Hill has gone from being a side-splitting minor character in assorted Judd Apatow movies to an actor widely recognized for his unmistakable talent, even outside of comedy films.
‘I Don’t Know How She Does It’ Holds Little Broad Appeal
Despite its talented cast, the film merely rehashes a familiar set of stock characters—the Office Jerk, the Supermom, the Critical Mother-in-Law—without doing much to shake up the genre, or our expectations regarding the plotline.
Hypnotic 'Drive' is a Gritty Triumph
The film’s explicit violence and implicit tension are disconcerting, volatile and gripping, succeeding on a visceral level alongside effective and twisted storytelling.
'Straw Dogs' is Too Coarse for Comfort
“Straw Dogs” is too often tactlessly explicit with its message and imagery, and in so doing sacrifices any sense of subtlety. The film wields the cinematic equivalent of a sledgehammer, when its material calls for a scalpel.
