A Most Wanted Man 1/2 Opening Friday The 9/11 attacks were largely planned in the German port city of Hamburg. It was here that the terror cell led by Mohamed Atta first made contact with Al-Qaeda, in the late-’90s, from an apartment that was being monitored by both the CIA and German intelligence agencies. We’re […]
Glenn McDonald
Posted inCulture
Movie review: Living and dying well in Life Itself, a documentary on noted film critic Roger Ebert by Hoop Dreams director Steve James
Life Itself★★★★ Now playingFor me, the movies are like a machine that generates empathy. — Roger EbertLife Itself, director Steve James’ extraordinary documentary on film critic Roger Ebert, is more than just a biographical profile of the man who would become America’s most popular and influential film critic. It’s a film about living well and […]
Posted inFilm & Television
New on DVD and digital: Laughter and subtlety in Le Week-End; Julia Louis-Dreyfus shines in Veep
Editor’s note: “Bonus Materials,” a new column by Glenn McDonald, highlights new movie and TV releases on DVD, digital download and streaming services. After its debut here in print, the column continues every other week on our Arts blog. The experience of watching a movie is changing rapidly. For 70 years or so, there was […]
Posted inFilm & Television
A study in stillness in Ida
IDA Opens Friday Very cold and very beautiful, director Pawel Pawlikowski’s IDA requires careful attention. Photographed in highly textured black-and-white, with a lean plot and sparse dialogue, it’s the sort of film whose depths must be actively plumbed. In the frigid winter of rural Poland in 1962, a teenage nun named Anna is weeks away […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Family-friendly aliens in Earth to Echo
EARTH TO ECHO Opens Friday It’s very difficult to make a Steven Spielberg moviewhich is why, in general, only Steven Spielberg attempts it. A few guys can make it work. J.J. Abrams did it a few years back with Super 8. But it’s usually a bad idea. And so it is with EARTH TO ECHO, […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Tammy
TAMMY Opens Friday Melissa McCarthy can be very funny. Click around online for the gag reel from Bridesmaids or This is 40 to see what a formidable improv comic she is. Unfortunately, the first few scenes of TAMMY, McCarthy’s first headlining comedy, come off surprisingly lame. An “uh-oh” feeling hangs in the air. Then the […]
Posted inCulture
Movie review: Abortion fuels an unlikely but winning rom-com in Obvious Child
Obvious Child★★★1/2 Now playingObvious Child is the kind of underdog indie movie that just makes you glad all over. Glad that the people responsible made it. Glad that other people, with more money, were smart enough to get it into theaters. Glad that you saw it, and glad that other people will see it, too. […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Weird pacing undercuts strong performances in this dark post-apocalyptic drama
THE ROVER Opens Friday In 1983, ABC aired The Day After, a made-for-TV movie about the effects of a nuclear war in small-town America. It was hyped as the scary movie to end all scary movies. At the tender age of 11, I was forbidden to watch it. Naturally, I sneaked down to the basement […]
Posted inCulture
Movie review: Palo Alto
Palo Alto ★★1/2 Now playing Teenagers are pitiful, terrible creatures. Hmm, that sounds a bit harsh, but here’s what I mean: They’re pitiful in that they deserve pity, and terrible in that they’re simply incomplete. They’re not fully formed people yet, and as such they don’t function very well. It’s a miracle any of us […]
Posted inFilm & Television
Time-traveling mutants in X-Men: Days of Future Past
It’s a sobering moment in a nerd’s life when the comic book movie finally loses its appeal. X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST is the latest installment in the superhero franchise, and it’s about as well-done as these movies can be. The story is tight, the characters are compelling and the action sequences are bananas. But […]
