NYC Film Critic

More reviews from the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival.

(more…)

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.
(more…)

My first batch of reviews from the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival

(more…)

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.

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.

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 at least, Millar aimed for a tone that was both outlandish and grittily real; the violence was over-the-top (the amount of blood and gore on display rivals an Evil Dead flick) but the characters were all too human, marching into battle with little besides their fists, batons, or, in one case, a flame-thrower, and frequently coming away with serious injuries. 

(more…)

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 his death.

(more…)

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 has clearly been crafted with care as well as an intensely critical eye, which is more than you can say for most slapdash big-budget vehicles like, say, The Bounty Hunter, or even an enjoyable indie diversion like The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

(more…)

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 a madcap buddy picture…you know, something lighthearted and fun starring characters that viewers actually like.

(more…)

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.