Acutely observed, subtly but sharply written and expertly acted, What Maisie Knew transports Henry James’s 1897 novel to contemporary Manhattan with warmth, intelligence and grace, thanks to Scott McGehee and David Siegel, the astute directing team responsible for the devastating 2001 film The Deep End. This one is just as good, and is equally unforgettable. Read More
Sue who?
Aside from the fact that she doesn’t sing, the only trepidation I’ve encountered about Bette Midler’s sensational one-woman show I’ll Eat You Last, about the sassy, splashy, tart-tongued Hollywood super-agent Sue Mengers, is the concern that the Divine Miss M might be playing a colorful “insider” so obscure that the general public has Read More
As a narrative feature in which inspired actors re-enact the real-life adventures of Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl on his legendary 5,000-mile voyage by raft from Peru to Polynesia in 1947, this remake of Kon-Tiki is ceaselessly enthralling. It is also a bit too long, with too many lulls between thrills devoted to near-death encounters with Read More
Two lost souls on the highway of life—that’s what a well-acted but benign little trifle called Arthur Newman is about. Wallace Avery (Colin Firth) is a meek, unhappy man who decides to fake his own death, leaving his wallet and passport behind on a Florida beach, and starts over again with a new identity as Read More
Movies about farming interest me about as much as the devaluation of the Chinese yuan. So it is with querulous satisfaction that I find At Any Price, an uneven but timeless story of the decline of the American family farm during perilous times of increasing corporate control, so personal, human and compelling. Dennis Quaid, who Read More
Robert Bartleh Cummings, better known as Rob Zombie, heavy metal screamer and director of such trash as House of 1000 Corpses, is a goremeister who turns movies into the cinematic equivalent of sonic waterboarding. The new one is a tale from the crypt called The Lords of Salem. It would make a much better comic Read More
French auteur and film festival favorite François Ozon, a specialist in psychosexual thrillers such as Swimming Pool and Under the Sand (both starring the alluring Charlotte Rampling), lost his edge and his footing with his last six releases. It’s good to see him return to form with In the House, a suspenseful study of a Read More
Talk about lousy timing. On the heels of his triumphant, Oscar-winning Argo, Ben Affleck now has the bad luck to have to suffer through the postponed release of To the Wonder, a lethally boring and relentlessly inert disaster by the pretentious writer-director Terrence Malick that he probably considered unreleasable. It was Mr. Affleck himself who, Read More
Movies about baseball heroes usually suffer from one of two problems: too much about the sport and not enough about the hero, or too much heroism and not enough baseball. 42, the latest in a long line of movies about Jackie Robinson—a hero who defines the word heroic—finds a nice balance between the man and Read More
Another cautionary tale about the dangers of technology, Disconnect has a lot to say about how we live now—online, 24/7, drained of love, faith, the joy of serendipity and the pleasure of intimate communication. Vitally contemporary and relevant but with a bracing respect for narrative coherence, it centers on three separate sets of people who Read More
