Considering we’ve always been a bit, shall we say, wary (read: terrified) of both outer space and robots, imagine our surprise to discover just how enjoyable a moviegoing experience Moon is. Sam Rockwell plays Sam Bell, an astronaut who is close to completing a three-year contract with a company that mines Helium-3—one of the main Read More
It is something of a relief to find Away We Go nestled in theaters among the summer season blockbustery craziness. It’s one of those rare movies that manages to be both wickedly funny and also incredibly poignant to the point where, yes, tears might be shed. Written by novelists and real-life married couple Dave Eggers Read More
After all the scary future robots and Trekkies and Ben Stiller at the museum, you’d be forgiven if you were looking for a meditative break of some sort. On June 3, the Film Forum premieres Unmistaken Child, a documentary chronicling the search for a reincarnated Tibetan master. We’ll be honest: We know nothing about Tibetan Read More
Is it weird that of all the great Owen Wilson screen performances out there—we’re including The Royal Tenenbaums, Zoolander and Marley and Me—we kinda love him the best as the itsy-bitsy miniature cowboy Jedediah in these Night at the Museum movies? We can’t explain it. … The man says “flapjack” and we’re sold. So, yes, Read More
The first name of the title character in O’Horten is Odd. This is apparently a common Norwegian name, but it also sets the mood for this quirky little film from Bent Hamer (Factotum). Odd Horten (a terrifically restrained Bård Owe) is a taciturn kind of man who has lived a quiet life, dedicated to his Read More
Don’t we all have a friend (or three) who makes a big fuss over the way their random possessions—alarm clock, shampoo bottle, light switch, dining room chair or vacuum cleaner—are designed? Hey, great for them! For these folks, nothing will be better than the new documentary Objectified (opening at the IFC center on May 8), Read More
Here’s a question we found ourselves pondering while watching Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: If Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner were a real-life couple and then they had a baby, would its entire face be one giant dimple? ’Cause we’re telling you, the dimple action in this movie between the two comely stars is downright distracting! Read More
We’re in that weird time zone of movie releases right now, somewhere between studio dumping grounds and their big-budget extravaganzas (only two more weeks till X-Men Origins: Wolverine!). But for those searching for some quality filmmaking, look no further than film festival favorite and winner of Cannes’ jury prize Il Divo, a fascinating portrait of Read More
The thing about the classic 1975 Maysles brothers documentary Grey Gardens, which follows Jackie O.’s eccentric and reclusive relatives Big and Little Edie Beale, is that beyond all of its campy craziness—and boy, there is an awful lot—there is real sadness, too (and lessons to be learned: namely, stop adopting cats and don’t move home Read More
Does Canadian heavy metal seem like an oxymoronic proposition? Perhaps. And yet there’s real-life Canuck thrashers Anvil, an early ’80s group that seemed poised at one point to join the ranks of Metallica and Slayer, but inexplicably fizzled along the way.
In Anvil! The Story of Anvil, a most entertaining documentary from Sacha Gervasi, we Read More
