Screen
Fantastic furry fun in ‘Mr. Fox’
In a world of children’s films increasingly characterized by technological accomplishment and sophisticated rendering in lieu of good old-fashioned storytelling, it was a breath of fresh air to enjoy the stop-motion Fantastic Mr. Fox...
‘Red Cliff’ a rare war movie invested in strategy
Red Cliff is the first Chinese-language film from John Woo in more than a decade, and reportedly the most expensive Chineselanguage movie ever made (though, once you see its Lord of the Rings-like immensity, that “reportedly” becomes “oh, totally”). It is two-and-...
Reitman follows ‘Juno’ with ‘Up in the Air’
Airports, with their endless corridors, encourage a kind of...
Cage shines as corrupt New Orleans cop
"Anything’s possible in this storm!” says the man with the badge in Werner Herzog’s delirious Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, a true feat of daring and one of the craziest films of the year. It’s a very loose remake of 1992’s Bad Lieutenant, in which ...
Farce gone awry in ‘Planet 51’
How might a teenager protect himself from that dreaded fate described in legions of sci-fi movies — the probe? If you weren’t thinking “champagne cork,” you were way off, according to the sci-fi kids cartoon Planet 51...
‘Ninja Assassin’ run-of-the-mill
In Japan, where the blades are shiny and sharp and if the...