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BIFF: The Rocket
Superstitions of rural Laos lay the groundwork for this award-winning film from Australian director Kim Mordaunt...
Short but sweet
For decades, the Oscar for short film was the ignored stepchild of the Academy Awards. In times of limited distribution, the question was never which short film deserved the award most, but rather which nominee had been viewed by the most judges. The award was a ...
A solid but soulless adaptation
Sleek and, until a stupidly violent climax, very entertaining, Unknown is the opposite of Memento. It’s about a man who knows who he is but everybody around him has forgotten, or thinks he’s delusional, or lying...
reel to reel | Week of Feb 23, 2012
ACT OF VALOR After the rescue of a kidnapped CIA operative leads to the discovery of a terrorist plot against the U.S., a team of Navy Seals is dispatched on a worldwide manhunt to foil the attack. At Century. Colony Square, Twin Peaks. — Los Angeles Times/MCT ...
Bad title, good movie
Forty-five minutes or so into Tower Heist, the question arises: Is this movie with the title of purest generica — was “Stealing Money” taken? — truly good, or simply less bad than most of what director Brett Ratner has done previously...
‘Edge of Darkness’ needs more Gibson
Moviegoers can rest easy. Mel Gibson is back in the business of starring in violent, paranoid thrillers. Back in the business of starring in movies — period...
Mastering the mob mentality
In 1997 Sicilian-born filmmaker Marco Amenta made an hour-long documentary about Rita Atria, the young woman who risked her life by ratting out various members of the Sicilian mob — including members of her own family — pulling the strings and the triggers in the ...
Three’s a charm
If Toy Story 3 had sprung, Slinky Doglike, from any creative think tank besides Pixar Animation Studios, it might be considered a classic. As is, it’s a good sequel to the 1999 Toy Story 2 and the 1995 original. After a rather shrill and conventional first half, ...
Poorly timed gun fetishization
Slipping into a funk while watching half of Los Angeles get shot up in the second half of The Green Hornet, I was struck by the sheer unluckiness of this film’s timing...
