SHUTTER ISLAND
Martin Scorcese's latest film is a deep and brilliant exposition of guilt and trauma, a meditation on the role of punishment in consciousness, and, ultimately, a meditation on how and whether we know what we think we know.
by Les Phillips
Hardscrabble Freedom
Andrea Arnold's second film, Fish Tank, is a triumph of realistic film-making in the English tradition. Newcomer Katie Jarvis is excellent as a 15-year-old girl seduced by her mother's boyfriend.
by Chris Knipp
Love On the Run
I’m Going to Explode, the story of two Mexican teenagers in rebellion, rises above its youthful flaws with energy, dark humor, and personal style, and an expressive spontaneity that makes it a rich and moving experience.
by Howard Schumann
Also reviewed:
Jules Dassin's He Who Must Die (1957).
MOMMIE DEAREST
Frank Perry's 1981 Joan Crawford biopic was savaged by the critics and is now widely considered a "camp" classic, but it is actually a far better film than its reputation would indicate, largely because of the towering performance by Faye Dunaway.
by Dan Schneider
VIRTUAL UNREALITY
CineScene's Favorites of 2009
In the age of digital video and CGI, the old virtues -- style, story, vision -- still seem to matter. CineScene critics and readers weigh in on their favorite films of 2009.
Darkest Before
the Dawn
A Film Snob's
Favorites of '09
by Chris Dashiell
Everlasting Moments
Veteran Swedish director Jan Troell tells the story of a beleaguered women who uses a camera to save her soul and her sanity, and Everlasting Moments infuses the dark shadows of a troubled life with ineffable beauty.
by Howard Schumann
Eric Rohmer: an Appreciation
Chris Knipp offers his thoughts on the career of the great French director, who died recently at the age of 89.
FLICKS
by Chris DashiellNONE BUT THE LONELY HEART
(Clifford Odets, 1944).
The left-wing playwright Odets displayed his feeling for working class struggle and gave Cary Grant a chance to play a serious role, in this underrated drama about a drifter torn between his love of freedom and the call of responsibility.
THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE
(Peter Yates, 1973).
Robert Mitchum is superb as an aging Boston crook trying to avoid doing time, in a film of gritty naturalism that defies all the stereotypes of the crime film genre.
KES (Ken Loach, 1970).
A Yorkshire mining town boy, trapped in a dead end life, neglected at home at bullied at school, captures and trains a falcon. Loach took working class realism to a new level in this, his second feature.NUMBER SEVENTEEN
(Alfred Hitchcock, 1932).
A quickie from the master's early days about a group of strangers in a dark house grappling with a mystery. The movie suffers from being confined to a single set most of the time, and the plot is confusing, but there are still enjoyments to be had.
IMPROMPTU
(James Lepine, 1991).
A romantic comedy about George Sand and Frederic Chopin would seem to be a long-shot, but the great Judy Davis plays Sand with utter conviction, and the film is a fun concoction.
Airlock
Millions of American workers lost their jobs this year. But that is of no account: Up in the Air wants to know whether George Clooney will find his one true love.
by Les Phillips
Also reviewed: A Single Man.
Stumbling
to Salvation
Crazy Heart is a simple but emotionally resonant movie about a 57-year-old alcoholic country singer (Jeff Bridges) whose career is on the skids. Bridges and his supporting cast deliver some of the year's best acting.
by Chris Knipp
Crazy Like a Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson’s retro stop-motion animated version of the classic Roald Dahl novel, features the silky smooth voice of George Clooney in the title role, in a story that rejoices in the knowledge of how unique we truly are.
by Howard Schumann
Also reviewed : Somers Town
Good Luck, Bad Luck
Christian McKay dominates every scene in Me and Orson Welles, Richard Linklater's affectionate film about a teenager (Zac Efron) who gets involved in Welles' epochal 1937 Mercury Theater production of Julius Caesar.
by Chris Knipp
Days of Rage
Uli Edel’s The Baader-Meinhof Complex tells the story of a controversial radical group called the Red Army Faction, that went on a violent rampage in Germany in the 1970s. The director's aim is to portray as many as the events of this complicated drama as possible, and it succeeds in conveying the half-crazed political atmosphere of the time.
by Chris Dashiell
The Messenger
Oren Moverman's The Messenger tells of two army officers (Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster) with the unenviable job of telling next-of-kin that their loved ones have died in Iraq. Although the film never soars, it feels authentic, and the acting is excellent.
by Chris Knipp
