Lessons of Darkness

Looper (2012): A-

2012-09-30T15:52:54-04:00

Fulfilling the ambitions of his debut Brick, Rian Johnson crafts a scintillating neo-noir gem of existential quandaries and inescapable fatalism with Looper. In 2044, Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) works as a Looper – a mob assassin who, because it's too tough...

The Master (2012): A-

2012-09-14T00:08:32-04:00

A taut, unnerving thematic follow-up to There Will Be Blood as well as the work of Stanley Kubrick, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master investigates the line between bestiality and civility through the 1950 story of Naval veteran Freddie Quell (Joaquin...

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011): B+

2011-12-13T09:24:34-05:00

Subpar material gets a tonal and aesthetic – and, by extension, thematic – boost from directorial virtuosity in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher’s American remake of the Stieg Larsson best-seller that was first adapted for the screen...

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011): B+

2011-12-12T15:46:19-05:00

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a film about death, and the dead men who willingly and hopelessly ensnare themselves in lies, subterfuge and detached amorality. Condensing John le Carré’s seminal 1974 spy novel (originally adapted into an Alec Guinness-headlined 1979...

The Adventures of Tintin (2011): B+

2011-12-12T15:42:26-05:00

Credit motion-capture technology for reinvigorating Steven Spielberg, who with The Adventures of Tintin (produced by Peter Jackson, who will direct its forthcoming sequel) recaptures the same buoyant, childlike B-movie zest that powered his first three Indiana Jones efforts. Never has...

The Descendants (2011): C+

2011-12-12T15:38:59-05:00

Alexander Payne takes the easy way out time and again in The Descendants, a tale that wants to be mature but can’t help shortchanging its drama through constant reliance on its protagonist’s unimpeachable nobility. Lawyer Matt King (George Clooney) is...

Carnage (2011): B+

2011-10-01T21:00:20-04:00

Peeling back societal facades of cheerful propriety and political correctness to reveal the ugliness of human nature is Carnage’s somewhat familiar and clichéd aim, yet Roman Polanski’s adaptation of Yasmina Reza’s heralded play “God of Carnage” offsets its familiar thematic...

Take Shelter (2011): B+

2011-09-30T09:05:58-04:00

A mood of ominous psychotic dread and two finely calibrated performances successfully compensate for a slight final misstep in Take Shelter. Likely destined to be compared to Melancholia, another tale in which internal chaos threatens to manifest itself in apocalyptic...

Moneyball (2011): B

2011-09-30T09:03:42-04:00

Co-screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s baseball variation on The Social Network, Moneyball focuses on another outsider-rebel-wunderkind determined to upend traditional social and business paradigms through technological innovation via the story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), the general manager of Major League Baseball’s...

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011): B-

2011-09-12T17:29:09-04:00

Rise of the Planet of the Apes takes the predictable franchise-rebooting route, delivering a modern-day origin story about the ascension to intelligence and power of the planet’s simians. That climb up the evolutionary ladder comes courtesy of Will (James Franco),...

Take Me Home Tonight (2011): C-

2011-09-12T17:27:08-04:00

‘80s nostalgia has evolved from cheeky fun to putrid cultural stain, and Take Me Home Tonight merely furthers that progression, trotting out shoulder pads, big hair, Michael Jackson dance moves and Appetite for Destruction album covers as dim-witted signs of...

Drive (2011): A-

2011-09-12T10:51:34-04:00

Brutal men in desperate situations are Nicolas Winding Refn’s (Bronson, the Pusher Trilogy, Valhalla Rising) stock and trade, a preoccupation that continues with Drive, the story of a nameless Hollywood stuntman and auto-mechanic (Ryan Gosling) who spends his evenings working...

3 (2010): C

2011-09-12T10:51:11-04:00

Tom Tykwer dazzles the eye and dulls the mind with 3, the Run Lola Run director’s tedious promotion of a new identity-definition paradigm. In modern-day Berlin, long-time couple Hanna (Sophie Rois) and Simon (Sebastian Schipper) are struggling with a loss...

Contagion (2011): B+

2011-09-12T10:47:27-04:00

Everything goes viral in Contagion – most critically a rampant new disease that threatens to wipe the globe clean, but also fear, rumor, panic and information. Sharing with his Oscar-winning Traffic a multi-character, multi-focus structure, Steven Soderbergh’s pandemic thriller fixates...

Our Idiot Brother (2011): C+

2011-09-12T10:33:26-04:00

Paul Rudd is a divine moron who brings peace and harmony to his secretly miserable sisters in Our Idiot Brother, a pleasant-enough trifle that ensnares itself in the uneasy middle ground between indie drama and dumb-guy comedy. The titular doofus...