Movie Reviews - Entertainment - BostonHerald.com

'Power' players pack knockout punch

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:06:58 -0400

Try as they might, even the likes of James Brown and B.B. King don't have the star power to trump The Greatest. Without so much as throwing a jab, the legendary...

'Summer' days aren't so hot

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:09:02 -0400

Seemingly grown in a petri dish at Sundance, "(500) Days of Summer" is a quirky, too-clever-by-half indieromantic comedy, and in case you forget it, the filmmakers...

Eye-opening 'Child' casts ethereal aura

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:08:22 -0400

First, I am not going to step into the subject of other people's religions. But let me say that the whole Tibetan-Buddhist reincarnation thing leaves me baffled. ...

One man's 'Windmill' is window on soul

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 19:08:00 -0400

Starting out with a brilliant black-and-white short by its subject, "The Windmill Movie" tells the quixotic tale of a man who could never finish his magnum opus. The...

Sacha Baron Cohen's gay shtick is far from numero 'Bruno'

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:38:06 -0400

Assuming outlandish guises, gulling the gullible and piling on the transgressive jokes, including plenty of gay-panic-inducing antics, is Sacha Baron Cohen's shtick. ...

'Prince' charming: Raging hormones infiltrate Hogwarts in delicious 'Half-Blood'

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:50:23 -0400

It's Harry, Hermione and Ron's sixth year at Hogwarts, and one of the Dark Arts practiced this quarter is "snogging." In "Harry Potter and the...

'Hurt Locker' gripping, stellar take on Iraq

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:00:36 -0400

Finally, the transcendent Iraq war movie. If, like me, you have resisted the filmmaking charms of Kathryn Bigelow ("Near Dark," "Blue Steel," "Point...

Fleck pours 'Heart' into flick

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:01:11 -0400

As a musician, Bela Fleck is an exemplary talent. As a documentarian, he could use some practice. As the star of director Sascha Paladino's documentary "Throw...

'Herb' artfelt fun

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:05:45 -0400

Are Manhattan's most accomplished modern art collectors a former Brooklyn librarian and retired U.S. postal worker? That appears to be the case in the delightful...

'Beth Cooper': Somewhat lovable

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:51:27 -0400

Is it better to open your mouth and say what you think? Or forever hold your peace and maybe regret that decision forever? That is the dilemma facing high school valedictorian...

You'll be out for 'Blood'

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:49:15 -0400

Hey, Buffy, your replacement has arrived. In "Blood: The Last Vampire," South Korean actress and model Gianna Jun plays vampire-slayer extraordinaire Saya. ...

'Ice Age' excitement is gradually becoming extinct

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:48:13 -0400

They're beating this woolly mammoth to death, already. Even squirrelly Scrat, last seen shilling for Happy Meals, has lost his luster in the latest 3D-CGI extravaganza...

Thrillinger! 'Public Enemies' could become America's most wanted ticket

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:47:55 -0400

America's love affair with gangsters and gangster movies started when such writers as 1920s Chicago crime reporter Ben Hecht ("Underworld," "Scarface")...

Avoid hooking up with this 'Girl'

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:45:14 -0400

A surprisingly muddled effort from France, Anne Fontaine's "The Girl from Monaco" starts out like a cross between a sun-splashed noir and a Francis Weber mismatched-buddy...

'Jerichow' rings up an old theme

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:28:12 -0400

A variation on a theme of the 1946 film noir landmark "The Postman Always Rings Twice,""Jerichow" makes the plot nicely topical. Instead of a beautiful...

Clips: Movie reviews in brief

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:30:57 -0400

"MY SISTER'S KEEPER" Rated PG-13 Grade: B "My Sister's Keeper," an unapologetic tear-jerker from Nick Cassavetes ("The...

Little enthusiasm for 'Whatever'

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:51:14 -0400

Woody Allen's "Whatever Works" has an optimistic title for a movie that marks a not-quite-satisfactory return to his beloved New York. After making four...

In 'Cheri,' lesson is amour

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:16:03 -0400

Set in pre-WWI Paris, "Cheri," adapted from Colette's novel by the Oscar-winning Christopher Hampton, is a love story about two people who don't want to...

Camera loves Diaz in 'Sister's Keeper'

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 01:10:20 -0400

Is it possible to make a subtle film about a dying child? "My Sister's Keeper," an unapologetic tear-jerker from Nick Cassavetes ("The Notebook")...

Iranian oppression etched in 'Stoning'

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 16:09:24 -0400

It's a black-and-white, good-vs.-evil world in "The Stoning of Soraya M." This anti-Iranian-fundamentalist drama depicts the horrifying, barbaric extermination...

Let's discount '$9.99'

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:49:31 -0400

Another potential one-week wonder at the smorgasbord known as the Kendall Square Cinema, the 2008 Australian-made stop-motion feature "$9.99" arrives, and my reaction...

Robo flop: 'Transformers' fans should not seek 'Revenge'

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:56:15 -0400

Fie, robot. Nobody does the art of wretched excess onscreen better than Michael Bay, the Wizard of Duhs and Maestro of Mayhem. Bay has now directed a sequel to his 2007 global...