Blogcritics Category: Video: Art House

TV Review: Slumdog Takes A Bite Out Of Critics Choice Competition

Michael Bialas — Fri, 9 Jan 2009 12:52:30 EST

Love song to Mumbai that has everyone singing its praises is five-time winner at 2009's first major awards telecast.
Slumdog Millionaire is an underdog no more.At least if you believe the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s claim that the Critics Choice Awards are the most reliable predictor of the Academy Awards.Slumdog, a tale about an impoverished boy in India that seeks fame, fortune and love while competing on the country’s version of Who Wants...

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Fri, 9 Jan 2009 12:52:30 EST

DVD Review: The Duchess (2008)

The Masked Movie Snobs — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 18:31:30 EST

An intriguing insight into what women of the time had to do to attain high stature, yet which afforded them no power.
Written by Pollo Misterioso The Duchess is a movie about women. In fact, it is a movie about 18th century English women. But in no way is this movie specifically for women, although one might think differently. Based on a true story, The Duchess is an intriguing insight into what women of the time had to do to attain high stature, yet which...

DVD Review: Mysterious Skin

Dan Schneider — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 17:51:22 EST

A good film that could have been great had its director reined in his own worst tendencies.
In watching the 2004 drama, Mysterious Skin, by filmmaker Gregg Araki, I was reminded of the old gilding the lily nostrum, in that a little bit less would have been a whole lot more, qualitatively, for this film. This is a very good film that certainly had the potential to be great, but its excesses knock it a notch or two below, just enough that...

DVD Review: Brideshead Revisited (2008)

Richard Marcus — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 15:01:10 EST

A remarkable achievement and a wonderful film.
It's difficult enough as it is to try and adapt a well known novel as a movie without disappointing audiences, but when somebody else has already made what many consider the definitive adaptation of the same work, the job becomes nearly impossible. Such was the case for director Julian Jarrold and the rest involved with bringing the version of...

Movie Review: Adam Resurrected

El Bicho — Mon, 5 Jan 2009 23:07:33 EST

Jeff Goldblum's performance makes up for the film's flaws.
Based on Yoram Kaniuk’s 1968 novel, Paul Schrader’s Adam Resurrected is a powerful story about human survival presented through a tour-de-force performance by Jeff Goldblum that is quite possibly the best of his career. The film is very captivating, but its conclusion is unsatisfying because it happens so quickly and is difficult for...

Passport Cinema: Casque d'Or

A.J. Hakari — Sat, 3 Jan 2009 03:48:48 EST

A gun moll and a reformed crook fall for each other in this romantic French gem.
Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet may have set the standard for stories of star-crossed lovers, but by no means was it the first of its kind. It's a tale as old as time, surviving centuries of riffs and renditions thanks to the enduring quality of its core values. In 1952, filmmaker Jacques Becker (Le Trou) assumed the task of carrying on...

Movie Review: The Dungeon Masters

El Bicho — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:21:35 EST

I enjoyed what I saw, but it was no different from learning about the lives of any three strangers.
Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and making its way across the country, Kevin McAlester’s The Dungeon Masters is a documentary that falls into the genre that explores the nerdish or geeky subculture. Here, the viewer is introduced to three current players of the game Dungeons & Dragons, Scott Corum, Richard Meeks,...

Blu-ray Review: Into The Wild

El Bicho — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:36:17 EST

There are lessons to be learned for anyone who goes "Into The Wild."
Adapted from Jon Krakauer’s best-selling 1996 book of the same name, Sean Penn writes and directs the story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who died at the age of 24 in 1992 under undetermined circumstances after living alone in the Alaskan wilderness for approximately 112 days. Penn cut out Krakauer and tales of similar wilderness...

Movie Review: Bettina

Lou Novacheck — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:43:32 EST

She was suffocating in her own greatness.
Bettina tells an incredible story. Bettina is also Sam Bassett’s first professional film project ever, and he’s come through with flying colors. It’s a low-budget film, and it shows, as it’s meant to, and most definitely not in a bad way. Actually, it enhances the movie, lending an extra soupcon of authenticity, and driving...

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Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:43:32 EST

Movie Review: Of Time and the City

Bags — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:08:04 EST

Terence Davies' affecting personal memoir of growing up in post-war Liverpool.
There is nothing more likely to make me balk with horror than anything fitting the description of "English heritage cinema." I think of all of those horrifying Merchant-Ivory productions which wistfully yearned for a glorious, happy period of imperial dominance which clearly never existed in the real world. For many, the antidote to that...