Movie Reviews

The Vow has predictably saccharine charm

The Vow has predictably saccharine charm

By Patty Jones | February 10, 2012
The sugary, sticky, amnesia romance The Vow makes you want to hit somebody on the noggin with a large rubber mallet. Actually, twice, for good measure.
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We Need to Talk About Kevin is transfixing and traumatizing

We Need to Talk About Kevin is transfixing and traumatizing

By Patty Jones | February 9, 2012
Is your love for Tilda Swinton greater than your fear of movies involving evil children?
Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is aimed squarely at the preteen set

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is aimed squarely at the preteen set

By John Lekich | February 9, 2012
Journeyman director Brad Peyton does his best to endow the proceedings with a certain musty charm.
Chico & Rita is a delightful riot of colour, design, emotion, and music

Chico & Rita is a delightful riot of colour, design, emotion, and music

By Ken Eisner | February 9, 2012
It is one of this year’s Oscar nominees for animated features, but Chico & Rita would deserve a top prize in whatever category it was found.
Chronicle is a mesmerizing display of teen angst unleashed

Chronicle is a mesmerizing display of teen angst unleashed

By Steve Newton | February 3, 2012
Director Josh Trank and scripter Michael Landis have a blockbuster on their hands.
The Woman in Black piles on the creepiness

The Woman in Black piles on the creepiness

By Steve Newton | February 2, 2012
The Woman in Black successfully plumbs the atmospheric vibe of The Haunting but is even more disturbing because all its bad stuff happens to little kids.
Big Miracle is a good-looking, family-oriented effort

Big Miracle is a good-looking, family-oriented effort

By Ken Eisner | February 2, 2012
Originally called Everybody Loves Whales, the fact-based Big Miracle stars John Krasinski as a fictional newsman stationed in Barrow, Alaska in 1988.
Pink Ribbons, Inc. pulls no punches

Pink Ribbons, Inc. pulls no punches

By Janet Smith | February 2, 2012
It names names, takes on massive corporations, and rips into one of the charity world’s most revered symbols of hope.
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is pretty indirect

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is pretty indirect

By Mark Harris | February 2, 2012
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia's indirectness is both its greatest strength and its greatest weakness.
Appearances are deceiving in genderbending Albert Nobbs

Appearances are deceiving in genderbending Albert Nobbs

By Ken Eisner | February 2, 2012
Albert Nobbs would appear to be the role of a lifetime for Glenn Close.
José and Pilar is an unforgettable portrait of a love affair

José and Pilar is an unforgettable portrait of a love affair

By Ken Eisner | February 2, 2012
When Nobel Prize–winning novelist José Saramago died in 2010 at age 87, he’d spent almost a quarter-century with Pilar del Rio, a Spanish journalist and translator who first approached him as a fan.
The Little Traitor tracks a budding freedom fighter

The Little Traitor tracks a budding freedom fighter

By Ken Eisner | February 2, 2012
Based on novelist Amos Oz’s Panther in the Basement, this intermittently engaging tale offers a child’s-eye view of the waning days of the British Mandate for Palestine.
Monsieur Lazhar avoids the usual classroom drama tropes

Monsieur Lazhar avoids the usual classroom drama tropes

By Ken Eisner | January 26, 2012
In the end, this beautifully judged movie is less about finding a new life than about grasping the best essence of the one you’ve been given.
Man on a Ledge will barely make you dizzy

Man on a Ledge will barely make you dizzy

By John Lekich | January 26, 2012
Nostalgia buffs should be warned that Man on a Ledge is not a remake of 1951’s Fourteen Hours.
The dance spectacle Pina should be savoured

The dance spectacle Pina should be savoured

By Ken Eisner | January 26, 2012
Cinema is always, first and foremost, about the art of movement through space.