Monday, May 6, 2013

SIDELINE: MORE REVIEWS FOR 4/13

Ah, it's that time of year where I start running behind, isn't it?

Well, here are the reviews for other movies from April...


IN THEATRES...

The Angels' Sharea heartwarming Ken Loach dramedy about a whisky heist. Let me in on that action!

The Place Beyond the Pines, an unwieldy family story from the director of Blue Valentine. Are literary pretensions and a strong cast enough to overcome a director's indulgences?

Room 237, like a collapsing wormhole of internet crazy, a tape loop of nonsense about Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

To the Wonder, the latest from Terrence Malick is beautiful and emotionally provocative.

Trancewherein Danny Boyle uses Rosario Dawson's private parts to try to hypnotize you into believing that he's not just pulling the same old bullshit.


My Oregonian columns...

April 5: two festivals come to town: the Polyester Pulp series of 1970s crime films and the disjointed Beer and Music Fest. Plus, Thale, a creepy Scandinavian folk tale turned into a creepy modern movie.

April 12: the environmental documentary Trashed, featuring the very serious face of Jeremy Irons; Elliott Gould and Christopher Plummer in weird and grisly The Silent Partner; and, hey, another environmental disaster in the schlocky 100 Degress Below Zero.

April 19: Two recent French films, Women on the Sixth Floor and Tomboy, and two 1950s classics, The Little Fugitive and Imitation of Life.

April 26: Emily Mortimer in the historical drama Leonie, an indie debut called Everything Went Down, and Peter Gabriel in concert.


ON BD/DVD...

28 Hotel Rooms, an indie romance with an interesting story structure.

The Devil and Miss Jones, a delightful class comedy from 1941, starring the wonderful Jean Arthur.

Hemingway & Gellhorn, literary legacies desecrated, good actors embarrassing themselves, and a myriad of other reasons why this is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time.

A Message to Garcia, a poor presentation of an otherwise decent early Barbara Stanwyck vehicle.

Not Fade Away, a rock 'n' roll drama from Sopranos-creator David Chace.

Once More, with Feeling! a middling Stanley Donen effort from 1959.

The Sun Shines Bright, John Ford's friendly portrait of a Kentucky judge and his community ca. 1905. If you can look past some of the troublesome racial elements, the film actually has a surprising message of unity.

Tatsumi, the animated biography of influential manga creator Yoshihiro Tatsumi