http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/index.html http://media.miamiherald.com/images/logos/rss_sitelogo.gif http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/index.html 140 25 News, sports and entertainment from MiamiHerald.com en-us Copyright 2009 MiamiHerald.com Movie Reviews 60 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:01:43 EST http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss McClatchy Interactive's PubSys miamifeedback@miamiherald.com http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1317463.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1317463.html Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival: The 24th annual event moves into its final week of new features, documentaries and shorts from around the globe plus parties, seminars and films for kids. Filmmakers are featured at many of the events; through Nov. 11; Cinema Paradiso, 503 SE Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale (unless otherwise noted); $10, $8 seniors and students, $6 FLIFF members (unless otherwise noted) A $25 donation is suggested at some of the screenings and is tax deductible. See website for details and to confirm schedule. 954-525-3456 or www.fliff.com: http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1317455.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1317455.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:00 EST ''More of this is true than you would believe,'' warns a title card at the start of The Men Who Stare at Goats, although the ever-reliable ''I know this sounds crazy, but . . .'' would have worked just as well. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1318141.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1318141.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:00 EST Could there possibly be anything left to gain from yet another adaptation of Charles Dickens' tale about crabby old Ebenezer Scrooge and his life-changing encounter with three ghosts on Christmas Eve? In the case of Disney's A Christmas Carol, the answer is a surprising, resounding yes -- at least so far as the IMAX 3D version goes. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1317458.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1317458.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:00 EST How do you pad out a six-page short story that strives to be nothing more than a clever little morality tale into a feature-length film? By throwing in lots and lots of stuff -- practically everything but zombies. Check that: We've got two hours to fill here. Bring on the zombies, too! http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1317454.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1317454.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:00 EST You've heard about close encounters of the third kind, of course, the extraterrestrial meetings that involve contact, presumably of a benign nature. The fourth kind involves a more invasive sort of contact: alien abduction, possibly including those uncomfortable probes about which the true UFO believers are always so nervous. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1317461.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1317461.html Thu, 05 Nov 2009 01:00 EST The name Moritz Bleibtreu means little to American moviegoers, so imagine the volcanic early Jack Nicholson. Bleibtreu plays Andreas Baader, a volatile West German thug who led a terrorist gang called the Red Army Faction. His struggles to smash the state seem like the temper tantrums of a gun-slinging infant. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1305908.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1305908.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a 16-year-old growing up in the London suburb of Twickenham in 1961, is always the first in class to raise her hand with the answer. She is fluent in French and studying Latin; she plays the cello and is familiar with all the pre-Raphaelite artists (Rossetti and Burne-Jones are her favorites; Holman Hunt, not so much). http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1305916.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1305916.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT As a film, Michael Jackson's This Is It is fairly straightforward, a series of musical numbers shot during rehearsals for the spectacular 50-show concert Jackson planned to stage at London's O2 arena but didn't live long enough to perform. As a cultural artifact, though, it's something more compelling: the final act of a pop legend, all the more powerful if you were one of the kids who bought ABC on a 45, danced your way through high school to the beat of Off the Wall, huddled around a TV in your college dorm to watch the MTV premiere of Thriller and wondered in later years: ``What happened to his face?'' http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1305921.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1305921.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT The central figure -- we can't call him a hero -- of this sports drama based on reality is the late English soccer team manager Brian Clough, who ranks with Jake LaMotta and Ty Cobb as one of the least lovable pro sports stars. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1305912.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1305912.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT Early on in Francis Ford Coppola's shimmering, mesmerizing Tetro, a young man on his way to meet up with his eccentric older brother walks down a stark, shadowy street, past a graffiti-defaced wall. The setting is Buenos Aires, not Tulsa, and the score is grand and symphonic, not percussive and spare. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1306404.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1306404.html Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT Paul Aufiero (Patton Oswalt) works the night shift in an underground Staten Island parking lot. He mans the booth and the electronic arm that lets drivers in and out. He's 35 and lives at home with his mother. He has one buddy. And he doesn't have a girlfriend. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294344.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294344.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT In an ironic twist, Mira Nair's big-hearted yet by-the-numbers biopic of Amelia Earhart never -- unlike the famous aviatrix -- takes chances. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294789.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294789.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT We learn all sorts of interesting things in this amusing and socially insightful Chris Rock-guided tour into the care and culture of black hair. Rapper/actress Eve demanded her first relaxer at 9. Actor Ice-T was in 10th grade when he wore curlers to school (and was gangster enough to get away with doing so). Poet Maya Angelou waited until she was a bit older -- 70! -- before delving into the world of what one young African American calls ''the creamy crack.'' http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294382.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294382.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT A textbook example of how trying to please everyone ends up pleasing no one, Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant is a Frankenstein's monster of a movie, all stitches and seams and disparate parts. Based on the first three volumes of Darren Shan's 12-book series, the movie was intended to be a franchise launcher -- a cross between Harry Potter and Twilight with a bit of comic-book pow and a smattering of gore thrown in to lure older teens. You can imagine how the Universal Pictures marketing department must have salivated over that pitch. How can it possibly miss, right? http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1293283.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1293283.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT ''Please. I need help,'' Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) pleads in A Serious Man, the 14th -- and best, and most heartfelt -- film by Joel and Ethan Coen. But there's no help to be found. Larry, dutiful husband, caring father, responsible college professor and all-around mensch living in Minnesota in 1967, is about to discover that everyone is out for himself, and woe to those who assume other people really care about you. Even God can't be bothered. He's busy, you know? http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294353.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294353.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT You don't have to be a fashionista to enjoy Coco Before Chanel, director Anne Fontaine's engrossing look at the life of Gabrielle ''Coco'' Chanel before she became a brand name. The movie is the latest entry in a growing wave of films revolving around the fashion industry (Ridley Scott is currently talking to Angelina Jolie for a movie about the Gucci empire). But Fontaine's primary focus is not clothing but people -- specifically the role of women in a strict, buttoned-down society that had clear delineations toward how they should look and behave. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294788.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294788.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT Lovely dollops of wit and warmth float through the latest Japanese TV cartoon to make it to the big screen. But the look, themes and slam-bang Transformers violence of that 1960s animated series make this every bit as dated as Speed Racer, even if it is easier to watch. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294365.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294365.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT ''This is a new Miami!'' a partygoer tells Ivan (Adrian Mas), a Cuban balsero who recently arrived in the city. ''You can do whatever you want!'' Those are words Ivan takes to heart -- and then some. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294360.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294360.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT In the alternate, present-day reality of Timer, almost half the people in this country have a digital bracelet implanted in their wrists. The device, which looks like a little watch, counts down the minutes until you lay eyes on the soulmate with whom you are destined to spend the rest of your life in harmonious bliss. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294357.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294357.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT The inherent problem of parodying the blaxploitation genre -- crime films made in the early 1970s featuring African-American protagonists and often peppered with outrageous violence and sex -- is that the original movies still provide entertainment enough. A comedy that mocks the genre's excesses feels redundant. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294361.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294361.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT ''Seems weird for a woman to be driving a truck,'' 11-year-old Peter (Jimmy Bennett) remarks in Trucker, giving voice to the audience's thoughts. ''Yeah? Well what should I be doing?'' the defiantly independent Diane (Michelle Monaghan) shoots back. Previously relegated to the role of token love interest in movies such as Mission Impossible III, Gone Baby Gone and Eagle Eye, Monaghan demonstrates an untapped level of talent and skill in Trucker, tackling the difficult role of a woman who refuses to behave as societal norms dictate and has paid the price with loneliness and alienation. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294359.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1294359.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT Attention all nerds and former high-school science-club members: Finally, there is a movie that shares your belief that chess should be a magnet for hot babes and sex. The French drama Queen to Play (Joueuse) is more eloquent and dignified -- here, chess serves as a gateway for self-discovery -- although the end result is still sex. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1283683.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1283683.html Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT Ten sentences, 338 words: That is the entirety of Maurice Sendak's seminal 1963 children's book <I>Where the Wild Things Are</I>, about a little boy who disappears into a jungle of his imagination populated by monsters. For four decades, the slim tome ranked high among Hollywood's list of unfilmable books, mostly because there wasn't enough to the tale to fill out an entire feature film. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1283668.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1283668.html Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT New York, I Love You, the second in an intended series of omnibus films (Paris, Je T'Aime was the first) called Cities of Love, is a collection of 11 shorts and one wrap-around segment, each directed by a different filmmaker in two days, that interweaves the backdrop of New York City into some sort of anecdote dealing with love. http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1283666.html http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/movies/reviews/story/1283666.html Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:00 EDT When Peter Finch got fed up with the system in Network, he took his anger to the TV airwaves and yelled, ``I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this anymore!'' When Gerard Butler gets fed up with the system in Law Abiding Citizen, he growls, ``I'm gonna bring the whole diseased, corrupt temple down on your head,'' then exacts the sort of revenge that makes Charles Bronson look like a whiny little mama's boy.