Film

Film Review: A Powerful “Philomena”

January 3, 2014
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Evaluating actress Judi Dench is akin to watching a great athlete do a high dive or land a difficult jump on ice skates. She nails it so often that you half expect a row of judges to hold up cards with nothing but 10’s on them.

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Movie Review: “A Touch of Sin” — A Fearless Vision of Corruption in Contemporary China

January 2, 2014
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In “A Touch of Sin,” four depressing stories float into one other, all said to be based on news stories from Chinese papers.

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Film Review: Spike Jonze’s “Her” — Is This Love Affair Creepy? Or Probing?

December 31, 2013
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Is “Her” exploring truths about romance and emotional need? Or is this a creepy look into how far we’ve surrendered to the infantilizing embrace of technology?

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Movie Review: The Ten Best Films of 2013 — Our Lists

December 28, 2013
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The most unfairly maligned film of the year: Ridley Scott’s “The Counselor.” The most overrated movie of the year, which gave me a mammoth headache: “American Hustle.”

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Film Review: “The Wolf of Wall Street” — A Brilliant Vision of Greed Unleashed

December 27, 2013
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Bravura performances are provided by all involved, making Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street” quite possibly the best film of the year.

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Film Review: Essential Truffaut, Part Deux—”The Woman Next Door”

December 25, 2013
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The Museum of Fine Arts’ retrospective of the films of Francois Truffaut approaches its conclusion with another rarely screened late work by this master of 20th-century cinema.

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Film Preview: Sheer Silent Film Magic — “He Who Gets Slapped” and The Alloy Orchestra

December 23, 2013
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“Lon Chaney is just a master,” says Roger Miller of The Alloy Orchestra, “and the film ‘He Who Gets Slapped’ has everything that he’s great at.”

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Film Commentary: You Know It When You See It — Desire and “Blue is the Warmest Color”

December 22, 2013
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Without its many steamy lesbian sex interludes tarting up what could otherwise be classified as a routine narrative, would “Blue is the Warmest Color” have garnered so many rave reviews and prizes?

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Film Review: Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project — The Art of Restoration, Around the Globe

December 21, 2013
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Director Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema Project is committed to doing the indispensable work needed to save examples of damaged but worthy landmarks of cinema.

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Film Review: A Gleefully Subversive “American Hustle”

December 20, 2013
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“American Hustle” has its flaws, major and minor, but it’s very entertaining and contains some great performances, especially by the female cast members.

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