Movie Reviews

Jindabyne

2007-04-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

"Jindabyne" directed by Ray Lawrence

A group of men on a fishing trip makes the morally questionable decision to delay reporting the discovery of a murdered woman's body. Claire, the wife of one of the men, tries to understand the reasoning behind such thoughtlessness.

"Jindabyne," a serious and somber film from Australia starring Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne, is as slow getting started as a leisurely weekend fishing trip, but it ends up having an almost unbearable impact. Nominated for nine Australian Film Institute awards, including best picture. - Kenneth Turan LA Times review of Jindabyne

Based on the short story "So Much Water So Close to Home" by Raymond Carver.

Release Date: April 2007
Run Time: 2 hr. 3 min.
Rating: R
Cast: Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne, Deborrah-Lee Furness, John Howard, Leah Purcell
Director: Ray Lawrence
Genre: Psychological Drama, Drama

Show times by zip and tickets online at Fandango

Beyond the Gates

2007-03-25T11:44:00.000-07:00

Set in spring 1994 in the volatile nation of Rwanda, the story inspired by actual events focuses on a young British teacher named Joe Connor (Hugh Dancy) serving a one-year residency at a technical school in Kigali. The school is run by a Catholic priest, Father Christopher (John Hurt), and is temporarily serving as a base for a U.N. peace force under the command of a sympathetic, if rigid, Belgian officer, Capt. Delon (Dominique Horwitz).

Review for the LA Times by Kevin Crust

Release Date: March 9, 2007
Run Time: 1 hr. 55 min.
Rating: R

Breach

2007-04-01T10:06:00.000-07:00

Eric O'Neill, a low-level surveillance expert with the FBI, believes his dream of becoming a full-fledged agent is coming to pass with his unexpected promotion and assignment to work with renowned agent Robert Hanssen. He soon learns the reason for his promotion is to gain Hanssen's trust and find proof that he is a traitor to the country.

Kenneth Turan reviewing "Breach" for the LA Times writes: "Filled with tension, deception and bravura acting, this is a crackling tale of real-life espionage that doubles as a coompelling psychological drama."
Release Date: February 16, 2007
Run Time: 1 hr. 50 min.

The Lives of Others

2007-04-01T10:34:00.000-07:00

In 1983 East Berlin, dedicated Stasi officer Gerd Wiesler, doubting that a famous playwright is loyal to the Communist Party, receives approval to spy on the man and his actress-lover Christa-Maria. Wiesler becomes unexpectedly sympathetic to the couple, then faces conflicting loyalties when his superior takes a liking to Christa-Maria and orders him to get the playwright out of the way.

In the LA Times Critics' Choice review of "The Lives of Others" Kenneth Turan writes: "A potent narrative...'Lives' turns its story of the effects of political surveillance on the waterrs and the watched into a python-tight embrace of nuanced tension and comtional connection."

Release Date: February 2007

Run Time: 2 hr. 17 min.

Pan's Labyrinth

2007-04-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

In 1944 Spain, young Ofelia and her ailing mother arrive at the post of her mother's new husband, a sadistic army officer who is trying to quell a guerrilla uprising. While exploring an ancient maze, Ofelia encounters the faun Pan, who tells her that she is a legendary lost princess and must complete three dangerous tasks in order to claim immortality. Written and directed by Guillermo del Toro.

Writing in his LA Times review of Pan's Labyrinth, Kenneth Turan states: "This dark and disturbing fariy tale for adults has been thought out to the nth degree and resonates with the irresitible inevitability of a timeless myth.

Release Date: December 2006

Run Time: 1 hr. 50 min.

Rating: R

After the Wedding

2007-04-08T09:50:00.000-07:00

Jacob Petersen's (Mads Mikkelsen) life is dedicated to helping street children in India, and when the orphanage he leads may be foreclosed, he receives an interesting offer. A businessman offers Jacob four million dollars, with a few conditions. Jacob must return to Denmark and take part in the wedding for the man's daughter. This wedding is a crucial meeting of past and future and throws Jacob into the most intense dilemma of his life.

Release Date: March 30, 2007

Run Time: 2 hr. 0 min.

Rating: R

Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Rolf Lassgård, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Stine Fischer Christensen, Christian Tafdrup

Director: Susanne Bier

Genre: Drama

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LA Times critc review of After the Wedding

Journey from the Fall

2007-04-08T18:34:00.000-07:00

April 30, 1975: the Fall of Saigon. American troops withdraw from Vietnam and the 21-year civil war is at an end. Four million Vietnamese are dead. Half a million South Vietnamese who fought with the Americans or worked in the government are sent to re-education camps. Close to two million Vietnamese flee by boat. Before they reach safety, thousands of them will die. From the jungles of Vietnam to the streets of Southern California, Journey From the Fall tells the untold story of what happened to millions of Vietnamese in the aftermath of the war.

Release Date: March 2007

Run Time: 2 hr. 15 min.

Rating: R

Director: Ham Tram

Cast: Kieu Chinh, Long Nguyen, Diem Lien, Preston Tri Nguyen, Nguyen Thai Nguyen

Genre: Drama

Kenneth Turan for the LA Times writes: "Ham Tran's superb epic sage of loss and survival depicts, with compassion and unsparing realism, the ordeals of a South Vietnamese family fleeing as boat people after the fall of Saigon..."

Race You to the Bottom

2007-04-08T18:45:00.000-07:00

Bisexual Nathan, a travel writer, invites Maggie to accompany him on a business trip through the Napa Valley, and the journey forces them to confront the complexities of their relationship. However, their live-in boyfriends back in Los Angeles are unaware that the two have been having an affair for months.

Release Date: March 2007

Run Time: 1 hr. 15 min.

Rating: R

Cast: Amber Benson, Cole Williams, Jeremy Lelliott, Justin Zachary, Danielle Harris

Director: Russell Brown

Genre: Romance

Kenneth Turan for the LA Times writes: "Russell Brown's engaging first feature provides an illuminating glimpse into some of the more challenging complications that contemporary relationships can present.

LA Time's critic's review of Race You to the Bottom

The Hoax

2007-04-15T09:50:00.000-07:00

In the early 1970s, author Clifford Irving (Richard Gere), with accomplice Richard Suskind (Alfred Molina), attempts to pull off one of the greatest media scams of the century. He writes a fake biography of reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, claiming that Hughes commissioned it, and sells the book to publishing giant McGraw-Hill. Based on a true story.

Kenneth Turan praises Richard Gere's performance as Irving as "the richest, most mature performance of his career". Kenneth Turan's review of The Hoax at The LA Times

Release Date: April 2007
Run Time: 1 hr. 55 min.
Rating: R
Cast: Richard Gere, Alfred Molina, Hope Davis
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Genre: Drama

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Amazing Grace

2007-04-01T10:58:00.000-07:00

Based on the true life story of William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd), a leader of the British abolition movement, the film chronicles his epic struggle to pass a law to end the slave trade in the late 18th century. Along the way, Wilberforce meets intense opposition from members of Parliament who feel the slave trade is tied to the stability of the British Empire. Several friends, including Wilberforce's minister, John Newton (Albert Finney), a reformed slave ship captain who penned the hymn ''Amazing Grace,'' urge him to see the cause through.

LA Times review of Amazing Grace by Kenneth Turan

Release Date: February 2007
Run Time: 1 hr. 51 min.
Rating: PG

Avenue Montaigne

2007-04-01T11:05:00.000-07:00

Jessica, a young woman from the French provinces, arrives in Paris and takes a job as a waitress at a bistro located amid a theater, concert hall and auction house. From this vantage point, she observes the lives of her famous and not-so-famous clientele, including a classical pianist, an art collector and an actress.

Scarlet Cheng's review of Avenue Montaigne for the LA Times.

Release Date: February 2007
Run Time: 1 hr. 46 min.
Rating: PG-13

Offside

2007-04-01T11:13:00.000-07:00

Since women are banned from soccer matches, Iranian females masquerade as males so they can slip into Tehran's stadium to see the game between Iran and Bahrain. The ones who are caught and arrested are taken to a holding area and guarded by soldiers. One sympathetic soldier agrees to watch the game through a peephole and recount the action to the impatient fans.

LA Times review of Offside by Kenneth Turan

Sima Mobarakshai, Safar Samandar, Shayesteh Irani, Mohamad Kheirabadi, Aida Sadeghi

Director: Jafar Panahi

Genre: Comedy

Release Date: March 2007

Run Time: 1 hr. 28 min.

Rating: PG

Reign Over Me

2007-04-01T12:05:00.000-07:00

Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler), who lost his family in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, still grieves over their deaths. He runs into his former college roommate, Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle), and the two rekindle their friendship. Alan, a doctor, vows to help his old friend come to terms with the terrible loss.

LA Times Review

Release Date: March 2007
Run Time: 2 hr. 5 min.
Rating: R
Cast: Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows, Donald Sutherland
Director: Mike Binder
Genre: Drama

The Wind That Shakes the Barley

2007-04-01T12:12:00.000-07:00

In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan (Cillian Murphy) is all set to depart for a new job in a London hospital. As he says his goodbyes at a friend's farm, British Black and Tans arrive and a young man is killed. Damien joins his brother Teddy in the Irish Republican Army, but political events are soon set in motion that tear the two apart.

LA Times review "The Wind that Shakes the Barley"

Release Date: March 16, 2007
Run Time: 2 hr. 6 min.
Rating: NR
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Liam Cunningham, Padraic Delaney, Orla Fitzgerald, Mary Riordan
Director: Ken Loach

Black Book

2007-04-08T19:01:00.000-07:00

Synopsis: After narrowly escaping death, young Rachel Rosenthal becomes part of the Jewish resistance, assuming the name Ellis de Vries. Her superiors order her to seduce a Gestapo officer named Ludwig. Ellis is successful in her mission but soon finds herself falling in love with her mortal enemy.

Find show times and buy tickets online at Fandango

Release Date: April 2007

Run Time: 2 hr. 25 min.

Rating: R

Cast: Carice VanHouten, Sebastian Koch, Thom Hoffman, Halina Reijn, Waldemar Kobus

Director: Paul Verhoeven

Genre: Art House/Foreign, Suspense/Thriller

Kenneth Turan, LA Times movie critic states: "Veteran Dutch director Paul Verhoeven piles on the actions in this story of a beautiful Jewish spy infiltrating the highest echelons of Nadzidom. Like many of its characters, the film is engaged in acts of deception.

The Lookout

2007-04-08T19:12:00.000-07:00

Synopsis: Chris (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a once promising high school athlete, has his life turned upside down following a tragic accident. As he tries to maintain a normal life, he takes a job as a janitor at a bank where he ultimately finds himself caught up in a planned heist.

Find show times and buy tickets online at Fandango

Release Date: March 2007

Run Time: 1 hr. 38 min.

Rating: R

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Matthew Goode, Isla Fisher, Carla Gugino

Director: Scott Frank

Genre: Drama, Suspense/Thriller

Kenneth Turan of the LA Times writes: "The Lookout showcases seome absolutely cracher-jack acting". Kenneth Turan's review of "The Lookout"

The TV Set

2007-04-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

An idealistic writer (Davud Duchovny) tries to navigate his TV pilot down the mine-laden path from script through production to the madness of prime-time scheduling – all while trying to stay true to his vision. Along the way he has to juggle the agendas of a headstrong network president (Sigourney Weaver), volatile young stars, a pregnant wife and an ever-optimistic personal manager.

Find show times and buy tickets online at Fandango.com

LA Times review of The TV Set by Kevin Crust

Release Date: April 2007
Run Time: 1 hr. 29 min.
Rating: R
Cast: David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, Ioan Gruffudd
Director: Jake Kasdan
Genre: Comedy

What are the best movies worth watching

2007-03-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

That's the question we all have to ask each time we choose a movie. There are so many things competing for our time, and there are so many movies to choose from, so we don't want to end up spending time and money on movies that leave us less than satisfied. Whatever your motivation in watching a movie, be it for mere entertainment, to get a laugh, to relax and not have to think, to learn something, to be provoked into thought or action or tears...whatever it is, at the last frame we want to feel like it was time well spent.

Every week the LA Times movie reviewers get to watch dozens of movies that are currently showing in the greater LA Region, the home of Hollywood. There are thousands of screens showing commercial and independent releases and a movie critic from the LA Times will get to see each and every one of them. Obviously they get to see some great movies, and a lot of movies not worth our time. The LA Times critics rank movies as "Critics Choice", "Also Recommended", and finally the greater list which has no heading at all; it's just a list of all the other movies out there that the critics have seen with a brief synopsis. Without saying so, this final list are the movies that the LA Times critics at least don't recommend. Of course all of us at some time will disagree with what gets put in this dumpster as there is so much personal taste and opinion in play, but by and large, I have found that movies in the "Critics Choice" and "Also Recommended" lists have been worthwhile movies to watch.

I have been collecting a list of these movies over the last couple of years and posting them at ArikiArt under the Independent and Art House Movies Recommendations section. I am going to continue to maintain this listing, but from now on I am going to use this Movie Reviews blog to post the recommendations. One of the advantages is the "tagging" feature. I will tag each movie with the year that the movie was released, plus a tag for "Critics Choice" or "Also Recommended" so that it will be easy to locate the movies using the tagging feature.

Hopefully this will help you (and me) to narrow down the movies that are most worth our time.

The Valet

2007-04-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

Kenneth Turan writing in his LA Times review of "The Valet" states:

Making people laugh is the specialty of the house where French writer-director Francis Veber ("The Dinner Game") is concerned, and he is awfully good at it. A complete master of cinematic farce, Veber's latest venture, "The Valet," ("La Doublure") makes creating deliciously funny comedy look a lot easier than it has any right to.

Showtimes, review, and tickets at Fandango

Release Date: April 2007
Run Time: 1 hr. 25 min.
Cast: Gad Elmaleh, Alice Taglioni, Daniel Auteuil, Kristin Scott Thomas, Richard Berry
Director: Francis Veber
Genre: Comedy

Red Road

2007-04-22T10:01:00.000-07:00

Jackie (Kate Dickie) spends her days monitoring a series of surveillance cameras trained on a rough Glasgow neighborhood. She spots Clyde (Tony Curran), an ex-convict, on one of her screens and quickly becomes obsessed with him. She devises a plan to meet and seduce him, and the reason for her obsession soon becomes clear.

"A spellbinding, intellignet thriller that takes its time to get where it's going but is well worht the trip." Keven Crust LA Times review of Red Road

Showtimes and tickets for "red road" from Fandango

Release Date: April 2007
Cast: Kate Dickie, Tony Curran, Martin Compston, Natalie Press, Andrew Armour
Director: Andrea Arnold
Genre: Drama
English subtitles to assist with heavy Scottish accents!