Boston.com -- Movie news

DVD Releases

Tom Russo, Globe Correspondent — 2009-11-28T17:55:57Z

Playing it too straight in 'Funny People' Writer-director and comedy brand name Judd Apatow (“The 40-Year-Old Virgin,’’ “Knocked Up’’) seems to have gotten a pretty consistent reaction to his bid to get serious with “Funny People’’ (2009): Did we really need this? But Apatow actually gives Adam Sandler a straight-ish role stronger than he had in “Punch-Drunk Love’’ or “Spanglish’’ ...

Tobey Maguire loses control

Christopher Wallenberg, Globe Correspondent — 2009-11-28T17:55:48Z

NEW YORK - In the blockbuster “Spider-Man’’ franchise, peeling back the mask of the spandex-clad superhero and his angsty young alter-ego Peter Parker is a famously Herculean task. Likewise, trying to crack the carefully cultivated surface of Tobey Maguire, the 34-year-old star who brought to life the web-slinging crime-fighter, proves no less a difficult a chore.

At the top, with an eye on downsizing

Janice Page, Globe Staff — 2009-11-28T17:55:42Z

Jason Reitman has some bad news. He’s very sorry, but he’s going to have to let me go.

Taiwan honors local film at Chinese Oscars

Min Lee, AP Entertainment Writer — 2009-11-28T15:31:22Z

Taiwanese social drama "No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti" won Chinese cinema's top honor on Saturday -- a rare victory for an industry that has been overshadowed by big-budget blockbusters from rival mainland China.

A list of winners at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards

2009-11-28T15:31:21Z

A list of winners in the major categories at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards, announced Saturday night in Banciao:

Swiss ready Polanski's chalet for house arrest

Michel Euler, Associated Press Writer — 2009-11-28T13:51:25Z

Security experts on Saturday started preparing Roman Polanski's Alpine chalet for the movie director's house arrest while Swiss authorities consider whether to extradite him to the United States.

Screenwriter Avary taken off jail furlough

2009-11-28T10:01:30Z

Authorities say "Pulp Fiction" co-screenwriter Roger Avary has been removed from a prison work furlough program and locked up.

Mo’Nique’s success is built on fearlessness

Michael Sragow, The Baltimore Sun — 2009-11-27T17:43:25Z

BALTIMORE - Describing how her character brutalizes her daughter in “Precious’’ and at one point endangers the life of her infant granddaughter, Mo’Nique says, “That was rough for me. But the moment the director says, ‘Cut,’ you leave it right on the floor.’’

On Demand picks

2009-11-27T17:42:49Z

LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT ( Comcast Movies and Events) A remake of Wes Craven’s 1972 horror film about parents who wind up attacking their daughter’s attackers. As a night of movie excitement, it’s dubious. This remake plods to its finale. Yet the movie packs a vicarious jolt that might feel cathartic to some moviegoers. (R; runs through Jan. 29)

Movie Stars

2009-11-27T17:39:55Z

New releases Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans Nicolas Cage is back in his high lunatic mode as a New Orleans police detective investigating a murder while high and corrupt. He’s working with the hellion, Werner Herzog. Their pairing is about as perfect a meeting between a director’s sense of mischief and an actor’s license to misbehave as a ...

From the top

June Wulff, Globe Staff — 2009-11-27T17:25:21Z

Bachata is the traditional music of the Dominican Republic, and a royally awesome way to learn about it is from the quartet known as “The Kings of Bachata.’’ Aventura ’s latest release is “The Last,’’ the top-selling Latin album of 2009. The members of the Bronx quartet paid a visit to the White House, and stop by the Agganis Arena ...

Oh My God

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2009-11-27T15:20:54Z

For reasons only he knows for sure, Peter Rodger took a movie camera on a tour of the world and its religions. He came back with “Oh My God,’’ a documentary that succinctly captures the experience of enduring this ponderous, repetitive, and exasperating attempt at moral, philosophical, and spiritual discourse. The problem isn’t with the questions. It’s the manner in ...

Swiss: Polanski in jail until at least Monday

Bradley S. Klapper, Associated Press Writer — 2009-11-27T08:51:45Z

Roman Polanski will remain in a jail outside Zurich for at least three more days until he meets the security conditions of his bail, a Swiss official said Friday.

Hong Kong director brings a tougher, more-real ‘Mulan’ to life

Min Lee, Associated Press — 2009-11-27T01:35:41Z

HONG KONG - More than a decade after Disney made a blockbuster animated film out of a folk tale about a young woman in ancient China who takes her father’s place on the battlefield, a Hong Kong director is taking on the story of Hua Mulan with real actors.

Woo took a long leap to bring ‘Red Cliff’ to life

Justine Elias, Globe Correspondent — 2009-11-27T01:26:33Z

Director John Woo isn’t known for telling war stories, though fans of his movies, who include Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise, might argue that the Woo hero is a soldier of the shadows, avenging the causes and crimes of other men. His one World War II effort, “Windtalkers,’’ was a mixed bag; he’s best known for highly contemporary, highly stylized ...

He’s the mind behind magic of ‘Mr. Fox’

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2009-11-27T01:25:55Z

Early last week, Wes Anderson’s girlfriend had to be in Boston for a day or two. Rather than stay home, he came with her. Anderson is 40, but he seems considerably younger. Not youthful per se, but young. He speaks in long, energetic paragraphs that end when all the necessary information has been delivered. This isn’t as transactional or charmless ...

Movie stars

2009-11-27T01:14:09Z

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2009-11-27T01:14:09Z

Polanski prepares for luxury Alpine house arrest

Frank Jordans, Associated Press Writer — 2009-11-26T10:41:41Z

After two months in a Swiss jail, Roman Polanski prepared Thursday for the splendid captivity of his $1.6 million chalet in one of world's most luxurious winter resorts.

Art-house films top contenders at Chinese Oscars

Min Lee, AP Entertainment Writer — 2009-11-26T06:51:47Z

An Australia-based director's romance, a Taiwanese family drama and the story of a Chinese peasant guarding a cow are the unlikely trio of top contenders at the Chinese-language equivalent of the Oscars to be announced on Saturday.

A list of nominees at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards

2009-11-26T06:21:33Z

A list of nominees in the top categories at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards, which will be announced this Saturday in Taipei:

Polanski wins $4.5M bail, house arrest likely

Bradley S. Klapper, Associated Press Writer — 2009-11-26T04:12:03Z

Roman Polanski has been granted $4.5 million bail, clearing the way for the fugitive director to move within days from a Swiss jail to house arrest and electronic monitoring at his Alpine resort chalet.

In recession, `Up in the Air' touches down on time

Jake Coyle, AP Entertainment Writer — 2009-11-25T19:31:54Z

"Up in the Air" has undergone the rarest of flights: It was delayed for a long time and its course was altered, yet it has arrived right on time.

On Demand picks

2009-11-25T17:34:00Z

A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT (Encore on Comcast ) A long, bloody, exhilarating Rubik’s Cube of a movie from the star and director of “Amelie.’’ Audrey Tautou (above) plays the fiancee of a man presumed dead during World War I; her post-war investigation restores humanity by uncovering men’s stories. Jean-Pierre Jeunet directs with his usual overkill, but any smugness fades behind ...

Movie Stars

2009-11-25T17:32:03Z

New releases ½ Black Dynamite In the spoof that bears his name, Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White) sports every outfit in the blaxploitation look book: leather, denim, Afro. The movie, meanwhile, strikes many of the genre’s poses. And for its first 50 minutes, it’s as intentionally funny as “Shaft in Africa’’ and “Dolomite’’ are accidental comedies. Tedium overtakes the movie ...

Have a jolly ’oliday

June Wulff, Globe Staff — 2009-11-25T17:19:45Z

No need to be sad that Halloween is over because you are invited to dress up for Sing-a-Long Mary Poppins . Arrive as your favorite character or in an outfit inspired by the 1964 film, and join other guests in the costume parade. A restored 35mm print has been customized with on-screen lyrics so you can sing along with Mary, ...

Old Dogs

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2009-11-24T18:30:36Z

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a turkey, and in “Old Dogs,’’ we have the season’s blue-ribbon gobbler. A pitiful family comedy about two aging buddies forced to play daddy, it looks exactly like what you’d get if Robin Williams and John Travolta went out, got hammered, scrawled scenes on a bar napkin in random order, gave the napkin to “Wild ...

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2009-11-24T18:21:31Z

It starts with the Vicodin for his back, which he injured rescuing an inmate during Hurricane Katrina’s rising floodwaters. Then there’s the coke before entering a crime scene, and the crack while having sex with a woman in a parking lot.

Ninja Assassin

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2009-11-24T17:55:22Z

The credits for “Ninja Assassin’’ list two screenwriters and one director. But it’s fair to say the movie has come straight out of a box. Cobbled together from the instructions of assorted Hong Kong gangster bloodbaths and whatever the French superproducer Luc Besson did last, this long, thanklessly repetitive slice-kick-and-shoot-’em-up has nothing to offer but the aggravating awareness that Jet ...

Red Cliff

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2009-11-24T17:46:54Z

The very epicness of John Woo’s “Red Cliff’’ is an entertainment. It’s a siege picture set in ancient China, and it’s old-fashioned and newfangled at the same time. Most of the shots look either touched up or entirely artificial, and Woo wants us to laugh at the overripe flourishes. At some point, a zillion digitized arrows sail through the sky ...

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2009-11-24T17:44:06Z

The wry stop-motion delight “Fantastic Mr. Fox’’ feels lovingly fussed over. With its papier-mâché skies, animal characters sporting glued-on tufts of fur, landscapes that seem to be cobbled together from spit and plasticine, it’s a defiantly handmade artifact - a tabletop movie.

The Road

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2009-11-24T17:41:10Z

In “The Road,’’ the world has ended with a bang and a whimper. Author Cormac McCarthy’s lean prose has been lifted off the printed page and laid carefully into the soundtrack like antique china in a packing crate. “The clocks stopped at 1:17,’’ says the narrator. “A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions.’’ That’s all ...

On Demand picks

2009-11-24T01:20:49Z

SUNSHINE CLEANING ( Comcast Movies and Events) Not the comedy it’s being marketed as but a moody, intelligent, fairly pedestrian drama about blue-collar sisters who go into the crime-scene cleaning business. Amy Adams and Emily Blunt are very good in the leads. The movie’s about the grace needed to get past life’s bruised expectations. (R; runs through Dec. 23) TY ...

'Road' Warrior

Lynda Gorov, Globe Correspondent — 2009-11-21T17:32:57Z

LOS ANGELES - Viggo Mortensen is everything you’d want and expect him to be: shaggy-haired handsome, passionate, thoughtful, and smart. The actor-writer-poet-painter and jazz musician pretty much seems to be the Renaissance man in real life that he is on paper. Only then it happens.

Something for everyone

Tom Russo, Globe Correspondent — 2009-11-21T17:32:50Z

You’ve got the obvious DVD picks on your shopping list. But if you could use another idea or two - or two dozen - consider these new titles, collections, and enhanced reissues.

On Demand picks

2009-11-20T17:24:24Z

THE PRINCESS BRIDE (Encore on Comcast ) Rob Reiner’s loving pictorialization of William Goldman’s modern fairytale classic, a sort of “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’’ meet the Grimm Brothers. Without the book’s 2000-Year-Old Man narrative voice, the film sometimes flattens out, but parents will relish taking their children to its wryly affectionate view of swashbuckling preposterousness. (PG; runs through ...

Movie Stars

2009-11-20T17:18:51Z

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2009-11-20T01:54:36Z

In “Precious,’’ Claireece Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) usually comes home from school and prepares dinner for her mother, Mary (Mo’Nique), in their Harlem apartment. Mary could probably make dinner herself. But it’s easier for her to throw the dinner out or at Claireece if she’s not the cook. Mary curses at Claireece, who is dark-skinned, overweight, and, at 16, having ...

Bronson

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2009-11-19T17:54:17Z

‘Bronson’’ bills itself as the story of Britain’s most notorious living prisoner, Michael Peterson, who early on in his 35 years in jail - 30 of them in solitary confinement - gave himself the “fighting name’’ of Charles Bronson, after the Hollywood star of “Death Wish.’’ Really, though, “Bronson’’ isn’t a story in the traditional sense at all. It’s a ...

Black Dynamite

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2009-11-19T17:53:38Z

In the spoof that bears his name, Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White) sports every outfit in the blaxploitation-look book. While investigating the murder of his junkie brother, he wears a cheap-looking suit with lapels that belong on a pterodactyl. He drops in on a warren of pimps in a leather trench coat, leather pants, and a turtleneck (all black). He ...

Heslov finds niche behind the camera

Rachel Abramowitz, Los Angeles Times — 2009-11-19T17:53:03Z

The Blind Side

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2009-11-19T17:52:19Z

It may be based on a true story, but “The Blind Side’’ delivers two heart-yanking hours of Hollywood physics. One kid’s bad existence gets better with the application of a great deal of upper-middle-class pressure. The movie recounts the story of how a tough-loving interior decorator named Leigh Anne Touhy (Sandra Bullock ) invited Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), an enormous, ...

Planet 51

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2009-11-19T17:51:41Z

As a wise frog once remarked, it’s not easy being green. Not only are the emerald-colored extraterrestrials in “Planet 51’’ terrified by the appearance of a human astronaut on their home turf, they’re imprisoned in a cruddy, reductive version of “Happy Days’’ and forced to spout inane dialogue. Young children and adults with high pain thresholds will enjoy the movie ...

The Messenger

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2009-11-19T17:50:07Z

I’ve worried before that it might be too soon for movies about our current wars. They’re too fresh to get a dramatic grip on either the conflicts or what provoked them. What many filmmakers have produced were tracts that cast a skeptical eye. But, as it turns out, the proximity wasn’t the problem. It was the point of view. Americans ...

Star giddy at her unlikely success

Sarah Rodman, Globe Staff — 2009-11-19T17:48:42Z

There are many ways in which the bubbly, gregarious actress Gabourey Sidibe is different from the closed-off, beaten-down character she plays in the film “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,’’ which opens today locally. But perhaps the most striking contrast is Sidibe’s laugh. The monosyllabic Precious Jones has precious little to laugh about in a world framed by ...

The Twilight Saga: New Moon

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2009-11-19T06:46:49Z

Sorry, girls: The thrill is gone. “The Twilight Saga: New Moon,’’ the second installment in Hollywood’s adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s mega-selling vampire romance series, is an anemic comedown after the full-blooded swoon of last year’s “Twilight.’’ Where the first film’s director, Catherine Hardwicke, plugged into Meyer’s vision of supernatural teenage lust with abandon, Chris Weitz is stuck with a sequel ...

Kellan Lutz of ‘New Moon’ on how he works up a sweat (in the gym)

Hayley Kaufman, Globe Staff — 2009-11-18T16:48:18Z

Actor Kellan Lutz is a big guy: tall, brawny, muscular. Of course, if you’re a fan of the “Twilight’’ films - the second of which, “New Moon,’’ opens tomorrow - you know that already. For the rest of you (that is, the men reading this), Lutz plays the towering and protective Emmett Cullen, a vampire who can knock some heads ...

Exploring life’s ‘darker corners’

Judy Abel, Globe Correspondent — 2009-11-14T18:24:16Z

NEW YORK - Something is weighing on Ben Foster. The 29-year-old star of the military drama “The Messenger,’’ which opens Friday, smiles easily and jokes readily unless he’s talking about himself. Then he gets pensive, pursing his lips as he slowly winds through complex thoughts and unanswerable philosophical questions.

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2009-11-14T18:24:16Z

My turn

Lynda Gorov, Globe Correspondent — 2009-11-14T18:23:58Z

LOS ANGELES - Make no mistake. The boy is buff. But Taylor Lautner is human-scale fit. In real life, there’s not a touch of vampire-slaying werewolf to him. His pecs do not protrude until it’s impossible for them not to burst through his shirt.

2012

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2009-11-12T17:13:57Z

I like to imagine that the director Roland Emmerich had a key transformative experience at the age of 7, when a relative visiting from Bavaria accidentally trampled his scale model of the Reichstag. Suddenly a light bulb went on over our young Teuton’s head as he realized: People will pay for this .

The biggest bang

Mark Feeney, Globe Staff — 2009-11-07T17:46:56Z

Roland Emmerich is a man who seeks closure. Big time. The director who blew up the White House in “Independence Day’’ - and unleashed a new Ice Age in “The Day After Tomorrow’’ - goes for the gold, apocalypse-wise, in “2012.’’ It opens Friday.

A Christmas Carol

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2009-11-05T19:55:03Z

Every generation may get the “Christmas Carol’’ it deserves, from the all-dancing, all-singing horrors of “Scrooge’’ (1970) to the brash comic mugging of “Scrooged’’ (1988) to the sleaze of the recent “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.’’ (The best? All votes for George C. Scott and Mr. Magoo will be counted, but anyone who puts in the research knows the 1951 British ...

Boston festivals show global reach

Mark Feeney, Globe Staff — 2009-09-12T16:55:02Z

What do Uma Thurman, Stanley Donen, James Ellroy, and the CEO of Stonyfield Farm have in common? They’re all part of this fall’s lineup of local festivals and special film events.

It’s getting crowded

Ty Burr and Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2009-09-12T16:54:56Z

You may have heard that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the folks who hand out Oscars, will double to 10 the number of best picture nominees this year. Right now, the Academy would have a tough time finding five. But that, of course, is what fall is for: promotion and positioning.

The puzzle of Elia Kazan

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2009-07-25T16:53:41Z

What, exactly, is an Elia Kazan movie? That’s not an easy question to answer. In certain critical ways the acclaimed director fails the auteur theory that has served to define cinematic ambition and achievement ever since the French cooked it up a half century ago. Kazan’s movies were commercial and critical hits - cultural landmarks then and now - and ...

Maternal instincts are all wrong

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2009-05-23T17:00:00Z

CANNES, France - The weather here is perfect this time of year. The suntans could win their owners NAACP membership. And the movies gathered for the Cannes Film Festival, now in its 62d year, provide an invaluable window to the state of the art.

'Slumdog' leads the pack

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2009-02-23T05:00:00Z

Globalism came to the Oscars last night. "Slumdog Millionaire," a film set in a foreign country, featuring no known stars, and with a third of its dialogue in Hindi, swept the 81st Academy Awards last night, winning best picture and seven other Oscars. Danny Boyle's independent drama, which came out of nowhere late last year to dazzle audiences and dominate ...

The magic fades away at Sundance film fest

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2009-01-26T05:00:00Z

PARK CITY, Utah - Two decades ago, a young, unknown filmmaker named Steven Soderbergh arrived in this mountain resort town with his first movie under his arm. The 1989 Sundance Film Festival transformed him into an overnight star of the American independent film movement; the critical and financial success of "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" established Sundance as the the white-hot ...

Year's best films were full of unlikely heroes

Ty Burr, Globe Staff — 2008-12-27T18:00:00Z

In a year of darkness and hope, the movies struggled to keep up. Things fell apart, the economic center didn't hold, the man least expected to win the presidency at the start of the year created a narrative of historical inevitability that just grew and grew and grew. The most engrossing drama I witnessed in 2008 may have been at ...

The year's best shook our complacency

Wesley Morris, Globe Staff — 2008-12-27T18:00:00Z

It would have been tough for the movies to top reality in 2008. Where this year was actually momentous, exciting, and strange, the movies often settled for being merely solemn - which was neither enlightening nor entertaining. The super-successful "The Dark Knight" was solemn, but it was also fun, something increasingly, distressingly absent from the year-end movie-going season. If a ...