Movie review by Greg Carlson An assured first feature from writer-director Joshua Marston, “Maria Full of Grace” transports viewers into the tense, desperate world of illegal international drug smuggling. Unlike films that treat this subject with lurid action sequences fraught with phony car chases and salvos from automatic weapons, Marston’s movie focuses instead on the […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Writer-director David Oas is the unlikeliest of first time moviemakers.  At 67, the retired college teacher has channeled his background in clinical psychology into the shot-on-video feature “Raspberry Heaven,” which opens at the Fargo Theatre on Friday, September 10.  Born in Northwood, North Dakota, Oas is a Moorhead High School […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson A stunning visual feast boasting strong performances from its attractive quartet of leading actors, “Hero” finally makes its American debut this week as a theatrically released feature. Fans of wuxia have been trading imported and bootleg DVD copies of the movie for many months, often speaking with reverent awe about […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson “Before Sunset” is one of busy filmmaker Richard Linklater’s most deeply felt and satisfying movies. A real-time sequel to 1995’s “Before Sunrise,” (the uber-undergraduate backpacker in Europe fantasy) the new work is simply astonishing throughout its entirely concise 80-minute running time. Wistful and occasionally heartbreaking, “Before Sunset” is the rarest […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson If one maintains sufficiently low expectations going in, “Alien vs. Predator” is not a completely terrible sci-fi slugfest. Because Twentieth Century Fox opted out of advanced screenings of the film, critics everywhere assumed that a turkey, and not a face-hugger, would be hatching out of the slimy egg laid by […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Director Michael Mann straddles a line occupied by very few commercial filmmakers, placing his own visionary stamp on scripts that might otherwise be handled with conventional banality. Like some of his best work, “Collateral” merely uses the urban crime genre – with a bit of police procedural thrown in for […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson A thoroughly disjointed collection of weird sketches and odd circumstances revolving around a superbly awkward teenager navigating high school hell, “Napoleon Dynamite” bursts with a remarkable gift for observational detail.  Already drawing frequent comparisons to Todd Solondz (accurate) and Wes Anderson (not so accurate), first time feature director Jared Hess […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Jim Jarmusch, who has made a habit out of depriving his hardcore fans of regular movie treats (his last film was the brilliant “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” in 1999), groups together eleven short subjects to make a feature out of “Coffee and Cigarettes,” an interesting and occasionally […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Nobody is going to mistake “I, Robot” for either great storytelling or important filmmaking.  The film’s director, Alex Proyas, honed his skills while making sumptuous (but empty-headed) eye candy like “The Crow” and “Dark City.”  Like those movies, “I, Robot” is long on style, short on ideas.  The film’s lack […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson “Anchorman” is one of the strangest, funniest, and most oddly satisfying comic vehicles to appear in a long time. Granted, you must be a fan of Will Ferrell in order to enjoy the film – if you don’t like him, you are in for a very long hour and a […]