Movie review by Greg Carlson Too trifling to comment with any weight on the racial issues it raises, “Something New” still manages to work as a pleasant, if casually paced, romance with a pair of attractive leading performers.  The feature debut of music video director Sanaa Hamri, “Something New” tracks the dating ups and downs […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Steven Soderbergh’s “Bubble” will undoubtedly be remembered more for the circumstances surrounding its distribution than for its content or cinematic quality.  Debuting simultaneously this week in theaters, on pay-per-view, and on DVD, Soderbergh seems to be offering a direct challenge to the traditional expectation of a window between theatrical run […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson The myth of Pocahontas is simultaneously durable and sketchy, and perhaps this is part of its appeal.  Filmmaker Terrence Malick’s treatment of the story necessitates a great deal of invention, but the final impact of his fourth feature “The New World” is somewhat disappointing when lined up against his other […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Yet another entry in Disney’s lineup of sports movies based on real events, “Glory Road” joins “Remember the Titans,” “The Rookie,” and “Miracle” as a mostly enjoyable – if not altogether penetrating – exercise in history at the movies.  In other words, beyond the central fact that the 1965-66 Texas […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson An often harrowing study of a pair of young Palestinians intending to carry out a suicide bombing mission in Israel, Hany Abu-Assad’s “Paradise Now” is simultaneously a tense thriller and a meditation on the absurdity of the ultimate self sacrifice.  The production of a movie interested in dealing with this […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson A glacially-paced miscalculation, “Memoirs of a Geisha” is among the weakest of the large budget studio films in the hunt for this year’s award-season glory. Directed by Rob Marshall as his follow-up to the Academy Award-winning “Chicago,” “Memoirs” clumsily adapts Arthur Golden’s wildly popular 1997 novel. Eschewing subtlety and detail […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Following a script writing team-up with Wes Anderson on “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou,” filmmaker Noah Baumbach delivers his strongest feature film to date in “The Squid and the Whale,” a semi-autobiographical period piece fictionally recounting the fallout from the divorce of his parents.  Set in 1986, “The Squid […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson  An ambitious and complicated tale of corruption in the big oil industry, writer-director Steven Gaghan’s “Syriana” is a mostly thrilling, always interesting ensemble film that has much to say in its 126-minute running time. Linking together CIA operatives, Texas petroleum executives, Beltway attorneys, Islamic terrorists-in-training, slippery politicians, and wealthy Gulf […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson A completely disappointing mélange of computer-generated imagery and live action footage, “MirrorMask” plays out onscreen like a graphic novel come to life, but lacks the breathing room necessary to fuel the imagination of its viewers. The film brazenly wears its illustrated origins on its sleeve, as the final opening credit […]

Movie review by Greg Carlson Considering the ever-growing number of Jane Austen fans populating several generations, it is somewhat surprising to note that Joe Walsh’s 2005 adaptation of “Pride & Prejudice” marks only the second full-fledged big screen telling of the classic tale, following sixty-five years after the Greer Garson/Laurence Olivier version produced by MGM. […]