Apr 21, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

The third night of the 14th annual City of Lights, City of Angels (COL•COA) film festival, a weeklong showcase of new French films at the Directors Guild in Los Angeles, was highlighted by the Cold War espionage thriller Farewell and the West Coast premiere of Please, Please Me!, from writer/director Emmanuel Mouret (Shall We Kiss?). More

Apr 15, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

The only thing Kick-Ass the movie has in common with Kick-Ass the comic book is the premise: New York high-schooler Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson) is a nobody to everyone around him except for his two best friends (played by Clark Duke and Evan Peters) and his father. After he and his buddies are mugged one too many times by a couple of neighborhood hoods, Lizewski takes up the mantle and MySpace page of an amateur vigilante. More

Apr 14, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

The story of Chess Records founder Leonard Chess, who would help launch the careers of Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, and Etta James, falls flat, without igniting the fire that helped make recent music pics like Once and Walk the Line successful. More

Apr 13, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

"This is what music is supposed to be," says wheeler and dealer of contraband, Nader, while listening to a track by indie rockers Ashkan and Negar. But under the strict moral and political code of Tehran, non-traditional music like theirs is supposed to have a permit. More

Mar 26, 2010 Cinema Issue #30 - Winter 2010 - Vampire Weekend

A gynecologist (Julianne Moore) suspects that her husband (Liam Neeson), a suave music professor, is cheating on her, so she pays a young escort (Amanda Seyfried) to test his fidelity. Sounds rational and plausible, right? More

Mar 17, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

Complete with an expansive story line and a sprawling cast, the Red Riding trilogy is just about as bleak as crime dramas get, with little closure and even less absolution. More

Mar 03, 2010 Cinema Web Exclusive

Few contemporary directors are as consistent as Tim Burton—consistently frustrating, that is. Though still blessed with an agreeably dark sensibility and a knack for striking visual design, Burton makes movies that are a treat for the eye, but it's been far too long since he's engaged the heart and head as confidently. Maybe that's why it's little surprise that his latest effort, Alice in Wonderland, is exactly what you'd expect from a Tim Burton film—unfortunately. More

Feb 24, 2010 Cinema Issue #30 - Winter 2010 - Vampire Weekend

For 19-year-old Malik (Tahar Rahim), part Corsican, part Arab, it's kill or be killed when he enters prison to serve a six-year sentence for the assault of a police officer. César (Niels Arestrup), a Corsican mafia lieutenant and the prison's most powerful inmate, has his thugs torment Malik until he agrees to murder Reyeb (Hichem Yacoubi), an Arab being held until his trial testimony. More

Jan 29, 2010 Cinema Issue #29 - Year End 2009 - Best of the Decade

First-time actress Katie Jarvis delivers a wonderfully expressive and nuanced lead performance as Mia, an aimless Essex teen in English writer/director Andrea Arnold's superb second feature, Fish Tank. Mia, a foul-mouthed 15-year-old loner with a nose for trouble, lives in a council flat with her single mom (Kierston Wareing) and tween sister (Rebecca Griffiths). More