Theater/Film Reviews
-
O’Horten
Odd is his name and odd is his movie. "O’Horten," a Norwegian film that opened here yesterday, is a very different film, which is the kindest way to describe a movie written and directed by Bent Hamer. Odd Horten, played with wonderfully dead-pan skill by Baard Owe, is an engineer on the Oslo-Bergen railroad line,
-
Food, Inc.
The surest way for a critic to cripple attendance at a movie he thinks is important is to say, "This is an important movie!" And yet, I’m going to have to chance it, because "Food, Inc.," which opens here today, is an important movie. It’s a very important movie, one that may have an effect
-
My Sister’s Keeper
It’s a perfect entertainment trifecta: A hospital drama, a courtroom drama and a dying child.What more could anyone ask for summer movie-going? Certanly not "My Sister’s Keeper," which opens here today. Someone should have taken this overwrought, dishonest tear-jerker and drowned it in the nearest bathtub. Of course, it’s based on a Jodi Picoult novel,
-
The Merry Gentleman
Once a stagehand for Mr. Rogers, Michael Keaton has grown into one of the most versatile of movie actors. Now, he makes his full-length directorial debut in "The Merry Gentleman," a seamless step from in front of the camera to behind it. Actually, Keaton is in both places, and he’s equally terrific as actor and
-
Adoration
Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan is a man with considerable talent and the desire to be in complete control. His new film, "Adoration," opening today, reflects that passion. He serves as writer, director and producer, and his characters often show the same need. This works much of the time, but in the end, Egoyan drives this
-
Rudo y Cursi
Tato and Beto are Mexican half-brothers, Tato a high-scoring forward nicknamed Cursi and Beto a formidable goalkeeper nicknamed Rudo. The nicknames roughly translate as Corny and Tough, respectively, and they are, very obviously, soccer stars in a movie named after both of them, "Rudo y Cursi." Carlos Cuaron wrote and directed this bright, high-spirited film,
-
The Ghosts of Versailles
When it comes to chronological age, "The Ghosts of Versailles" is just a punk kid, an opera that has not yet reached its 20th birthday. When it comes to historical and theatrical lineage, it goes back throughout recorded time, paying tribute to practically everything that came before. And when it comes to entertainment, it has
-
The Lady From Dubuque
And just who is the lady from Dubuque? Unknown and unexpected at her arrival, she gradually reveals more and more of herself as the second act of Edward Albee’s "The Lady From Dubuque" rolls across the stage at the Kranzberg Center, where the Muddy Waters Theatre production opened over the weekend, to run through June
-
Away We Go
I really envy Burt and Verona. They are so smart, so self-righteous, so superior to the rest of us. It’s enough to make one ill, and their sanctimonious attitudes come close to succeeding in "Away We Go," opening here today. John Krakowaki (Burt) and Maya Rudolph (Verona) are a young couple, thinking about getting married
-
Easy Virtue
Noel Coward wrote some great plays. He also wrote some clunkers, and the writing team of Stephan Elliott and Sheridan Jobbins is not good enough to make chicken salad out of a sow’s ear, as the saying goes. Elliott also directed "Easy Virtue," which might have worked if a better cast could have been assembled.