Posted in: Review

Tales of Babylon

When are you simply ripping off someone else’s movie and when are you making your own, respectful homage? It’s a question that’s been around for decades — or at least since someone first noted Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs bore some obvious similarities to Ringo Lam’s City on Fire. So it’s only fair, perhaps, that Tarantino […]

Posted in: Review

Simulant

Imagine everything you love in your partner. Their tenderness, their sense of humor, their deep abiding devotion. Now imagine you could record all that, and save it in an identical robot. Could you love that robot, too? Simulant thinks so. In its near-future scenario, basic humanoid robots – called simulants, or “sims” – now work […]

Posted in: Review

Tonic

Welcome to a life in the night of the city. That’s the idea for some terrific movies, in which a harried man on the run stumbles from danger to danger, eccentric to eccentric. Carol Reed’s Odd Man Out, with its story of a wounded IRA member fleeing the authorities, was one. Martin Scorsese’s After Hours, […]

Posted in: Review

My Sister’s Wedding

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blah. That’s the not-quite-rhyming recipe for My Sister’s Wedding, a get-me-to-the-altar comedy that never really engages its audience. Its story revolves around put-upon middle child Allison, trying hard to make sure her kid sister’s nuptials run smoothly. It shouldn’t be that hard. The wedding is at the family […]

Posted in: Review

Unconformity

Unconformity is the story of Alex, a rock-climbing geologist. Too bad the movie never soars too high, or digs too deep. An inoffensive, but not particularly memorable drama, the film begins with Alex, a doctoral student, facing personal and professional crises. A seemingly friendly classmate has stolen her ideas; her advisor is exploiting her work. […]

Posted in: Review

How to Rob

There is New York noir, all rainy streets and dark alleys. There’s L.A. noir, where the bright sunshine just makes the shadows deeper. And then there’s Boston noir. How to Rob is the latest entry, in a venerable tradition that ranges from The Friends of Eddie Coyle to The Town. And it shares some of […]

Posted in: Review

Rickshaw Girl

Naima’s life in rural Bangladesh is nearly impossible. And then it gets worse. Her father becomes gravely ill, and loses his job as a rickshaw driver. Her mother is fired from her work, as well. Her father’s medicine is expensive, and there’s no money coming in. So, young Naima decides, it’s time she went out, […]

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