HOT TOPIC: MEN WRITE 70 PERCENT OF REVIEWS PUBLISHED IN AMERICA'S TOP 100 DAILIES... Shocked? Read more
FEATURED: "Frozen River" (star Melissa Leo and director Courtney Hunt on set, pictured above)
Carrie Rickey has been The Philadelphia Inquirer's film critic for 21 years and writes the newspaper's Flickgrrl blog. She has reviewed films as diverse as "Water" and "The Waterboy," profiled celebrities from Lillian Gish to Will Smith, and reported on technological beakthroughs from the video revolution to the rise of movies on demand. Her reviews are syndicated nationwide and she is a regular contributor to Entertainment Weekly, MSNBC and NPR. Rickey's essays appear in numerous anthologies, including "The Rolling Stone History of Rock & Roll," "The American Century," and the Library of America's "American Movie Critics."
Donaldson, deft maker of kindred political intrigues such as Marie, No Way Out, and Thirteen Days, directs in a wry, spry style, propelling viewers through the densely plotted story that connects the high-born to low-lifes. Read more>>
In drama, Frances McDormand’s perpetually pursed mouth signals that she is a no-nonsense gal. In comedy, however, her pinched kisser is just as perpetually contradicted by merry eyes that see all and are amused by most. Read more>>
Who says movies aren’t educational? Films about prehistoric life offer so many unexpected lessons. In 10,000 B.C., Roland Emmerich’s tedious, ludicrous and harmless glimpse of the dawn of civilization, we see the origins of modern hair and makeup. The humans have dreadlocks and mud-masques, and so do the woolly mammoths. Very hip, very organic. Always a good thing when predators and prey are coordinated. Read more>>
As Hillary Clinton faces the full-court press this primary season, I am reminded of Joan Allen in The Contender (pictured), where a U.S. Senator (D. - Ohio) stands firm against defamers who fear a female vice-president. Read More>>
To the extent that the film has any value beyond the charms of its principals, it satirizes how women are (mis)treated in the workplace. Read more>>
As with all Burton films, Sweeney is atmospheric and haunting, like a William Blake engraving with Dolby Digital sound. It seeps into your bones like fog. Read more
Like a musical Zelig or Forrest Gump, Dewey Cox (whose surname is stroked for every naughty pun imaginable) for five decades is at the center of the hurricane that is pop music, mastering every idiom from rock to rap. Read more
The Savages, Tamara Jenkins’ mordant, poignant family portrait of adult children and their geriatric parents, navigates the rough waters of that middle passage when it’s sink or swim time. It redefines “midlife crisis” as a period during which parents are lost and perspective is found. Read more
Diving Bell is about something imperceptible: consciousness. Read more
With “Juno,” another unwanted pregnancy film, about to hit the screens, Carrie Rickey comments: “Pregnant characters in recent U.S. films not only don’t discuss abortion, they don’t even say the word.” Read more