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My Oscar Predictions? Horrible
I'm usually good at guessing who's going to win the Oscars but, man, that wasn't the case this year. In fairness, it was a tricky year, with lots of wide-open races and Oscar peculiarities (such as the...
View ArticleFilm At Minnesota Zoo Brings The African Animals To You
The things you see in “Kenya 3-D: Animal Kingdom” are fairly standard stuff for a large-format movie about Africa, but it’s the way you see them that makes the movie special. Zebras, rhinos, lions,...
View ArticleWhat Is The Name Of This Movie, Again?
There are plenty of different ways to display the title at the beginning of a movie. Sometimes, it’s the first thing we see. Other times, it’s somewhere in the opening credits — first, or after the...
View ArticleRest In Peace, Mr. Ebert
Many people who actually knew Roger Ebert will do a better job of memorializing him, but I think it’s worth noting that you didn’t need to know him well to know what a good egg he was. The Chicago Sun...
View ArticleSupport Your Local Filmmaker
On the movies page on this website, you’ll find my guides to the first couple weeks of the ongoing Minneapolis/St. Paul Film Festival. But I also wanted to point out that many films with local ties are...
View ArticleCoen Bros Finally Back In Theaters This December
Joel and Ethan Coen were on a tear there for a while, producing a film each year between 2007 and 2010 but it’s been a long gap since “True Grit.” Variety is reporting, though, that we’re getting close...
View ArticleBefore Midnight — Movies And Time
My apologies for a title that sounds like a graduate thesis title. I don’t think the blog post will: Watching “Before Midnight,” the extraordinary third film in a series about the evolving life of a...
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Filmzilla: Final Wars
For years, my answer when anyone asked me where they could locate a DVD of an independent or foreign film was: Filmzilla (actually, it used to be Village Video before the store moved and changed its...
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Paul Bunyan Strikes Back
Babe, the Blue Ox, doesn't last long and Paul Bunyan isn't quite like you remember him, either, in "Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan," which is playing June 5 at Minneapolis' Trylon Microcinema....
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My Weird Relationship With “Before Sunrise”
Sometimes, I secretly think I’m the only person who has ever really seen the Richard Linklater film, “Before Sunrise,” which stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy as young people who meet on vacation in...
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Trip Down Coming-of-Age Movie Memory Lane
Here's a fun idea: The upcoming teenage romance, "The Spectacular Now," which stars Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley, is paying tribute to its roots with a series of screenings of beloved movies to...
View ArticleHappy 114th, Alfred Hitchcock!
I love Alfred Hitchcock and I love lists, so I’m celebrating the birthday of the Master of Suspense with this list of my 11 favorite Hitchcock films. Go see ‘em! 1. “Shadow of a Doubt” — Also...
View ArticleBig Joy at “Big Joy”
The Walker is showing a documentary Thursday that’s sometimes feels like a of holy grail of American experimental filmmaking. The full title is “Big Joy: The Adventures of James Broughton” and it’s a...
View ArticleCan’t See Everything
Checked out the IMDB Top 250 lately? The movie website’s list of the movies its readers rank as the best 250 of all time is notoriously suspect, and not just because a cadre of fans makes sure “The...
View ArticleWhat Is Oprah Doing With Terrence Howard?
I received a call from a reader who did not leave a phone number, so I couldn’t get back to him but it occurred to me this might be a question others have, anyway: Why did my review of “The Butler”...
View ArticleThe Review That Took Six Years To Write
“How far in advance do you see the movies you review?” is a question I get a lot. In general, the answer is a week or two in advance, although a month or two isn’t out of the question (I saw “Brokeback...
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“Bad” Is Not The Word For “Bad Grandpa”
Because it’s largely a gross-out comedy and because it’s from the people who brought us the “Jackass” movies, it’s not surprising that “Bad Grandpa” is not being taken very seriously. I get that, but I...
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Claire Denis Goes Very, Very Dark
I wish I’d gotten to this sooner to give moviegoers a little more notice but: My apologies and you only one more chance, tonight, to see Claire Denis’ “Bastards.” The French-language film, a...
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Where I Will Be June 14, Mesmerized
About 18 months ago, when New York’s Museum of Modern Art was showing “The Clock,” I got excited about it and started asking around here — mostly at the Walker, which seemed like the best place for it...
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