'gainsbourg: a heroic life' review

I first saw Gainsbourg back in the spring of 2010 when I was part of the jury for COL-COA . I liked it then, and I liked it again when I re...

'a good old fashioned orgy' review

Jason Sudeikis seems destined to be a movie star, but if that happens A Good Old Fashioned Orgy won't be one of the first films mention...

red hot chili peppers - 'i'm with you' review

Every four years or so, Red Hot Chili Peppers emerge from their L.A. lairs and put out essentially the exact same album. This drives other p...

dj shadow - I gotta rokk

DJ Shadow's new album, The Less You Know the Better , comes out next month. I know a lot of folks gave up on Shadow after The Outsider ,...

'chasing madoff' review

I don't think there would be many people who wouldn't like to learn how Bernie Madoff finally got his comeuppance. So why is the doc...

'higher ground' review

Vera Farmiga's directorial debut, Higher Ground , is really special. Though flawed, it's impressively nuanced in its portrait of a w...

'don't be afraid of the dark' review

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark isn't a great movie, but it's an enjoyably nasty/cheesy/atmospheric one. As I told a friend while wa...

fountains of wayne - michael and heather at the baggage claim

I did some traveling recently, which means getting on an airplane, flying, landing somewhere else, and then waiting for your bags. "Mic...

'amigo' review

John Sayles is a filmmaker I love, but I have to admit that he hasn't made a great film in quite a while. Sadly, his latest, Amigo , is ...

'flypaper' review

Flypaper is a heist-gone-wrong comedy starring Patrick Dempsey and Ashley Judd. Did I mention it's also terrible? Well, it is. Man, is i...

radiohead - codex

I decided to revisit The King of Limbs recently to see if it had grown on me at all. Sadly, it had not. I think it's their weakest albu...

'littlerock' review

Littlerock is a micro-budget indie from director Mike Ott that opens Friday in New York. It's a small film that won the "Someone to...

death cab for cutie - death of an interior decorator

Yes, it's true: Ben Gibbard once wrote a song inspired by Woody Allen's Interiors , which is a pretty underrated film of his. "...

'rise of the planet of the apes' review

I think a running theme in a lot of reviews for Rise of the Planet of the Apes will be "Wow, what a pleasant surprise." That'...

'mysteries of lisbon' review

Director Raul Ruiz's Mysteries of Lisbon is a 257-minute-long soap opera about an orphan boy looking for his parents. That's just on...

'the change-up' review

In theory, I'd watch just about anything with Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman in it. But that theory is tested by The Change-Up , a very...

'bellflower' review

Bellflower is the audacious debut of writer-director-star Evan Glodell. Its first two acts are really terrific, but, man oh man, I wish its ...

drive-by truckers - 'ugly buildings, whores & politicians' review

Drive-By Truckers have never had a hit, but that didn't keep them from releasing Ugly Buildings, Whores & Politicians: Greatest Hits...