'The Twilight Saga: New Moon': Second installment in ‘Twilight’ series better than the first
“The Twilight Saga: New Moon,” also known as “Twilight: The Squeakquel,” is actually pretty good — a tick better than the first “Twilight,” which wasn’t bad either. These are hardly superlatives on the order of “shattering” and “beautiful,” but compared with the film versions of “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons,” the only two movies ever made with less sex than the first two “Twilights,” they’re matchless. (Updated: 11/20/09 9:08 AM )
'Planet 51': Cute, but no ‘E. T.’
In the new animated adventure, “Planet 51,” the residents of the title planet would be more at home in “Leave It to Beaver” than “Alien.” Sure they have green skin, but their yards are enclosed by picket fences, television is in black and white, and families are made up of two parents and two well-behaved kids. Life is good. (Updated: 11/20/09 8:51 AM )
'Paris': Film’s stories offer an homage to life in famed city
“Paris,” Cedric Klapisch’s new film, provides homage to the famed city, to the human condition and to the bittersweet, sometimes unfathomable emotional range that people go through in life. (Updated: 11/20/09 8:51 AM )
'An Education': Mulligan, Molina add intellect to coming-of-age film
He seems like deliverance itself on a rainy day. There she is in her English school uniform, getting soaked to the skin. He slowly pulls up in a plush-looking maroon car of a sort she’s never seen before. “It’s a Bristol,” he says. There were “not very many of them made,” he explains. (Updated: 11/20/09 8:50 AM )
'The Blind Side': Inspiring true story follows homeless boy out of poverty
Spike Lee used “Do the Right Thing” for the title of his racially charged 1989 film. But change it to the past tense — “Did the Right Thing” — and it would apply to nearly every character in director John Lee Hancock’s book-based true story “The Blind Side.” (Updated: 11/20/09 8:49 AM )
'2012': Emmerich delivers apocalypse, again!
On Dec. 21, 2012, Kiefer Sutherland will turn 46, Andy Dick will be 47, and Ray Romano will celebrate his 55th birthday. But that’s nothing. Chris Evert will be 58, for pity’s sake, Samuel L. Jackson will be 64, and Jane Fonda will hit, yes, 75. Joe Paterno, God willing and the creek don’t rise, will turn 86. (Updated: 11/13/09 8:33 AM )
'Pirate Radio': Tune in to a comedy a-swash with bucko actors
The sheer concept of Richard Curtis’ “Pirate Radio” is rather quaint — a time when rock ’n’ roll was deemed so dangerous, so outrageous and so powerful, that it had to be pumped into British homes from boats, illegally. Imagine that! (Updated: 11/14/09 10:19 AM )
'A Christmas Carol': Another fantastical voyage for Jim Carrey and Ebenezer Scrooge
"Bah! Humbug!" (Updated: 11/06/09 4:12 PM )
'The Men Who Stare at Goats' : Extra special forces
It's called "The Men Who Stare at Goats" for a simple reason. The "psychic spies" of Lt. Col. Bill Django's unit are, in fact, trained to stare at goats, thinking homicidal thoughts, until their little hearts stop. (Updated: 11/06/09 8:59 AM )
‘The Fourth Kind’: Kind of succeeds in its creepiness
“I am actress Milla Jovovich,” says the gorgeous actress at the beginning of the alien abduction film “The Fourth Kind.” “Well, of course you are,” say veteran filmgoers. We’d recognize her anywhere — beautiful woman, pretty fair actress, too, as this film underscores. (Updated: 11/06/09 8:44 AM )
'Coco Before Chanel': A film with the same classic appeal as Chanel’s designs
“Coco Before Chanel” is a simple, elegant and well-crafted film with as much style and appeal as one of the iconic fashion designer’s legendary little black dresses. (Updated: 11/06/09 8:42 AM )
'This Is It': Jackson documentary is a fitting farewell
The title, at least, doesn't lie. This IS It. "The final curtain call" as Michael Jackson presciently put it when his comeback tour was announced. All those drugs saw to that. (Updated: 10/31/09 11:11 AM )
'The Damned United': A riveting look at legendary coach
A movie about one of the most celebrated and controversial masterminds of the world’s most popular sport is bound to be studied six ways from Sunday for inconsistencies and adherence to fact. (Updated: 10/31/09 11:15 AM )
'A Serious Man': Coen brothers deliver a brilliant film
The great Yiddish word for it is “tsurus.” Some people spell it “tsoris.” However you spell it, it means trouble and Larry Gopnik’s got it by the ton. (Updated: 10/31/09 11:14 AM )
‘Walt & El Grupo’: One too many shots of Disney
The year 1941 did not start off as a good one for Walt Disney. Although he had achieved critical success with “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Pinocchio” and “Fantasia,” the war in Europe seriously interfered with his international profits, and he was several million dollars in debt. Then his animators went on strike, creating a PR nightmare and grinding production to a halt. (Updated: 10/23/09 9:38 AM )