Reviews Archives - Page 73 of 76

Gyllenhaal, Peña Make ‘End of Watch’ a Must-See

Film Reviews Reviews By Angela Dawson|September 17, 2012 |0

By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic The personal and powerful “End of Watch” is stylish enough to outclass most cops-on-the-beat dramas thanks to its imaginative direction and clever camerawork. But what makes the movie a must-see is the unexpected humanity of its out of th [...]

Phoenix and Hoffman Masterful in ‘The Master’

Film Reviews Reviews By Angela Dawson|September 13, 2012 |0

By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic Director/writer Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” is brilliant, beautiful, often unsettling and emotionally devastating. Forget the media shorthand that shortchanges the film by describing it as a fictionalized biography of Scient [...]

‘Liberal Arts’ Fails on Every Level

Film Reviews Reviews By Angela Dawson|September 9, 2012 |0

By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic Only the aggravatingly unwatchable “Rock of Ages” keeps the excruciatingly irritating “Liberal Arts” from being the worst movie I’ve seen so far this year. The former is a misbegotten musical that’s campily moronic [...]

Hardy Shines as ‘Lawless’ Bootlegger

Film Reviews Reviews By Angela Dawson|August 24, 2012 |0

By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic “The Dark Knight Rises” costars Tom Hardy and Gary Oldman never appear onscreen together in “Lawless,” Oldman shows up in only three scenes of the Prohibition-era drama and their characters couldn’t be more different. Bu [...]

Fast-Moving ‘Premium Rush’ is a Fun Ride

Film Reviews Reviews By Angela Dawson|August 23, 2012 |0

By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic The lightweight, nimble and fast-moving “Premium Rush” is a fun ride that’s a cool end-of-summer treat. Its flashback-and-forth plot is more silly than smart, but nobody goes to an amusement park looking for mental stimulation. Some [...]

Pattinson Driven to Despair in ‘Cosmopolis’

Film Reviews Reviews By Angela Dawson|August 17, 2012 |0

By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic “Twilight” heartthrob Robert Pattinson takes a short, strange trip in the fitfully interesting if often gridlock-slow “Cosmopolis,” spending most of the movie in the back of a luxurious Manhattan-traversing limo. Director Davi [...]

‘ParaNorman’ Zombie Comedy Has Unexpected Heart

Film Reviews Reviews By Angela Dawson|August 13, 2012 |0

By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic Beautifully animated, genuinely funny and unexpectedly touching, the zombie-adventure comedy “ParaNorman” may be the most thoroughly enjoyable all-ages treat of the year. It’s like Halloween candy in August, or maybe an early Christ [...]

Biel Takes on Terror in ‘The Tall Man’

Film Reviews Reviews By Angela Dawson|August 8, 2012 |0

By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic “The Tall Man” has some tall problems, but this mostly psychological horror tale has one big thing going for it. If there’s a grading curve that awards suspense movies extra credit for unexpected endings, this one would be right up [...]

Renner Makes ‘Legacy’ Best Bourne Yet

Film Reviews Reviews By Angela Dawson|August 8, 2012 |0

By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic Easily the most exciting and unexpectedly the most interesting action movie of the summer, “The Bourne Legacy” also is the best Bourne installment ever. This is a two-hours-plus thriller that genuinely thrills. Matt Damon, who starred as [...]

Tasty ‘Killer Joe’ is Finger-Lickin’ Bad

Film Reviews Reviews By Angela Dawson|August 1, 2012 |0

By JAMES DAWSON Front Row Features Film Critic The vulgar, violent and sometimes just plain vile “Killer Joe” is so irresistibly nasty it’s finger-lickin’ bad. And that’s good. A combination of white trash characters and vicious black humor puts this fitfully funny f [...]