Film
Last Stand: Defending the Border
Ah-nuld’s return to the big screen makes him look past it.KRISTIAN LIN
With the release of The Last Stand this week, a Korean wave finally reaches our shores. Much the way a trio of talented and mutually supportive Mexican filmmakers shook up Hollywood some 10 years ago, three South Korean directo...
Gregory Crewdson: Motionless Pictures
This documentary follows a photographer and his elaborate suburban tableaux.KRISTIAN LIN
For whatever reason, 2012 has yielded a bumper crop of documentary films about prominent artists: Marina Abramovic, Ai Weiwei, and Gerhard Richter have all seen their work showcased on the big screen this past year. Why not? It...
Film Shorts
KRISTIAN LINOPENING: A Haunted House (R) Marlon Wayans stars in and co-writes this parody of found-footage horror movies. Also with Essence Atkins, Marlene Forte, David Koechner, Dave Sheridan, Alanna Ubach, Affion Crockett, Nick Swardson,...
Zero Dark Thirty: Tortured Logic
Osama gets killed. Woo-hoo! But this movie has some major issues.KRISTIAN LIN
OK, everyone. Here it is, the movie where Osama bin Laden bites the big one. And yeah, it’s also topping lots of film critics’ lists of the best movies of 2012, and it’s a mortal lock for multiple Oscar nominations, but w...
Gangster Squad: Old Hats
This retro cop thriller is rotten at its core.KRISTIAN LIN
As you’ve probably heard, Gangster Squad was supposed to arrive in theaters last September, but it was also supposed to include a scene (visible in the film’s early trailers) of the bad guys shooting up the audience in a mo...
Film Shorts
KRISTIAN LINOPENING: Zero Dark Thirty (R) Kathryn Bigelow’s thriller about the manhunt for Osama bin Laden. Starring Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, Jennifer Ehle, Kyle Chandler, Mark Strong, Édgar Ramírez, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, ...
Top 10 Movies
They’re not the ones you’re expecting.KRISTIAN LIN
I don’t have enough slots! That’s always a nice problem to have when making a list of the year’s best movies. Even taking into account a number of heavyweight contenders that didn’t make my list (because I think they’...
Film Shorts
KRISTIAN LINNOW PLAYING: Anna Karenina (R) Joe Wright turns Leo Tolstoy’s masterpiece into a shallow, gimmicky movie that stars Keira Knightley as the married 19th-century Russian princess who torches her social status and her family by ...
Les Misérables: Do You Hear the Actors Sing?
At the end of the day, a strong cast saves this musical.KRISTIAN LIN
I’ve never been a fan of Les Misérables, the Broadway musical, and the movie version reminded me of all the reasons: the bombast, the simplistic characters, the relentless self-seriousness, the endless ballads that all sound...
Django Unchained: I’m No Slave 4 U
Southern slaveowners are killed wholesale in Tarantino’s rip-snorting Western.KRISTIAN LIN
Last month, Steven Spielberg put out Lincoln, a movie about the evils of slavery. Predictably, he took a serious, high-minded approach to the issue. This Christmas, Quentin Tarantino also has released a movie on slavery, and ju...