I'm Not There
Catholic News Service
11/27/2007, by Harry Forbes
NEW YORK (CNS) -- As straightforward biography, "No Direction Home," Martin's Scorsese's fine documentary on the early career of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which aired in 2006 on PBS, still takes the prize. The latest Dylan bio, "I'm Not There" (Weinstein), is more an artsy, impressionistic ...
The Mist
Catholic News Service
11/27/2007, by John Mulderig
NEW YORK (CNS) -- There's no silver lining to "The Mist" (MGM/Dimension), the technically skillful but relentlessly pessimistic film based on a popular novella by Stephen King. When an unnatural fog, alive with murderous mutant animals -- including insects, birds and even a giant octopus -- ...
Enchanted
Catholic News Service
11/27/2007, by John P. McCarthy
NEW YORK (CNS) -- In the delightful musical "Enchanted" (Disney), the studio that built its reputation on animated fairy tales gently and cleverly spoofs its own canon by injecting the magical principles of the cartoon realm into the live-action world. Self-reference in family filmmaking is taken ...
Margot at the Wedding
Catholic News Service
11/19/2007, by Harry Forbes
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Margot at the Wedding" (Paramount Vantage) is a well-acted though downbeat tale of neurotic short-story writer Margot (a superb Nicole Kidman), who takes her son Claude (Zane Pais), a teenager on the uneasy brink of puberty, to attend the wedding of her often-estranged sister ...
Beowulf
Catholic News Service
11/19/2007, by Harry Forbes
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Improving on the "performance capture" technique he employed so skillfully in "The Polar Express," director Robert Zemeckis has fashioned a rousing version of the oldest poem in Anglo-Saxon literature, one famously championed by J.R.R. Tolkien in a 1936 essay. The new "Beowulf" ...
Love in the Time of Cholera
Catholic News Service
11/19/2007, by Harry Forbes
NEW YORK (CNS) - Many felt that Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel Garcia Marquez's acclaimed 1985 epic novel in the style of magic realism would be unfilmable. As it happens, "Love in the Time of Cholera" (New Line) proves an overlong, uneven adaptation, despite the sturdy talents of director Mike Newell ...
P2
Catholic News Service
11/13/2007, by John P. McCarthy
NEW YORK (CNS) -- As almost every driver will admit, a parking garage is a legitimate locus of terror. But the pedestrian horror movie "P2" (Summit) only manages to transform a subterranean Manhattan structure into a setting for monotonous, dispiriting violence with few frights and myriad ...
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium
Catholic News Service
11/13/2007, by Harry Forbes
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium" (Walden/Mandate/Fox) is a wholesome, well-meaning but ultimately only moderately charming tale about a magical toy store run by 243-year-old eccentric Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) and his young apprentice, Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman), with a ...
Lions for Lambs
Catholic News Service
11/8/2007, by Harry Forbes
NEW YORK (CNS) -- The lustrous names of Robert Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise give promise of solid drama and healthy box-office receipts. Alas, "Lions for Lambs" (UA) turns out to be a well-intentioned but thuddingly static plea for noncomplacency with, we would predict, limited popular ...
Fred Claus
Catholic News Service
11/8/2007, by Harry Forbes
NEW YORK (CNS) -- The holiday season gets off to a surprisingly delightful start with "Fred Claus" (Warner Bros.), a generally funny yet bittersweet tale about Santa Claus, aka St. Nicholas (Paul Giamatti), and his older, neglected brother, Fred (Vince Vaughn). Ever since childhood (portrayed in a ...
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