Category Archives: Movie Review

“Omar”: A Cold War thriller under a stifling occupation

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“Omar” opens Friday at Sundance Cinemas. Not rated, 1:38, three and a half stars out of four.

Somebody tells a story in “Omar” about how monkeys are caught in Africa. The (probably apocryphal) story goes that trappers dig small holes in the ground with narrow openings, and drop nuts that the monkeys really like into the holes. The monkey reaches in, grabs the nut, but then can’t pull its paw back through the opening without dropping the nut. So there the monkey sits, unwilling to drop the nut, as the hunters arrive at their leisure.

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“Non-Stop”: Excuse me, ma’am, is this seat “Taken”?

Photography By Myles Aronowitz

“Non-Stop” opens Friday at Point, Eastgate, and Star Cinema. PG-13, 1:50, two and a half stars out of four.

Give Liam Neeson credit — he’s an action star who acts. In the “Taken” movies, “Unknown” and now “Non-Stop” (reteaming him with “Unknown” director Jaume Collet-Serra), Neeson manages to sell increasingly unbelievable premises with a world-weary gravitas and an edge of menace. In “Non-Stop,” he’s the captain, and even if we don’t know where we’re going and suspect the movie doesn’t either, we trust him to get us there.

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“Wadjda”: For a Saudi girl, freedom comes on two wheels

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“Wadjda” opens Friday at Sundance Cinemas. PG, 1:40, three stars out of four.

Wadjda wants a bike. She sees a beautiful bike strapped to the roof of a car, and it seems to be gliding in the air by her, just begging her to hop on board and ride. But bikes cost money. That is a problem for Wadjda, but not the biggest one.

The biggest one is that Wadjda is a 10-year-old girl in Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed to drive cars or vote.

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“At Berkeley”: At 84, documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman goes back to school

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“At Berkeley” screens at 1 p.m. Saturday at the UW-Cinematheque, 4070 Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave. Not rated, 4:04, three and a half stars out of four. FREE!

That running time in the above description is not a misprint. Legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman’s “At Berkeley” clocks in at over four hours, which you’d think would make viewers eligible for some kind of college credit.

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“The Great Beauty”: They threw outrageous parties, they paid heavenly bills

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“The Great Beauty” opens Friday at Sundance. NR, 2:22, three and a half stars out of four. I’ll be doing a post-show chat in Sundance’s Overflow Bar after the 6:50 p.m. show on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

Ah, to be wealthy, gorgeous and dead inside in Rome! Paolo Sorrentino’s ravishing “The Great Beauty” at first makes the life of the rich and shallow look like a wonderfully decadent carnival, the camera swooping and gliding from outrageous parties to breathtaking architecture.

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“The Armstrong Lie”: Riding circles around the truth

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“The Armstrong Lie” opens Friday at Sundance Cinemas. R, 2:03, three stars out of four.

“Lance Armstrong!” my daughter said when she saw “The Armstrong Lie” on our television. “That’s the astronaut, right?”

Close enough. For years, Lance was a hero on a par with Neil, not just one of the world’s top athletes but an inspiring cancer survivor and engaging celebrity. Sure, he was dogged by rumors of doping from his first of seven Tour de France wins in 1999, but which story would you rather believe?

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2014 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary”: Films that don’t take long to dig deep

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“2014 Oscar Nominated Shorts: Documentary” plays Friday through Sunday at 11 a.m. at Sundance Cinemas. Not rated, 2:30, three stars out of four.

Feature documentaries seem to be embracing different kinds of cinematic storytelling, from the narrative sleight-of-hand of “Stories We Tell” to the self-reflexive “The Act of Killing.” Most short documentaries, though, stick to a more traditional format out of necessity, since they’re all competing for the same relatively narrow distribution channels, such as public television.

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“The Trials of Muhammad Ali”: Stinging the pro-war establishment like a bee

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“The Trials of Muhammad Ali” screens at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Madison Public Library’s Central Branch, 201 W. Mifflin St. Not rated, 1:31, three and a half stars. FREE!

Director Bill Siegel will introduce the film and take part in a post-show panel discussion. Read my interview with Bill Siegel here.

How America loved Muhammad Ali. But how America hated him too.

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“The LEGO Movie”: Humor, heart and wonder all snap into place

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“The LEGO Movie” opens Friday at Point, Eastgate, Star Cinema and Cinema Cafe. PG, 1:41, three and a half stars out of four.

Unfortunately, “The LEGO Movie” does not have a cameo by that sad little footbridge that seemed to be the only thing I could build out of LEGOs without an instruction book. Aside from that, the animated film lovingly and cleverly captures the appeal those little plastic bricks have on kids, whether you played with them yesterday or during the Carter Administration.

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2014 Oscar Nominated Shorts — Live Action: Why so serious?

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“2014 Oscar Nominated Shorts — Live Action” opens Friday at Sundance Cinemas. Not rated, 1:35, two and a half stars out of four.

Where the animation shorts category at the Academy Awards seems to allow in sorts of candidates, the live-action shorts category always seemed like a bit of a racket. It seems like filmmakers have figured out that the Academy voters love self-serious melodramas, ideally about a child in peril or third-world strife (a third-world child in peril — cha-ching!) I know there are tons of interesting and innovative short films being made out there — I just wish I could see more of them in the Academy Final Five every year.

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