Red Tails

Red Tails

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

          A cartoonish lump of noisy, colorful, children’s war fantasies, Anthony Hemingway’s “Red Tails” is a bold stylistic leap of ridiculousness.

Haywire (2012)

Haywire

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

          Steven Soderbergh’s films are, when you look over his career, all over the map. He is a director who does not seem happy unless he’s breaking some sort of ground.

The Descendants

The Descendants

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

          Alexander Payne’s strengths lie in deeply flawed people coming to the slow realization of their own flaws, all through a tragic or dramatic event.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

          There is a weird overlap between Goth and cuddly. Some of the women who pierce their nipples, wear standoffish leather outfits, and listen to aggressive heavy metal music sometimes tend to have a stuffed animal collection on their beds, or be really fond of Disney movies. Walk into a Hot Topic sometime if you doubt me.

The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin

Film review by: Witney Seibold

 

          This is the first animated film Stephen Spielberg has made, and it kind of shows. Let me explain what I mean by that.

War Horse

War Horse

Film review by: Witney Seibold

This is Steven Spielberg is full-tilt sentiment mode.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Film review by: Witney Seibold

Tomas Alfredson‘s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” based on the seminal spy novel by John le Carré, is one of the best-looking films this year. The cold, brown-shaded 1970s British spy interiors look like a library on overdrive. The atmosphere is thick with a kind of erudite, sophisticated, adult miasma that reminds us that this is no dumbed-down American spy thriller. This is going to be about the subtle emotional interplay and off-screen betrayals of intelligent working men who have known each other for years. This is a film about pencil-pushers who, only occasionally on work assigments, have to put themselves in harm’s way.

The Muppets

The Muppets

Film review by: Witney Seibold

Your enjoyment of “The Muppets” will be directly proportional to your inherent and already-standing goodwill toward the Muppet characters. If you grew up watching “The Muppet Show” in the ’70s and ’80s, and if you have any sort of affection for 1979′s “The Muppet Movie,” then James Bobin‘s new film will be catnip for you. Seeing the characters in action is handled with just the right touch. There is little in the way of cheapness or feelings of crass exploitation.

Hugo

Hugo

Film review by: Witney Seibold

Martin Scorsese‘s “Hugo” is a glorious and loving polemic about the magic of movies. We’ve heard plenty of marketing gurus chat endlessly about “capturing the imagination” and “making dreams come true,” but Scorsese seems to transcend the dry aphorisms be tapping into the actual process.

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark

Theater review by: Witney Seibold

 

So I got back from New York recently, and I was able to, thanks to a stroke of luck, get into see Julie Taymor’s new musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” for relatively cheap. I am now here, dazed, able to offer up to my loyal readers, a run-down on the experience. Strap in tight, though, ’cause things are about to get nutty.