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Ty Burr
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Sweet nothings in ‘The Vow’
‘The Vow’’ is the rare chick flick that’s about brain trauma in addition to being a cause of it. It’s what you might get if the eminent neurologist-author Oliver Sacks tried his hand at a True Romance comic, and, as such, it’s quite watchable date-night cheese - the kind of movie you can simultaneously snort at and enjoy.Madonna’s latest is two-faced drama
** W.E. Madonna’s second film as director is a double-drama about Wallis Simpson (a very good Andrea Riseborough) and the romance that led to the 1936 abdication of Edward VIII (James D’Arcy) and the modern-day sufferings of a Park Avenue housewife (Abbie Cornish). The period scenes are good, the others are not. As a moviemaker, Madonna is best when she’s not trying so hard. (119 min., R) (Ty Burr)Oscar shorts open the world and the heart
***1/2 The Oscar Nominated Short Films 2012: Documentaries Four of the five Academy-nominated short docs. This year’s crop spans the globe from Japan to Pakistan to the American South, and each film shows average people coming to terms with almost unimaginable events and struggling to reclaim their dignity. (130 min., unrated) (Ty Burr)‘Chronicle’ turns the found-footage genre into a superhero
**1/2 Chronicle A found-footage superhero movie about three high-schoolers who videotape the aftermath of their encounter with a glowing space-rock. Pieces of this are downright brilliant, including the let’s-destroy-downtown-Seattle climax, but the filmmakers can’t decide whether they’re making fun of the genre or just going overboard with it. Paging John Hughes or Gus Van Sant. (84 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)‘The Look’ is an enjoyable sampling of actress Rampling
*** Charlotte Rampling: The Look Subtitled “A self-portrait through others,’’ this documentary pairs the 65-year-old actress in conversation with friends, artists, and colleagues. The portrait that emerges is of a woman carefully and repeatedly approaching the edges of cliffs, then leaping with abandon. In English, French, and German, with subtitles. (95 min., unrated) (Ty Burr)‘Albert Nobbs’: trying to have it both ways
*** Albert Nobbs As the title character, a woman passing as a male butler at an upper-crust hotel, Glenn Close skulks through Edwardian-era Dublin like a eunuch on a stealth mission. Rodrigo Garcia’s drama is cautious to the point of stodginess. Close (who co-wrote the script) gives a fascinating performance, even if Janet McTeer steals the film. (113 min., R) (Ty Burr)Director goes behind the ‘ooooh la la’ to find what makes ‘Crazy Horse’ nightclub move
*** Crazy Horse The 39th film from the legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman prowls the Paris nude-revue nightclub of the title, watching the ways human beings manufacture the art of desire. His fly-on-the-wall approach yields insights into process from everybody but the dancers themselves. In French, with subtitles. (134 min., unrated) (Ty Burr)Writing, loving, and learning ‘Young Goethe in Love’: a story of a tormented artist
** Young Goethe in Love Alexander Fehling plays the young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as he lives the events that will become his breakthrough novel, “The Sorrows of Young Werther.’’ It’s a watchable, professional piece of Great Man hackwork that lacks the invention and spirit of its obvious model, “Shakespeare in Love.’’ In German, with subtitles. (102 min., unrated) (Ty Burr)2011 short films from Sundance
*** 2011 Sundance Shorts A selection of last year’s Sundance short films. The hit-to-miss ratio is high, and the films underscore what makes a great short work: a solid idea expanded into a brief, powerful vision of the world. “The Eagleman Stag’’ and “Deeper Than Yesterday’’ are the best of a solid bunch. (86 min., unrated) (Ty Burr)A road trip across time, space, and cultures
***1/2 Silent Souls Two men, remnants of a vanished Finnish people in northern Russia, take a trip to dispose of a beloved wife’s body. Aleksei Fedorchenko’s film is a sigh at the way entire cultures can slip away: It’s lovely, slow, melancholic and short, yet you feel you’ve been gone for an epoch or two. In Russian, with subtitles. (75 min., unrated) (Ty Burr)Movie review: Wim Wenders’s ‘Pina’ adds a new dimension to dance onscreen
*** Pina Wim Wenders’ ode to the work of the late German modern-dance choreographer Pina Bausch is a parting gift from one creative force to another. Soberly ecstatic, it’s also the latest proof (with Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo’’ and Werner Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams’’) that 3-D can serve as midwife to art and exhilaration, In lots of languages, with subtitles. (100 min., PG) (Ty Burr)‘Joyful Noise’: Praise the gospel, not the plot
** Joyful Noise Hot gospel singing and earnest family squabbles are all that distinguish this pew-pounding but wholly predictable musical drama starring Queen Latifah, Keke Palmer, and the skeletal remains of Dolly Parton. Featuring appearances by gospel great Kirk Franklin and child singer Ivan Kelley Jr. - is it a sin to wish the movie had been about them? (118 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)Review of ‘Carnage’: Jodie Foster reestablishes her claim as one of our greatest working actors in Roman Polanski’s new film
***1/2 Carnage Yasmina Reza’s “The God of Carnage’’ isn’t a great play and this is hardly Roman Polanski’s finest hour, but the schematic tale of two upscale couples descending into savagery as they discuss a fight between their young sons is good, stinging fun, and the performances are wonderful. John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, and the peerless Jodie Foster star. (79 min., R) (Ty Burr)Review of ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey’: Angelina Jolie’s war film marks a credible beginning for her as a writer-director
** In the Land of Blood and Honey An agonized romantic drama set during the Bosnian War and a credible narrative feature filmmaking debut for writer-director Angelina Jolie. Like the filmmaker’s public persona, the movie’s both strong and headstrong, invested in grit and glamour with a hazy understanding of the line separating the two. Zana Marjanovic and Goran Kostic star. In Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian, with subtitles. (127 min., R) (Ty Burr)Documentary recalls a ’60s counterculture mentor, Paul Goodman
** Paul Goodman Changed My Life An attempt to reclaim a lost counterculture mentor - a thinker/writer/activist who helped make possible the New Left of the 1960s before he was outrun by it. As documentaries go, it’s an able introduction that doesn’t make its subject as relevant to our current discontents as it could. (89 min., unrated) (Ty Burr)‘The Artist’ earns 4 stars from reviewer Ty Burr
**** The Artist Michael Hazanavicius’s silent, black-and-white love letter to classic movies isn’t perfect, but it’s close enough to make just about anyone who sees it ridiculously happy - and that includes children and grown-ups who’ve never come across a silent film. Jean Dujardin plays the charming Hollywood ham whose career goes south with the arrival of the talkies; Bérénice Bejo is his love interest. A crowd-pleaser and a joy. (100 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)‘We Bought a Zoo’ review: Lions and tigers and Matt Damon, oh my!
** We Bought a Zoo Matt Damon plays a grieving single dad who takes over a ratty Southern California wild animal park. It’s a sweet-natured, terribly unthreatening drama about redemption and renewal, and it may matter more to the man who made it (director Cameron Crowe, stuck in a career slump) than the audiences who see it. With Scarlett Johansson. (124 min., PG) (Ty Burr)‘War Horse’ review: Classic Hollywood rides again in Steven Spielberg’s new movie
*** War Horse A boy (Jeremy Irvine) and his horse, separated and rejoined by World War I. Steven Spielberg’s “serious’’ movie of 2011 is a work of full-throated Hollywood classicism that looks back to the craftsmanship and sentimentality of John Ford and other legends of the studio era. It’s as impressive as coasting gets, but it’s coasting all the same. (146 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)‘Tintin’ is a timeless adventure that sadly keeps its distance
**1/2 The Adventures of Tintin Director Steven Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson bring the intrepid boy reporter of Hergé’s classic comic books into the digital new millennium with mixed results. The film’s a visual marvel that’s cold to the touch, with a chase-rinse-repeat storyline that grows tiresome and motion-captured characters that lack the warmth of human beings. (107 min., PG) (Ty Burr)Ty Burr says there’s no real mystery in ‘Sherlock Holmes’ sequel
** Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows It has its pleasures, chief among them Robert Downey Jr., but the light has gone from the star’s eyes and the thrill is gone from this franchise. Jared Harris plays the “Napoleon of crime,’’ professor James Moriarty, and the scenes between him and Holmes are the film’s sharpest. Jude Law and Noomi Rapace co-star. (129 min., PG-13) (Ty Burr)Ty Burr says updated ‘Tinker Tailor’ as compelling as the original thanks to Gary Oldman
***1/2 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy The stillness of Gary Oldman as George Smiley is magnificent to behold. This adaptation of the 1973 John le Carré novel, about a British intelligence wonk (Oldman) trying to catch a traitor in his ranks, is a model of smart restraint and telling details - an engrossing movie for grown-ups. With Colin Firth. (127 min., R) (Ty Burr)Sarkozy drama ‘The Conquest’ pulls its punches
**1/2 The Conquest An enjoyably gossipy account of French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s rise to power, notable for coming out while its subject is still in office. As Sarkozy, Denis Podalydès plays high-stakes office politics while losing his wife (Florence Pernel); the film’s a deadpan hoot that lacks the bite it could and arguably should have had. In French, with subtitles. (105 min., unrated) (Ty Burr)Video: Movie reviews
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Look for new reviews by Ty Burr and Wesley Morris at the end of each week in multiple formats.
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