Email Author L.A. Weekly Film Critics

2008 Stories by L.A. Weekly Film Critics

• Movie Reviews: Kabluey, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Meet Dave

  published July 10, 2008

  GO  DEATH DEFYING ACTS This impeccably well-made bonbon from Australian director Gillian Armstrong belongs to that camp... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Gonzo, Tell No One, The Wackness

  published July 3, 2008

  DIMINISHED CAPACITY This first feature by character actor-theater director Terry Kinney addresses, once again,... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Encounters at the End of the World, Finding Amanda, Wanted

  published June 26, 2008

  GO  ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD Werner Herzog has made a career documenting extreme... More >>

• LAFF Honors Recently Deceased Moviemaking Greats

  published June 19, 2008

  When Charlton Heston passed away earlier this year, more than one obituary writer quoted Pauline Kael’s observation — made in her... More >>

• Los Angeles Film Festival Guide 2008

  published June 19, 2008

  THE AMAZING TRUTH ABOUT QUEEN RAQUELA (Iceland/Philippines) In a documentary that often feels stagy, director Olaf De Fleur... More >>

• Movie Reviews: The Happening, Poultrygeist, Savage Grace

  published June 12, 2008

  GO  THE ANIMATION SHOW 4 In its fourth year, this traveling festival of short animated films is now... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Kung Fu Panda, Mongol, Mother of Tears

  published June 5, 2008

  BOMB IT Graffiti taggers wearing masks, lurking in the shadows, watched by security cameras and running from the police... More >>

• Movie Reviews: The Edge of Heaven, The Foot Fist Way, The Strangers

  published May 29, 2008

  GO  BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER My first boyfriend was a juicer. Steroids were the drug of choice... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Heavy Metal in Baghdad, Postal, War, Inc.

  published May 22, 2008

  THE CHILDREN OF HUANG SHI As ploddingly familiar as it is good-looking, Roger Spottiswoode’s drama, based on the life... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Indestructible, Reprise, Water Lillies

  published May 15, 2008

  BLOODLINE Faintly ridiculous but strangely watchable, director Bruce Burgess’ documentary explores the controversial... More >>

• Movie Reviews: The Fall, I for India, Mister Lonely

  published May 8, 2008

  THE BABYSITTERS Used to be that babysitters only solved mysteries or got caught in the middle of Mafia deals. Now,... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Redbelt, A Walk Into the Sea, Swimming in Auschwitz

  published May 1, 2008

  ANAMORPH Those nutty cinematic serial killers — always taunting their pursuers with omniscient brilliance, always... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Body of War, Four Minutes, Shotgun

  published April 24, 2008

  BABY MAMA Could have sworn I’ve seen this episode of Baby Mama before — like sometime in January 2007,... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Zombie Strippers, Floating Life, Lost in Beijing

  published April 17, 2008

  BEYOND THE CALL Attempting to portray its Good Samaritan subjects as just regular guys, Beyond the Call is that rare... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Bra Boys, Super High Me, Alexandra

  published April 10, 2008

  GO  ALEXANDRA Spare yet tactile, a mysterious mixture of lightness and gravity, Alexander Sokurov’s... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Forever, My Blueberry Nights, My Brother Is an Only Child

  published April 3, 2008

  CHAPTER 27 Jared Leto might win an Oscar next year if audiences are willing to see Chapter 27 as an abstract of the... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Boarding Gate, Run Fat Boy Run, Priceless

  published March 27, 2008

  AMERICAN ZOMBIE Recent films like Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later presented zombies as the embodiment... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Doomsday, Drillbit Taylor, Under the Same Moon

  published March 20, 2008

  DOOMSDAY Remember that scene in The Warriors where the Turnbull ACs chase the heroes in a pimped-out bus? Whoa! And... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Beaufort, Horton Hears a Who!, The Unforeseen

  published March 13, 2008

  GO  ALL IN THIS TEA What is the price of tea in China? You’ll learn that and a good deal more... More >>

• Movie Reviews: College Road Trip, CJ7

  published March 6, 2008

  10,000 B.C. No doubt your history teacher failed to tell you of the long-lost Yagahl tribe, which apparently thrived on snowy... More >>

• Film Reviews: Semi-Pro, Summer Palace, A Walk to Beautiful

  published February 28, 2008

  CHICAGO 10 Thirteen months after Hubert Humphrey was nominated for president in a hall ringed with barbed wire and... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Be Kind Rewind, Men in the Nude, The Signal

  published February 21, 2008

  GO  BAB'AZIZ: THE PRINCE WHO CONTEMPLATED HIS SOUL Even though one of the earliest appeals of... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Jumper, Step Up 2 the Streets

  published February 14, 2008

  GO DEFINITELY, MAYBE Sandwiched somewhere between the American Spirit commercials and the Clinton... More >>

• Movie Reviews: Just Sex and Nothing Else, Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show and more

  published February 7, 2008

  FILM PICK  THE BAND'S VISIT Heavily accented English (don’t worry, there are subtitles... More >>

• Caramel, Over Her Dead Body, Tre, The Eye

  published January 31, 2008

  GO  CARAMEL The multiply blessed young Lebanese writer-director Nadine Labaki looks sublimely like Anna... More >>