Film Reviews
Doubt: Nothing ‘beautiful’ about this ‘question’
By David Walsh, January 3, 2009
Doubt takes place in the Bronx, New York in 1964. A conflict emerges at a Catholic school between a relatively young and ‘progressive’ parish priest, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), and a b...
Bad Faith: Bill Maher’s Religulous
By Hiram Lee, January 2, 2009
Comedian Bill Maher and director Larry Charles take on religion in their new documentary. The results are less than enlightening.
David Walsh selects his favorite films of 2008
By David Walsh, December 31, 2008
2008 will be remembered as the year of a great economic crash and a turning point in modern history. It will not be recalled as a great year in filmmaking, despite a few bright spots.
La Fille Coupée En Deux, the new film from Claude Chabrol
By Hiram Lee, December 29, 2008
Veteran French New Wave director Claude Chabrol returns to the screen with an interesting but limited work inspired by the life of Evelyn Nesbit.
The Wrestler: Vigorous, but opaque
By Jordan Mattos, December 27, 2008
In Darren Aronofsky’s fourth feature film, The Wrestler, veteran actor Mickey Rourke plays Randy “The Ram” Robinson, a professional wrestler in his fifties who is coping with life as a prisoner ...
Waltz With Bashir: “Memory takes us where we need to go”
By David Walsh, December 24, 2008
Israeli director Ari Folman’s Waltz With Bashir is one of the most extraordinary and haunting films of the year. Folman has made an animated film that ends with the tragic events at the Sabra and Sh...
Ron Howard’s Frost/Nixon: Trivializing a war criminal
By Patrick Martin, December 23, 2008
There are many problems with Frost/Nixon, Ron Howard’s film adaptation of the play by Peter Morgan, but the main one is the subject matter itself: British television talk show host David Frost’s i...
The blues in Chicago: Cadillac Records
By Joanne Laurier, December 20, 2008
Director Darnell Martin traces the rise and fall of Chess Records, whose roster at one time or another included such musical giants as Muddy Waters, Little Walter, Howlin’ Wolf, Willie Dixon, Chuck ...
Baz Luhrmann’s Australia: a superficial jumble
By Richard Phillips, December 18, 2008
Luhrmann’s $A190 million movie—the most expensive in Australian film history—is a syrupy and patronising mish-mash.
Milk, identity politics and Gus Van Sant’s art
By Joanne Laurier, December 9, 2008
Veteran US director Gus Van Sant has made a new film about the life and times of gay politician Harvey Milk, assassinated in San Francisco in 1978, with mixed results.
Quantum of Solace: James Bond vs. imperialism
By Hiram Lee, December 3, 2008
Daniel Craig returns as Agent 007 for the twenty-second installment of the popular James Bond franchise.
Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky: A film about life and people being worth something
By David Walsh, December 2, 2008
In Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky, Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is an irrepressible personality, a teacher in London who looks for the best in people and situations. The WSWS will be posting an interview with...
