Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, June 17, 2011
by Loey Lockerby
A philosopher, a scientist and a theologian walk into a bar. Eight hours later, they stumble out with the script for The Tree of Life.
Viewers of Terrence Malick ’s long-awaited film may also be a bit wobbly when it’s over. It is an impressive, confounding achievement that calls to mind every drunken late-night debate that no one could articulate the next morning.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, July 15, 2011
by Loey Lockerby
If you thought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 was too slow, prepare to have your need for speed satisfied.
From a ride on a dragon’s back to the epic final battle at Hogwarts, Part 2 rarely pauses as it roars to the series’ finish.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, July 8, 2011
by Loey Lockerby
Beginners is a deeply personal project based on actual events in the life of its writer/director, Mike Mills.
It never quite achieves the emotional impact it aims for, but at least half of it is a great film.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, July 22, 2011Troll Hunter is a bizarre mashup of Grimm’s fairy tales, Godzilla movies, The X-Files and The Blair Witch Project. If that sounds like fun, it is. Up to a point.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, August 12, 2011
In Another Earth, a planet identical to our own suddenly appears in the sky, looming like a reflection in an enormous mirror. The philosophical impact of this is expressed in a moving, intimate story of loss and second chances.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, March 4, 2011It’s always tempting to grade movies on a curve this time of year.
Awards season is over, the summer blockbusters haven’t rolled out yet and the best we can hope for is bland watchability at the multiplex.
Beastly is tolerable enough for a March release. Yes, that is damning with faint praise.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, May 27,When you’re young, good and evil seem like simple concepts. For Michiel (Martijn Lakemeier), the boy at the center of the thought-provoking Dutch drama Winter in Wartime, the distinction couldn’t be more obvious.
As the Nazis occupy his small town through the harsh winter of 1945, Michiel learns just how blurry his youthful moral clarity can become.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, July 29, 2011
The Double Hour is a thriller with elements of romance, mystery and horror. Or maybe it’s a mysterious horror film that includes thrills and romance. However you classify it, it’s a strange, chaotic experience.
Anyone who has ever faced old age — or watched a loved one do so — will find plenty to identify with in Another Harvest Moon.
It covers nearly every angle of the experience, from the perspectives of worried relatives, stressed-out caregivers and, of course, the elderly themselves.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Thursday, December 22, 2011Cameron Crowe is an odd match for We Bought a Zoo. The man known for directing R-rated fare like Jerry Maguire and Almost Famous seems out of his element with a cute-kids-and-animals movie.
That turns out to be a surprisingly good thing.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Thursday, November 24, 2011Watching My Week With Marilyn is like seeing an actual, long-lost Marilyn Monroe film: It’s not that great, but the star is mesmerizing.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Thursday, October 6, 2011There are financial troubles, lots of setbacks and a pretty girl, and everything is resolved by a last-act confrontation with cartoonish bad guys.
You probably just thought of at least three or four movies like that. Real Steel is indistinguishable from any of them, with one exception: It has awesome robot fights.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, May 27, 2011
Apparently, filmmakers thought a change of venue was all the novelty anyone needed for The Hangover Part II.
Otherwise, this is a faded copy of its predecessor, only raunchier (if you can imagine) and with better scenery.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, July 29, 2011Of course, his characters aren’t really losers, which is why they gain our sympathy so easily. The former Office star is the rare television actor whose persona makes a completely smooth transition to the big screen.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, September 2, 2011Author: LOEY LOCKERBY , Special to The Star
Have we had enough alien-invasion movies for one year? After Battle Los Angeles, Super 8 and Cowboys & Aliens, it’s hard to muster much excitement for yet another tale of extraterrestrial nasties. Call it E.T. Fatigue.
Don’t write off the genre just yet, though. While it lacks originality, Attack the Block zooms along with energy and deadpan humor.
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, May 6, 2011
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, April 15, 2011
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, April 1, 2011
Kansas City Star, The (MO) – Friday, January 21, 2011
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