Kelly Jane Torrance

MOVIES: French flick about reunion puts an American to shame

"I've Loved You So Long" ("Il y a longtemps que je t'aime") has more than a few things in common with another recent release, "Rachel Getting Married."

November 21, 2008

Truth is, celeb beauty a full-time job

Magazines offer plenty of advice for women who want to look like their favorite toned and taut celebrities. Except how those celebrities really do it.

November 14, 2008

MOVIES: Documentary shows women helping end war in Liberia

"Pray the Devil Back to Hell" doesn't have any of the accouterments seemingly essential to the modern documentary. There are no hammy narration, jokey interludes or music played to make a point.

November 14, 2008

BEYOND: Kaufman finds footing as writer, director

The career of Charlie Kaufman might seem to be the perfect example of that overused phrase "overnight success."

November 7, 2008

MOVIES: A ‘Boy’ looks at the Holocaust

"The Boy in the Striped Pajamas" is a moving and beautifully told British film from the perspective of an 8-year-old boy.

November 7, 2008

MOVIES: ‘Madagascar 2’ knows how to move it

"Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa" might not offer audiences cutting-edge animation or a particularly original story. It still has a lot going for it, though: foot-tapping music, laughs for young and old and the prodigious talents of Sacha Baron Cohen.

November 7, 2008

Media Room

This charming children's comedy might hit a little too close to home right now. When the Depression-era tale was released in June, few suspected that comparisons to the 1930s would become a regular feature of the news just a few months later.

October 31, 2008

BEYOND: Dillon, the accidental filmmaker

Justin Dillon never intended to become a filmmaker. He hadn't even decided to make a movie until he was halfway through the project that became his directorial debut.

October 31, 2008

MOVIES: ‘Changeling’ slick but superficial

"Changeling" is a well-made film, but "slick," not "substantial," is the word to describe it all.

October 24, 2008

‘High School Musical 3’ renews youth musicals

The movie musical has undergone a big revival in the past five years. When the big-screen adaptation of "Chicago" won the Oscar for best picture in 2003, it set the stage for "Dreamgirls," "Hairspray" and "Mamma Mia!" to make a lot of money.

October 24, 2008

MOVIE REVIEW: Lots of buzz with ‘Bees’

"I killed my mother when I was four years old, and that was all I knew about myself," Lily Owens tells us at the beginning of "The Secret Life of Bees."

October 17, 2008

MOVIE REVIEW: Life’s silver linings

We all know someone a little like Poppy, the effervescent center of British writer-director Mike Leigh's latest film, "Happy-Go-Lucky."

October 17, 2008

MOVIE REVIEW: Dysfunctional film and family

Families are messy things. Movies about them are often even messier.

October 17, 2008

Anti-miserablist manifesto

Mike Leigh's films take an unflinching look at human beings in all their gloom and glory.

October 17, 2008

‘Mister Foe’ becomes a man

Talk about an Oedipus complex. Hallam Foe, the title character of this strange and striking film, ends each day by saying good night to a poster-sized photograph of his mum. He stalks and then starts a relationship with a girl who's a dead ringer for his dead mother. Just for good measure, he also engages in a little hanky-panky with his stepmother.

October 10, 2008

Media

Sleeping Beauy: 50th Anniversary Platinum Edition (Disney, $29.99 for DVD, $35.99 for Blu-ray) - High definition isn't just for cool car chases and breathtaking vistas. Disney is banking on the format to bring a classic to life as well.

October 10, 2008

Media Room

Even studios behind children's television specials are capitalizing on the upcoming election.

October 3, 2008

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Appaloosa’, a well-worn Western

"Appaloosa" contains seemingly every well-worn cliche of the Western. There are the strong, silent gunmen and the sassy woman who's more afraid of them dying than they are themselves.

October 2, 2008

MOVIES: A ‘Duchess’ of style and substance

"The Duchess" is one frustrating film to watch. It's not that the ethereally beautiful Keira Knightley isn't convincing as the title's 18th-century aristocrat. She is.

September 26, 2008

MOVIES: Palahniuk coughs up another winner

"Choke" one very black comedy. Strangely enough, it's also mature and moving. This unlikely combination makes it one of the best films of the year.

September 26, 2008