SONNY BUNCH

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Road’

"You don't know what might be down the road," the Man (Viggo Mortensen) tells us matter-of-factly in "The Road."

November 25, 2009

David Horowitz honors his daughter’s life

"You can lose people through death - and you can lose them while they're still alive," David Horowitz says.

November 25, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’

The first "Twilight" movie was better than it had any right to be, given its meager plot and cardboard-cutout characters. Director Catherine Hardwicke managed to craft an interesting world for the two leads to inhabit. That surrounding world simply doesn't exist in "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

November 20, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Blind Side’

"The Blind Side" is a feel-good sports drama about the intersection of race and athletics, with solid if unremarkable performances and a screenplay that strains just a little too hard for social relevance.

November 20, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Planet 51’

The premise of the new animated family comedy "Planet 51" is mildly amusing: What if humans landed on an alien planet, the culture of which was roughly equivalent to that of the United States in the 1950s?

November 20, 2009

Buzz comes with backlash for ‘Precious’

"Precious," the new drama from director Lee Daniels stirring up beaucoup Oscar buzz, has stirred up something else as well: controversy within the black community.

November 20, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: Cast gives ‘Precious’ a lift

Harrowing and sometimes hard to watch, "Precious" is a tale of unrelenting misery that suggests just enough of a silver lining to keep audiences from spiraling into total depression.

November 13, 2009

ON THE EDGE: Grass-roots Oscar campaigns struggle

Just like their distant cousins, presidential campaigns, it seems that Oscar campaigns get started earlier and earlier each year. Filmmakers are already pumping up their movies and performers for award-season consideration.

November 13, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Messenger’

"The Messenger" is a successful examination of the harsh realities of war that too often are put in the back of people's minds.

November 13, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘2012’

"2012," the new disaster picture from Roland Emmerich, is 160 minutes long. That's two hours and 40 minutes of Earth destruction and cardboard-cutout characters screaming in terror while they drive/fly/boat away from impending blue-screen computer-generated doom.

November 13, 2009

BEYOND HOLLYWOOD: Lee Daniels coaxes memorable performances from cast

Lee Daniels, director of the festival-circuit fave "Precious," alternates between outgoing excess and quieter introspection, sometimes swinging between the two poles in the same sentence.

November 13, 2009

BEYOND HOLLYWOOD: Jared Hess’ unique world

Tall, with a bushy beard and wearing a full-zip hooded sweatshirt, Jared Hess can't help but smile at the way things have changed over the past five years.

November 6, 2009

Indie film ‘(Untitled)’ a lesson in fun for right

It's easy enough to be against something — but given the chance to be for something, will the right spring to the ramparts in the same manner? A new indie film "(Untitled)" puts that question to the test.

November 6, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Gentlemen Broncos’

Comparisons will be drawn between "Gentlemen Broncos," the latest feature from Jared Hess, and his debut feature, "Napoleon Dynamite." To an extent, this is fair: Both are tales of a young man growing up in a world he doesn't quite understand, surrounded by extremely odd characters whose sole purpose in life seems to be making his life more difficult.

November 6, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’

"The Men Who Stare at Goats" meanders aimlessly without ever reaching a satisfying conclusion. But the film's biggest problem isn't a lack of narrative focus; it's a lack of moral courage.

November 6, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘A Christmas Carol’

It's hard to think of a book adapted to film more often than Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." It's been done a hundred times a hundred different ways, yet versions keep spilling forth from Hollywood.

November 6, 2009

Virginia film fest’s new head wants more premieres

The Virginia Film Festival is one of the longest-running and best-respected film festivals in the mid-Atlantic region. Now entering its 22nd year, the Charlottesville-based festival boasts a new director and an evolving sensibility.

October 30, 2009

Cosby joins Twain list

Bill Cosby was honored at the Kennedy Center on Monday night in a ceremony for the performing arts center's prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

October 27, 2009

Obama campaign biopic already dated

Maybe the most remarkable thing about the new Edward Norton-produced HBO documentary "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama" — a cinematic souvenir of that unique moment in American political history — is how dated it already feels.

October 23, 2009

MOVIE REVIEW: ‘Antichrist’

"Antichrist" feels less like an art house film than a parody of one: Pretentious, meandering, misogynistic and beautifully shot, the latest from Lars von Trier would be considered a provocation if it wasn't so laughable.

October 23, 2009