Brims with funny ideas both verbal and visual that are finely tuned by Baumbach and his cast, and sharply edited... 
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Groucho Reviews
Latest Film Reviews
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Frances Ha (2013)
Brims with funny ideas both verbal and visual that are finely tuned by Baumbach and his cast, and sharply edited... -
Epic (2013)
Nothing new, but given its solidly built kids' adventure, I'm not going to, y'know, look down on it. -
The Hangover Part III (2013)
Less like a movie and more like a contractual obligation. -
The Iceman (2013)
The main selling point here—and it's a considerable one—is Shannon, who shows new shadings in the role of Kuklinski... -
Stand Up Guys (2012)
The awfulness of the narrative is plain to see, and yet...no one can say Stand Up Guys lacks personality. -
Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
Smart or...dumb? Yes, and...fun to hang around with for a couple of hours. -
Shanghai Noon (2000)
Though the film nakedly seeks a wide audience through conventional plotting and characterization—and despite being (like most action movies) guy-centric—Shanghai Noon provides good, clean 'family' fun. -
Shanghai Knights (2003)
This innocent, sixties-style, big-budget comedy-romance-action-adventure romp is solid family entertainment that would make any self-respecting kid's jaw drop for a good two hours. -
Star Trek: The Next Generation—The Best of Both Worlds (1990)
As good as, if not better than, any of the feature films that would later star the Next Generation cast. -
Star Trek: The Next Generation—Season Three (1989)
Not only did the third season mark a quantum leap in non-niche popularity for the series, but a greater consistency in the show's writing and execution that meant a precipitous drop in fan complaints. -
The Great Gatsby (2013)
Luhrmann approaches the story and directs his actors in ways that hold them at a distance from us: the overkill plays less as bold art and more as lack of trust in the source material. -
In the House (2013)
Inviting photography and a relentless pace complement Claude's unfolding narrative, but the big thrills are in the deftly drawn characters...and the incisive satire... -
At Any Price (2012)
Works best when it sticks close to Henry, whose broad grin fails to mask a growing desperation. Quaid not only makes a believably corn-fed patriarch, but he captures the mien of one who is slowly ceding his soul... -
Renoir (2013)
Perhaps it's damning Renoir with faint praise to call it agreeable, but Gilles Bourdos' film...shows an admirable restraint, quiet simplicity, and lush pictorial beauty. -
The Pink Panther (1964)
All the ingredients for a great evening at the movies: lively music, eye-catching scenery, larger-than-life comic set pieces, suave men and beautiful women, and odd-man-out Clouseau, played to perfection by the one and only Peter Sellers. -
The Place Beyond the Pines (2012)
The most satisfying cinematic experience we've had at the multiplex thus far this year, and largely through its disinterest in playing along with movie trends. -
Evil Dead (2013)
There are two types of people in the world. Those who should under no circumstances see the horror sequel/reboot Evil Dead and those who just gotta see it. -
Lincoln (2012)
Day-Lewis...wears well the weariness of the office and Lincoln's puckish yet subdued sense of humor, scaling the man closer to life-size than Mount Rushmore monumental. -
From Up on Poppy Hill (2013)
Sunny days, blue skies, and rippling blue waters lined with greenery...Plain nice, and there's nothing wrong with that. -
The Host (2013)
Do not consume The Host before operating heavy machinery. Side effects may include spontaneous coma or fits of giggling. -
A Royal Affair (2012)
Supplements its palace intrigue with the good old-fashioned pull of romance and costume drama...Mikkelsen's magnetism and sly expressiveness hold the film's center with a quiet potency. -
Monsieur Verdoux (1947)
Monsieur Verdoux can boast a screenplay with a highly unusual moral complexity and a deeply philosophical bent...Yes, Verdoux is a film that name-drops Schopenhauer, but it's also damn funny... -
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
By most cinematic measures, Zero Dark Thirty is one of the best-made films of 2012. It also probably shouldn't exist. -
The Croods (2012)
Appears to have been market-tested to within an inch of its life, so despite a theme of finding the capacity to evolve, the picture remains mired in the tar pit of formula. -
On the Road (2012)
This pretty period-pictorial companion piece to the novel fatally misses out on the brain-firing raw buzz that Kerouac felt and passed on to his readers... -
Stoker (2013)
Park’s skills for surreal subjectivity and the mischievously weird certainly don’t hurt, but they can’t quite banish Stoker’s narrative speed bumps and draughts of cold air... -
Life of Pi (2012)
In the hands of Ang Lee, a true film artist, Life of Pi elegantly walks Martel's philosophical line while also brilliantly using every modern cinematic tool to spin an epic yarn. -
Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)
Oz the Great and Powerful gets saved from the junk heap by Franco and especially by director Sam Raimi, who happily treats the enterprise as a sandbox. -
No (2013)
Swims upstream against high-definition with a defiantly lo-fi approach that's also ingeniously evocative of the historical period. -
Greedy Lying Bastards (2013)
The film isn't a worldbeater as either old-school journalism of rigorous reportage or dazzling showmanship...will be of most use as a time capsule of sorts... -
Emperor (2013)
The mealy half-truth director Peter Webber...and screenwriters Vera Blasi and David Klass settle for just winds up a waste of everyone's time. -
Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Built for fun...in its dazzlingly elaborate production design and kinetic 3D action...perfect casting...Who Framed Roger Rabbit-esque video-game-character cameos, and a cramming of clever comic touches... -
A Place at the Table (2013)
Provides plenty of moving case studies...[but] it's most useful for its prismatic look at the problem of American hunger, examining the problem's recent history, its root causes...and its inextricability from other national crises... -
The Master (2012)
The Master begs for a reorientation of the viewer, perhaps requiring more than one viewing...there's nothing easy or conventional about this account of a doomed search for external meaning, doubling as a meditative tone poem on human frailty. -
A Star Is Born (1976)
While in its romantic and romanticized particulars, this A Star Is Born can often seem silly, hoary, disjointed or meandering, the essence of the showbiz narrative still exerts a powerful pull... -
The Sessions (2012)
Gets it right, in the essence of its true story as well as the social discomforts surrounding disability and sane discussion of sexuality. -
Snitch (2013)
In its modern way, Snitch is almost Dickensian in its intent, missing no opportunity for melodramatic confrontation as it puts a (baby) face on a social ill. -
Bless Me, Ultima (2013)
The material calls out for a more expressive cinematographic treatment. Had the film been less antiseptic and more bold in its visuals and the emotional depths of its performances, it could have been a classic; instead, it's a rather ordinary indie. -
The Gatekeepers (2013)
The 'other' Oscar-nominated feature about a war on terror, Dror Moreh’s documentary The Gatekeepers proves more intellectually engaging than Hollywood’s Zero Dark Thirty, and at least as unsettling. -
Our Man Flint (1966)
To the extent that Our Man Flint works, it does so due to its tossed-off wit...and the sheer oddity of Coburn, the toothy, gangly character actor who nevertheless charms his way into stardom here with laid-back cool.