Real surprises are rare at the movies these days. Even though I see most films before they’re released, it seems I always know something about a movie before I go in — eit...

The E Street Cinema’s program of Oscar-nominated shorts (running through Feb. 14) is an annual highlight of this film-dreary time of year. I’ve always had a soft spot for ...

“West of Memphis,” the new documentary on the West Memphis Three, shows what happens when fear becomes the driving force in a criminal case rather than, you know, evidence...

I walked into Michael Haneke’s “Amour” expecting to walk out an emotional wreck. The film — which screened in D.C. last week and, probably thanks to its Oscar nominati...

The Academy Award nominations were announced Thursday, meaning we can now all pretend we’re not in the middle of this horrible, desolate, bad-movie wasteland by talking abou...

If you start a band in a movie, the following things will happen: You’ll have to replace someone early on. You’ll practice cover songs in someone’s parents’ basement o...

  I bet you weren’t expecting the best moment of your life. Bet your worst caught you off guard, too. Life’s surprises are what the extraordinary “Rust and Bone” ...

“The Hobbit” has some flaws. There are a lot of flashbacks, some of which serve no real purpose, and there is a lot of silent glowering, all of which serves no real purpos...

First off, I have not seen “Playing for Keeps,” which opens Friday, in spite of the fact that it features Gerard Butler using his actual Scottish accent and I will do near...

I have the world’s best job, but December kills me. First, there are all the Oscar-bait releases, which are often an embarrassment of riches. And then there are all the earl...

In graduate school, I was subjected to a lot of experimental films that were both important to the development of cinema as an art form and so excruciatingly boring that I bec...

When I was in graduate school and felt the need to seem pretentious (which was a lot), I’d offhandedly say, “Oh, I’m a genre theorist.” Technically, it was true — mo...

I would not want to be a leading actor with Oscar dreams this year. Dwight Henry (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”) and Jake Gyllenhaal (“End of Watch”) turned in perform...

Simon, the teen in Swiss indie “Sister,” out today, is as hard-core a capitalist as probably anyone you’ll find in “Atlas Shrugged Part II” (which is also out now, t...

“How to Survive a Plague” has had its D.C. release date moved back what feels like 15 or 20 times. I conducted my interview with the director last spring, and with every d...