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BETSY SHERMAN

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Review: Parental Guidance

Billy Crystal and Bette Midler star in what could have been a decent comedy, if director Andy Fickman hadn't made it such a tearjerker.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | January 02, 2013

Review: Les Misérables

For his adaptation of the kitsch-fest known as Les Miz, Tom Hooper ( The King's Speech ) bets heavily on his cast, and mostly wins.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | December 20, 2012

Review: The Guilt Trip

Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand make a snappy comic duo in this road movie about a tetchy mother-son relationship.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | December 20, 2012

Review: Possession

A Cold War of body and soul is waged in this 1981 English-language horror film by Polish director Andrej Zulawski, set in a nearly deserted Berlin.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | November 12, 2012

Review: Alex Cross

The level of writing in Alex Cross is inferior to that of your fourth-favorite TV cop show.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | October 24, 2012

Review: Somewhere Between

Upon her adoption of a Chinese baby girl, filmmaker Linda Goldstein Knowlton wondered how, in years to come, her daughter would view her racial identity.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | October 18, 2012

Review: Beloved/Les bien-aimés

Christophe Honoré's melodramatic excesses
For the musical drama Beloved , writer-director Christophe Honoré's melodramatic excesses are tempered by the subtle performances of his leading ladies.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | September 11, 2012

Overcoming physical challenges
Patience is a necessity in the lives of Young-chan, a man who's been deaf and blind from a young age, and his wife Soon-ho, a woman who despite her own physical challenges helps him accomplish tasks both modest and awe-inspiring.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | September 04, 2012

Review: Robot & Frank

A gentle, incisive comedy
Frank Langella adds to his string of understated, riveting performances in this gentle, incisive comedy.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | August 21, 2012

Review: Side by Side

Chris Kenneally's documentary about the inexorable rise of digital as the medium in which films are being shot and disseminated is a must-see for AV geeks and cinephiles — even die-hard celluloid fans.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | August 14, 2012

Review: Ruby Sparks

A dream made flesh
Ruby Sparks is a frothy, thoughtful take on the Pygmalion/Living Doll genre.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | August 03, 2012

Review: Bel Ami

The film adaptation of Guy de Maupassant's 1885 novel
The title is the term of endearment given to a charming young reporter by a series of influential Parisian women.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | June 05, 2012

Review: Snow White and the Huntsman

Not the old clichés
Hers is not the old clichéd path towards romance, but the new clichéd path towards becoming a kickass girl warrior.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | June 07, 2012

Review: The Three Stooges

Funny and faithful
The Farrelly Brothers' Three Stooges pastiche, while not poifect, is funny and faithful, recreating slap-shtick (and sound effects!) and adding sharp one-liners.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | April 23, 2012

Review: Goon

Ode to the brawl
A Slapshot-worshipping, proudly raunchy ode to hockey's enforcers, Goon repeats a mock-poetic motif of blood and teeth wafting slo-mo towards the ice.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | April 12, 2012

Review: The Wrath of the Titans

Sword & sandal frenzy
The folks who gave us the bombastic 3D remake of Clash of the Titans unleash Jonathan Liebesman's Wrath , and it's sensational — if you like being stuffed into a trash can and rolled down a hill.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | April 10, 2012

A moment of illumination

Film matters
Last Friday, Brandeis University brought together two legends of nonfiction filmmaking: Errol Morris and Claude Lanzmann.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | March 29, 2012

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

Swimming upstream
This winning British movie, in which rumpled fisheries expert Fred (McGregor) and sleek exec Harriet (Emily Blunt) help realize the dream project of a sheik, brings to mind the classic Ealing comedies that starred Guinness.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | March 08, 2012

Review: Wanderlust

Goofy gags
Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston star as an unemployed New York couple who, while on the road, chance upon a commune and decide to try the make-love-not-money lifestyle.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | February 28, 2012

Review: Charlotte Rampling: The Look

Angelina Maccarone's portrait of the actress
Rampling's physical gifts, unimpeded by plastic surgery in their march through time, are matched by a keen mind and an unapologetic approach to life and work.

By: BETSY SHERMAN | January 31, 2012

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