Nader and Simin: A Separation by Asghar Farhadi is the Iran-made candidate for Best Foreign Picture at the Academy Awards. Not only is it a superb film with nary a wasted shot, but actors Leila Hatami and Peyman Maadi (they won the Best Actor awards at the last Berlin Film Festival) give three-dimensional, wholly believable performances as the two sides of an acrimonious couple going through a sloppy divorce.

I am a sucker for spy movies. Whether it is the Bourne series, the revitalized Bond series or the Mission: Impossible series, and even though I have a love/hate relationship with the latter. The first one was really good with a lot of double-crossing and excellent action, but the second one was a train-wreck, from the script to John Woo’s over-the-top directing. And J.J. Abrams’s third film got the train back on the tracks

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We’re being aggressed by bad Hollywood fare on a weekly [...]

When Spielberg announced his plans for a “Tintin” movie, fans of the little Belgian reporter with the red pompadour—and that includes pretty much anyone who ever held a comic book—were thrilled. When they got to see the final product, less so. This big disappointment begs the question: Why ever did we expect otherwise? Why should we have thought that Spielberg, director of big American movies, action-packed and going off in loud

So, We Bought a Zoo is based on a true story about a single parent who brought his family back together again by buying a zoo--stop laughing. Did I mention it’s directed by Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous, Jerry Maguire), stars Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson, and features an impressive musical score by Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi Birgisson? But then again, that storyline…hm, keep it up, you’ll need laughter to get through this schmaltzy dreck.

Mia Wasikowska, whose career was launched loud and clear in 2010 for playing Alice in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland isn't so much a person to watch as she is a person to follow. And by that I don't mean follow her on Twitter but rather keep tabs. Her career is basically ongoing by now, it remains to be seen which roles she will be picking in the next few years and whether all her choices will be judicious ones. I was home last night and watched That Evening Sun by Scott Teems (2009). Wasikowska plays Pamela, a normal teenaged daughter living in deep, rural Tennessee who befriends an unwanted neighbor. The film did not win any Oscar nominations (but it did win a lot of other accolades) but I was struck by the