Detroit News movie critic Tom Long presents his opinions on recent film releases.
'Kon-Tiki' is one of those films that leave you stunned by the things men do. It is awesome in the true sense of the word.
'Black Rock' is 'Deliverance' with girls, and that turns out to be a good and gritty thing. The film isn't really a horror movie as much as it is a film filled with horror.
"Star Trek Into Darkness" is out of this world. Replacing such well-established characters with instantly likeable and recognizable new actors was no minor feat, and the ensemble’s strength continues here.
All the pieces are in place and the performers seem primed, but there’s something about “Gatsby” the movie that distracts from Gatsby the character.
With a title like “No One Lives,” you figure this isn’t a romantic comedy about two lovable bird-watchers. And it’s not. It’s a hack-'em-and-stack-'em bloodfest, no getting around it. But as such affairs go, it’s a bit of an odd bird.
There’s something essentially reluctant about “The Reluctant Fundamentalist.” Even though the film’s story is plain enough, its point remains fuzzy.
Apocalyptic possibilities are everywhere, from the zombie virus threatening mankind in “World War Z” (June 21) to gargantuan alien monsters rising up from the oceans in “Pacific Rim” (July 12).
Go see “Iron Man 3.” It is a marked improvement on its two sturdy predecessors and manages to carry on the Marvel comics mythology while abandoning its cookie-cutter filmmaking methodology.
The cute saying is that if you remember the '60s, you weren't there.
There’s no way to leave “Upstream Color” knowing precisely what the movie was about. But chances are you’ll have a strong sense of the film.
There's a meanness at the center of "Pain & Gain" that's hard to avoid, even if the film is dressed up as a wacky romp.
Slick if a bit soul-less, “Oblivion” is a Frankenstein’s monster of a film, sewn together from many other sci-fi hits. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
As scattershot and uneven as it is, the locally shot "Highland Park" still offers some insights into modern desperation, both personal and civic.
With “To the Wonder,” writer-director Terrence Malick has made the world’s longest perfume ad. Or perhaps he’s delivered a scathing parody of pretentious art-house films about nothing.
"Pawn" has some good moves. Most of them come courtesy of former Detroiter Jay Anthony White’s sharp-turning, back-and-forth script, which keeps the viewer ...
Considering it’s a movie with an avowed mission, and considering that the story involves a major league baseball player coaching a Little League team made up ...
"42: The Jackie Robinson Story” is the sort of movie that should be shown in schools. While it’s far from a major league homer, it’s a solid double when it ...
Only Danny Boyle could get away with "Trance." But guess what? Danny Boyle can get away with "Trance."
“Room 237” is a documentary directed by Rodney Ascher that delves into the depths people have gone into while studying “The Shining,” the 1980 film based on a ...
In “The Place Beyond the Pines,” a sprawling tale of dangerous, dysfunctional fathers and sons, the first section of the film is so good that the two that ...
"Starbuck" is an unmitigated delight, a surprising goof of a movie that makes something very sweet out of a subject that could have been treated crudely.
Four Aboriginal girls form a soul-singing group and tour Vietnam in 1968 in this fun film fueled by the music and Chris O’Dowd’s comic performance as the ...
A young woman comes home to Romania to rekindle a friendship, but finds her friend is now a sister in a superstitious monastery in this strong film that ...
This riveting documentary tracks the gross injustice done to three young men convicted without evidence of killing three boys in 1993 and their long road to ...
An ad executive (Gael Garcia Bernal) undertakes a campaign to oust Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1988 in this fascinating, somehow intimate mix of ...
This dark, macho, neo-noir story of an ex-con (Stephen Dorff) who ignores a beautiful woman (Michelle Monaghan) on his way to ruin is both dull and derivative.
“The Playroom” is a dysfunctional parenting film along the lines of “The Ice Storm,” but with no real storm. There are some good actors - John Hawkes, Molly ...
When MGM this week announced plans to reboot the “Tomb Raider” franchise, my first thought was, “Wow, that would be perfect for Gemma Arterton.” My second ...
The unconventional dysfunctional family has now become a Hollywood convention. It is familiar to a fault. So why watch 'Family Weekend?' Mainly for the ...
It would be easy to get down on "G.I. Joe: Retaliation." In fact, it would be hard to defend it.
"Beware of Mr. Baker" is basically a documentary about a huge rock ’n’ roll jerk. An immensely talented and influential jerk, no doubt. And one who certainly ...
It’s the rare animated film that encourages kids to think outside the box. Then again, it’s (happily) the rare animated film that teaches children that ideas ...
When in doubt, ma’am, just ask yourself: What would Tina Fey do? The wrong thing, no doubt, since that tends to cause comedy. But ultimately she always ...
Director Walter Salles probably bit off more than anybody can chew in tackling Jack Kerouac’s appropriately rambling beat novel about a struggling writer, his ...
There’s an ache at the center of “Ginger & Rosa” that transcends time and place. And it comes across on the face of the gifted young actress Elle Fanning with ...
If “The Gatekeepers” is an extraordinarily depressing recounting of the Israeli-Palestinian madness of the past 45 years, it also manages to find something ...
‘The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” is willing to be funny if not brilliant. It’s also willing to rely on its star power, and in this case that’s a good thing ...
When it comes to style versus substance, Korean director Chan-wook Park goes for style every time. With a name like “Stoker” (the last name of Dracula’s ...
Something happened this week. Nobody’s quite sure what yet. But “Veronica Mars: The Movie” could be a game-changer. Not the movie itself, although it could ...
No one's really in love in "Like Someone in Love."
Werner Herzog, who co-directs and narrates the documentary “Happy People: A Year in the Tiaga,” finds a sort of peace in the struggle to survive there.
Detroit Film Theatre presents contemporary and classic world cinema at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
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