The New Republic

Defiance. The forests of Belarus during World War Two help the near-miraculous rescue of 1200 Jews from the Germans. The basic story is true--how two thuggish Polish-Jewish brothers shepherded their flock to safety. The action sequences around this story are sometimes strained, still the film is thrilling. (Reviewed 2/18/09) READ MORE >>

Defiance Paramount Of Time and the City Strand Releasing READ MORE >>

Cherry Blossoms. A German couple leave home to visit their grown children (as in Ozu’s Tokyo Story) and discover more than they expected. The husband ends in Japan with his son and an enlightening dancer. The director Doris Dorrie blends cultures movingly and to rewarding purpose. (Reviewed 2/4/09) READ MORE >>

Silent Light -- Palisades PicturesCherry Blossoms -- Strand Releasing READ MORE >>

Adam Resurrected--Bleiberg Entertainment Theater of War--White Buffalo Entertainment Dust--Icarus Films READ MORE >>

A Christmas Tale -- IFC Films Wendy and Lucy -- Oscilloscope Pictures Every director needs at least some courage, but Arnaud Desplechin has quite a lot. With his new film, A Christmas Tale, he bravely took on a trite form, hoping that he could vitalize it. He succeeds. He also gave the picture a title that risks the corny, apparently sure that it would come to seem ironic. Eventually it even transcends irony. READ MORE >>

W.--Lionsgate Stages--Lemming Film Oliver Stone is, for me, the most adventurous and exciting American director of his time. Struck by some of our era's soul-chilling events and forces, he has seized them with electrifying art. No other American director has so consistently explored large political and social ravages of the day. This is not a matter of civic duty. Stone's best films are, in complex and helpful ways, discomforts. READ MORE >>

One Day You'll Understand Kino International Dear Zachary: A Letter to A Son About His Father Oscilloscope Pictures READ MORE >>

Paul Newman Stranded: I've come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains (Zeitgeist Films) Let the Right One In (Magnet Releasing) Three kinds of performers appear in films: actors, stars, and star actors. Some very good actors lack the looks and personality to become stars. Some stars, iconic though they may be, have just enough talent to get by. Then there are the actors who have both talent and charisma. No American was ever more indisputably a star actor than Paul Newman. READ MORE >>

Ballast (Alluvial Film Company) Elite Squad (IFC Films)    Still another extraordinary new American director comes along--the third in just a few months. After Courtney Hunt with Frozen River and Chris Eska with Autumn Evening, here is Lance Hammer with Ballast. Though these three directors have little in common stylistically, all three of their films deal with working-class people. READ MORE >>