What distinguishes Charles Ferguson’s “No End in Sight” from other documentaries about the Iraq War is Ferguson’s lack of celebrity. Where Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” is bogged down by his persona and sensationalism, Ferguson’s stinging indictment of the war focuses on the cold, hard facts. Ferguson draws on extensive insider testimonies to reveal unsettling truths.…
Joon-ho Bong’s “The Host” successfully mixes a monster with family drama, comedy and political satire. In a South Korean laboratory, an American scientist orders dirty formaldehyde bottles to be dumped into the Han River, ignoring his assistant’s objections. In a salute to the monster genre, the formaldehyde creates a giant mutant tadpole. Gone are the…
“You did a bad thing,” an elderly mother tells her son who has been released from prison after exposing himself to a minor. “That doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.” Director Todd Field’s satiric yet brooding “Little Children” has the audacity to make three-dimensional human beings out of pedophiles and adulterers. The film, based on…
Fans of director David Fincher’s visceral thriller, “Seven,” will find few similarities between it and his latest, the pensive “Zodiac.” The film is based on the real-life serial killer that terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area during the ’60s and ’70s. “Zodiac” begins familiarly enough. A young couple celebrates the Fourth of July on lover’s…
Alfonso Cuarón’s “Children of Men,” an electrifying and impassioned topical tale, begins with a bang, grabbing its audience by the collar and dragging it through a disturbingly resonant dystopia. Like the best of science fiction, “Children of Men” draws upon the familiar and relevant. The year is 2027, and women can no longer give birth.…
