Searching for a Lifestyle That Fits in Wanderlust.

“There’s no one way to live our lives,” hopes the displaced, adrift couple at the center of Wanderlust. Shopping between the prefab identity options available to them — squeezed, stressed urban professionalism; suburban McMansion soul death; rural counterculture opting out — George and Linda (Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston) are…

Act of Valor Wants You.

Act of Valor is, according to the opening titles, “based on real acts of valor,” whatever that means. It stars real active-duty Navy SEALs and, as the uniformed representative of the New York Coast Guard, 9th Regiment, who introduced my screening explained, much of it was filmed with live-fire ammunition…

Woody Harrelson is a Bad Cop Getting Worse in Rampart

Directed by Oren Moverman (The Messenger) from a script by Moverman and L.A. noir master James Ellroy, Rampart tracks the downward spiral of LAPD cop Dave Brown (Woody Harrelson). A Vietnam vet whose personal code allows for extreme bad behavior in the name of a hazily defined greater good, Brown…

McG Drops Another Bomb with This Means War

Hostilities in This Means War are declared as two workmates compete for the affection of the same woman. The contested objective is Lauren (Reese Witherspoon), a product tester who decides to apply comparative shopping techniques to dating. Her would-be beaus, FDR (Chris Pine) and Tuck (Tom Hardy), are best friends…

Texas Theatre Screens Do The Right Thing In 35 mm Tonight

Polish up your Jordans, because Texas Theatre takes you back to 1989, Brooklyn tonight when it screens Do The Right Thing on 35 mm. Escape the Wednesday rut and cruise over to Oak Cliff where the Spike Lee Joint takes you back to that boombox era, when Public Enemy made…

Show Her You Care: Be The Han Solo to Her Leia

There’s no doubt that by now you’ve either: A.) invested in an arsenal of cute & cuddly and/or chocolate-covered paraphernalia to lovingly smother your significant other with come Tuesday (yes, that’s when Valentine’s Day is in case you weren’t aware) or B.) are currently scrambling to find the most luxurious…

Safe House is Action-Packed with a Six-Pack

“He’s sooo hot,” the woman sitting next to me at the screening of Safe House sighed to her friend as the film’s opening images of Ryan Reynolds working out flashed on the screen. She then went on to fiddle with her BlackBerry for half the movie. Based on those two…

Thin Line Film Fest: A Local Celebration With International Talent

Battle for Brooklyn is this year’s opener for Thin Line Film Fest, Denton’s celebration of documentary film production. Pulling a hefty load of 29 films, a combination of short works and features by local and international filmmakers, the fest stretches from this weekend through Monday, the 20th with a preemptive…

Hustle and Flow On 35mm, Get Your Game Back

It’s hard out here for a pimp. By mid-week your hustle has slowed down to a shuffle and you can’t get a handle on your flow. That stack of reports on your desk keeps getting more oppressive and your afternoon conference call is a wild card, like a trick who…

Free Screening of Rampart, Tomorrow

Rampart isn’t a “date” film. Don’t be so blinded by the word “free” that you go home and tell the misses that the two of you should reconnect with a nice night out at the movies — unless you like the couch and she enjoys night terrors. Here’s the film’s…

Pina Opens, a Legacy Continues

Pina Bausch was more than a choreographer, her contributions to modern dance helped redefine the art form. After studying first in Germany and next at Julliard, she went on to perform with every major dance company that was lucky enough to get her, and eventually became artistic director of the…

Bed, Breakfast and Death at The Innkeepers

Ti West, the 34-year-old writer-director of The Innkeepers, has spent the past several years steadily toiling his way through the ranks of horror filmmaking. His little-seen apprenticeship cheapies (The Roost, Trigger Man) led to a disowned, freelance gross-out job (Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever) and then finally a name-above-the-title breakthrough…