Author: Brandon Fibbs

“The Company Men” was originally slated for a Christmas Day release. That was before the studio began reading critical feedback and quickly moved it to mid-January, and trickled out the openings in midsize cities like Colorado Springs through February. It’s not that the film is bad. It’s not, and neither, I’m fairly certain, was most…

“The Illusionist” is a gentle, melancholy and nostalgic piece of filmmaking. The animated film is based on an unproduced script by Jacques Tati, the late French icon who can best be described as France’s Charlie Chaplin. Like all Tati’s work (“Mr. Hulot’s Holiday,” “Play Time,” “Mon Uncle”), “The Illusionist” is essentially a silent film with…

Somewhere,” the new film by Sophia Coppola (“Lost in Translation,” “Marie Antoinette”) is essentially an hour-and-a-half-long metaphor. From the opening scene with a car going round and round a circular track, we instantly realize that Coppola is telling a story, not with words, but with images. It is a bold, often exasperating, and ultimately surprisingly…

GRADE: B+   “Somewhere,” the new film by Sophia Coppola (“Lost in Translation,” “Marie Antoinette”) is essentially an hour-and-a-half-long metaphor. From the opening scene with a car going round and round a circular track, we instantly realize that Coppola is telling a story, not with words, but with images. It is a bold, often exasperating,…

GRADE: C   Early in “The Rite,” a middle-aged priest bemoans the escalating and disconcerting lack of fresh, young blood in the ranks of the Catholic priesthood. It seems the filmmakers themselves share that sentiment, since “The Rite” plays like a two-hour Vatican recruiting video. The film is clearly designed to speak to the faithful.…

“Blue Valentine” is an agonizing film, a raw, soul-shattering dissection of a marriage’s end. This is not a film for incurable romantics whose perceptions of love are informed by romantic comedies. This is a profoundly honest and realistic testament to the intensity of love’s first blush and its equally passionate end. Deeply uncomfortable and yet…

Millions worldwide laugh off zombies, vampires and ghosts, yet are convinced demons stalk them from invisible realms. In fact, those behind this ludicrous film are counting on it. Michael Kovak (Colin O’Donoghue), looking for a way out of his going-nowhere-fast life, decides to escape to … the seminary? At the end of his training, the…

GRADE: A   Director: Derek Cianfrance Starring: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Mike Vogel, John Doman, Faith Wladyka Rated R on appeal for strong graphic sexual content, language, and a beating. Running Time: 114 minutes   “Blue Valentine” is an agonizing film, a raw, soul-shattering dissection of a marriage’s end. This is not a film for…