“My Week With Marilyn” more or less hinges on Michelle Williams’ performance as American sex symbol Marilyn Monroe and even builds in a certain amount of awe around the actress by staging...

It’s been seven years since Alexander Payne’s last film (the sublime “Sideways), and although “The Descendants” may not reach the staggering highs of that film, it’s...

A year ago, Shailene Woodley was probably best known for her prominent role on “The Secret Life of the American Teenager.” However, her wonderful performance as George Clooney’s spunky,...

From its opening “Toy Story” short (which is a welcome check-in with characters just as beloved as the Muppets) to its climactic musical number, “The Muppets” doesn’t have...

It’s an understatement to say Lars von Trier films are not for everyone. His Björk vehicle “Dancer in the Dark” is widely credited with being one of the most devastating films ever...

After three films, there is no middle ground for the “Twilight” franchise — you’re either Team Edward or Team Jacob. The first film was a hilariously awful disaster, and things...

“The Skin I Live In” inhabits a very dark and depraved corner of the horror genre, the body horror film that directors such as David Cronenberg made famous. Generally obsessed with the human...

Romance has always been hard to nail down in film. Not to say that Hollywood doesn’t try, with what feels like a new Kate Hudson movie every week that inevitably climaxes with an inappropriately...

In “A Very Harold and Kumar 3D Christmas,” the eponymous duo reunite for more slapstick, raunchy stoner humor and encounters with a satirical Neil Patrick Harris. The Daily Texan spoke with...

A year ago, Elizabeth Olsen was most recognizable for her last name, one she shares with older sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley. Fortunately, Elizabeth skipped the child star route and is now an infinitely...

Any fan of good alliteration will certainly be excited about “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” but the majority of the film’s buzz is centered around star Elizabeth Olsen and director Sean...

Brett Ratner’s name often draws scoffs among filmgoers, as the director tends to ping-pong between lukewarm comedies (“The Family Man”) and overwrought thrillers (“After the Sunset”),...

The “Harold and Kumar” franchise has long been a reliable source for racially-charged political humor sprinkled in among sharper-than-expected stoner satire. The long wait between sequel “Harold...

Roland Emmerich has built his career on disaster film epics such as “Independence Day” and “2012,” but his passion project “Anonymous” is a film of an entirely different...

“Anonymous” director Roland Emmerich played a large part in getting the film made, but a man famous for bringing audiences explosion-happy apocalyptic films such as “Independence Day”...

Jeff Who Lives at Home Jay & Mark Duplass Genre: Comedy Grade: B+ The Duplass brothers started off with 2005’s ultra-mumblecore “The Puffy Chair” and have slowly progressed...

“Searching for Sonny” Andrew Disney Genre: Comedy Grade: B+ The main appeal to “Searching for Sonny” is most certainly its cast, cribbed together with notable supporting...

“Butter” Jim Field Smith Genre: Comedy Grade: A Jim Field Smith’s razor-sharp satire “Butter” was the opening night film at this year’s Austin Film Festival,...

"Austin High" Alan Deutsch Genre: Comedy Grade: B Former UT students Kirk Johnson and Will Elliott wrote the screenplay for “Austin High,” and their love of Austin is...

Directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman weren’t exactly the most obvious choice for the next “Paranormal Activity” film, coming off of last year’s debut “Catfish,”...

The Austin Film Festival, which begins today and runs through Oct. 27, has the good fortune of falling just before Oscar season kicks into high gear. The festival usually has the lucky distinction of bringing...

Like any remake, “Footloose” is fighting an uphill battle from its very first frame, trying to live up to the reputation of a classic and win fans over to a new interpretation of a beloved...

Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunset” is one of those classic falling-in-love films, an elliptically-paced look at a single night in the lives of two young globetrotters. With “Weekend,”...

“Footloose” is director Craig Brewer’s fourth feature film, a remake of the 1984 Kevin Bacon classic. The film continues Brewer’s tradition of southern-set films, a collection that...

George Clooney’s first directorial effort since 2008’s “Leatherheads” abandons the screwball comedy that derailed that film and returns to the socially conscious sparring of 2005’s...

Fantastic Fest, which was held at the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse from Sept. 22 to 29, is an annual film festival composed entirely of genre fare, from horror to sci-fi to fantasy to whatever genre the...

By no means is it a stretch to call director Jonathan Levine’s career troubled. After all, his debut film “All the Boys Love Mandy Lane” has yet to be released on American shores, and...

Editor’s note: Senior Life & Arts writer Alex Williams has been reporting from Fantastic Fest since Sept. 23. For previous recaps visit the Culture Spotlight blog and for continuing coverage...

“Moneyball” isn’t director Bennett Miller’s first foray into fact-based drama — Bennett’s last film was Oscar winner “Capote” back in 2005. While “Capote”...

Fantastic Fest is, to put it plainly, the best week of the year to be a film fan in Austin. The festival, entering its seventh year, focuses on genre films and has been the host of prestigious world premieres...

Editor's note: This review contains information about unaired episodes. Born from a network whim for a spin-off of “The Office,” “Parks and Recreation” certainly got off to...

Director Nicolas Winding Refn has spent most of his career crafting delicately paced studies of masculinity that are light on story and heavy on bloody action. His “Bronson” was something of...

Editor's note: The following red band trailer contains graphic content. “The Last Circus” certainly won’t be curing anyone’s clown phobia, but there’s not much else it...

50/50 In theaters Sept. 30 Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen, “50/50” is arguably the starting gun for this year’s Oscar season and almost certainly the first film to justify...

“Contagion” may be the most unexpectedly terrifying movie of the year. It’s not exactly a horror movie in the traditional sense of the word, since there are no axe murderers, ghosts or...

There is no reason for “Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star” to exist. It has one good joke in its entire run time and this is it: There’s a throwaway gag at the end of the second act about...

Walking into “A Good Old Fashioned Orgy,” it’s perfectly logical to have low expectations. After all, it’s a low-key sex comedy packed with supporting players from other films,...

Ever since its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival almost a year ago, things certainly haven’t been easy for “The Debt.” After all, it was a major awards player before its premiere...

Traditionally, August is regarded as something of a dumping ground for films, the place where the movies too atrocious to be released in the summer go to die a brief and painless death at the box office...

Even though “Pan’s Labyrinth” mastermind Guillermo del Toro only wrote and produced “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark,” first-time director Troy Nixey handled the direction,...

The characters of “Bellflower” only have one thing on their minds: the end of the world. With their grimy apartments and impulse-driven existences, they practically exist on the fringes...

In “30 Minutes or Less,” Jesse Eisenberg stars as Nick, a withdrawn pizza delivery boy who has a bomb strapped to his chest by small-time criminals played by Danny McBride and Nick Swardson....

It’s surprising what 20th Century Fox has pulled off this summer. The studio took two franchises that had been derailed by abysmal films and brought them back with a pair of prequels that no one...

When you hold director David Dobkin’s “The Change-Up” next to his 2005 comedy “Wedding Crashers,” it literally boggles the mind that these two films came from the same...

Once the credits roll on “The Devil’s Double,” there’s not much to do but shrug. There’s no denying that Dominic Cooper’s dual performance is an impressive feat,...

If one thing defines cinema in 2011, it’s alien movies. From “Super 8” and “Battle: Los Angeles” to lighter fare such as “Paul,” it’s been difficult to...

Judging from the audience’s reaction to the world premiere of “Attack the Block” at this year’s South By Southwest Festival, the film is on track to become an instant classic....

At the world premiere of “Attack the Block” during South By Southwest, producer (and “Shaun of the Dead” director) Edgar Wright took the stage and described the film as “Super...

Here’s the thing about “Friends With Benefits” director Will Gluck; he’s a director with a gift for coaxing impressive comedic performances out of his casts, but he’s also...

Since “Iron Man” was released in 2008, Marvel Studios has been slowly filling a world with characters, building the foundation for next summer’s “The Avengers.” With “Captain...

Director Azazel Jacobs’ “Terri” is a coming-of-age story, but not quite the one you might expect. There’s not much of a narrative arc as the film simply details the day-to-day...

“Terri” is director Azazel Jacobs’ sixth feature film; a minimalistic coming-of-age story starring Jacob Wysocki as the overweight, pajama-wearing teen. The film premiered at Sundance...

Editor's Notes: The following review of the new season of "Breaking Bad" contains spoilers about the next two episodes of season four. From its very first episode, the Emmy Award-winning...

“The Trip” started off as a BBC miniseries: a six-episode, improvisational chronicle of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon (playing themselves) touring the restaurants of the British countryside....

When “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” was released in June 1997, many of us college students were still in grade school, maybe barely old enough to dive into a chapter book...

It makes absolutely no sense that “A Better Life” is being released Friday. This is a lovely, strong little film featuring the quietly devastating acting duet of Demian Bichir and Jose Julian;...

This summer has been notoriously strong for R-rated comedies. “Bridesmaids” has become the highest grossing Judd Apatow movie ever, and “Bad Teacher” is doing an unexpected amount...

There are few pairings in blockbuster cinema as perfect as director Michael Bay and the “Transformers” franchise. After all, Bay throws everything but the kitchen sink into his films, which...

Every documentary has a thesis, a point which they are trying to make. But ironically for Andrew Rossi’s “Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times,” there isn’t a nut graph...

Cameron Diaz has never been much of an actress. Most of her roles haven’t demanded much of her outside of being bubbly and enthusiastic, something she’s undeniably good at. Even so, while...

Back in 2006, Pixar Studios was on something of a hot streak. They were doing some of their best work, both financially (“Finding Nemo”) and creatively (“The Incredibles”). And...

Writer and director Mike Mills burst onto the indie film scene in 2005 with “Thumbsucker,” a smart coming-of-age story, the fingerprints of which can be found on many similar films in theaters...

With his second major film “Beginners,” writer-director Mike Mills drew greatly from his own life in creating the story of Oliver (Ewan McGregor), who learns that his father Hal (Christopher...

It’s common knowledge that trends come and go in modern Hollywood cinema, be it the asteroid craze of 1998 that brought us “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact,” or the alien...

For the last decade or so, superhero films have become a staple of the yearly flock of summer blockbusters, and summer 2011 is perhaps the biggest year yet. Between the twin “Avengers” set-up...

You never know what you’re going to get in to when you watch a Woody Allen film. Because of the director’s rigid film-a-year production schedule, some of his films come out desperately in...

Genre: Existential Drama Runtime: 138 minutes For those who like: Enter the Void, The New World Grade: C- Each and every audience member is bound to take something different from...

Genre: Drama, Mystery Runtime: 130 minutes For those who like: Everything is Illuminated, Life is Beautiful Grade: A Canadian filmmakers have never made much of a mark on the...

Genre: Action, Adventure Runtime: 132 minutes For those who like: Thor, Green Lantern Grade: A Since “X-Men” debuted in 2000 to massive box office success, it’s...

Grossing an astounding $277 million in the domestic box offices, the first “Hangover” film was one of the most successful films of summer 2009. By far the highest grossing R-rated comedy...

As far as Academy Award categories go, Best Foreign Language Film is always a hard one to call. It’s hard to tell if the Academy will decide to award a bold narrative coming from a fresh perspective...

In Susanne Bier’s drama, “In a Better World,” Christian (William Nielsen), reeling from his mother’s death, draws his friend Elias (Markus Rygaard) and Elias’ father Anton...

Morgan Spurlock has a habit of making light, funny documentaries that tackle subject matter ranging from disgusting (“Super Size Me”) to potentially inflammatory (“Where in the World...

“Even the Rain” was lucky enough to be selected as Spain’s submission for this year’s Academy Awards. Although it wasn’t nominated, the film still proves to be worthy of...

David Gordon Green’s recent reinvention of his career has been nothing short of fascinating to watch. After creating a name for himself making glacially paced, poetically written indies such as...

Director Gore Verbinski turned a lot of heads when he abandoned his “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise to make “Rango,” an animated Nickelodeon Western populated entirely with...

“I Am Number Four” is a frustrating film. There are elements of a good film in there. The underused Timothy Olyphant is always a pleasure to watch, and the film’s action scenes...

In the 2009 box office giant “The Hangover,” Ed Helms (along with every other principal cast member) suddenly became a household name, and, like his “Hangover” co-stars, his...

For the past decade, cable networks such as HBO, FX , AMC and Showtime have been embroiled in a competitive struggle to produce the best programming. HBO continues to produce strong dramas, and AMC’s...

“Tamara Drewe,” adapted from the Posy Simmonds graphic novel of the same name, has an immense amount of talent on both sides of the camera. The enormous cast is packed with familiar faces...

On paper, “Morning Glory” sounds like a movie that would be easy to hate. The story of a down-on-her-luck producer coming to rejuvenate a low-rated morning talk show sounds like a not...

Sometimes, a film can have all the right ingredients: A proven, smart director, two immensely likeable stars, and a tried and true premise. And sometimes, even with all those ingredients, a film can...

  Dreamworks Animation, more or less built on the mediocre “Shrek” franchise, has been staging something of a renaissance since those films wrapped up. First, 2008’s “Kung...

“Red Hill,” written and directed by freshman director Patrick Hughes, is a film obviously influenced by classic westerns. After all, its main character, played perfectly by “True Blood’s”...

An outrageously dark comedy, “Four Lions” makes light of one of today’s most prominent and pervasive cultural phobias: Islamic suicide bombers. However, the film’s smart, restrained...

Every few years, there’s a sudden glut of films in a very specific genre. Twelve years ago, it was the asteroid flick, with “Armageddon” and “Deep Impact,” and this summer...

Every October, a glut of horror movies hits cinemas — some of them good, some of them bad and most of them sequels. Video stores display their horror selection prominently, and often the weeks...