-- by Jeff Schultz The creepiest thing about this movie is the boy himself, a life-sized doll named Brahms. (Brendan Heffernan gets the credit as "Concept Artist".) The haunting face, even though hard and glossy, seems like it may have a spark behind it -- and although I wasn't able to find any references to … Continue reading THE BOY

-- by Jeff Schultz John Hughes lives! As a sucker for bright-eyed, big-hearted high school movies, I was able here to overlook a major casting misstep and the stretchy premise leading to a "surprise" ending that isn't difficult to foresee. As the dream girl, Cara Delavingne is supposed to be beautiful, mysterious, fascinating, intellectual, emotionally … Continue reading PAPER TOWNS

I was really surprised how much I liked this movie. It plays out in three acts and is completely dialogue driven...and in theory should be a bore! But with Danny Boyle's kinetic directing, Aaron Sorkin's tight script, and Michael Fassbender's incredible performance, this is one of the years best. Sorkin uses fictional moments to present … Continue reading STEVE JOBS

-- by Jeff Schultz 86-year-old cinema verite master Frederick Wiseman's latest documentary is 3 hours and 10 minutes long -- and yet I was amazed when the final credits appeared; I had thought it was only a little more than half over! Not for a moment is this "gorgeous mosaic" draggy or boring. Rather, it … Continue reading IN JACKSON HEIGHTS

-- by Jeff Schultz The title refers not only to the male sheep in herds tended on adjoining ranches by two brothers who haven't spoken to each other in 40 years, but also to the brothers themselves and the stubbornness that keeps them apart. This widescreen tragicomedy features sweeping panoramas of rural Iceland -- a … Continue reading RAMS

-- by Jeff Schultz Two hours of hopelessness and one man's effort to make his last act count. A total immersion into the charnel house horror that was the Holocaust. Director László Nemes and his production team have conjured up a tactile sense of filth, death and chaos that carries through from initial scenes of … Continue reading SON OF SAUL

-- by Jeff Schultz So here I am, north of the Arctic Circle in the heart of winter, at an undeservedly obscure film festival in a mid-size Norwegian city, watching a sun-drenched drama that takes place almost entirely in the area around Santa Monica and Highland. The audience: almost entirely white. The movie's cast: black … Continue reading TANGERINE

-- by Jeff Schultz German director Jakob Erwa has been compared to Michael Haneke and Roman Polanski, and indeed, as this psychological thriller plays out, the latter's REPULSION and THE TENANT come to mind. But too early, the question of whether talented young cellist Jessica is cracking under the pressure of an upcoming international competition … Continue reading HOMESICK

-- by Jeff Schultz One of the best things about film festivals is the chance to see vibrant, accomplished work from countries whose movies seldom make it to America. That certainly applies to Eastern Europe and to this Hungarian romp. The premise comes from Japanese Kitsune folkore: a sweet young nurse is transformed into a … Continue reading LIZA THE FOX-FAIRY