Movies -- Running a little late on account o' the holidays...

‘Side by Side’ With Keanu Reeves Charts Filmmaking Advances

NYT Critics' Pick


Finding Drama in Newfangled Filmmaking
Keanu Reeves and Martin Scorsese in the documentary "Side by Side."
By A. O. SCOTT
Published: August 30, 2012

There are quarrels that are certain to be provoked by Chris Kenneally’s new documentary, “Side by Side,” which explores the impact of digital technology on 21st-century moviemaking, but one thing is beyond argument. For a film geek this movie is absolute heaven, a dream symposium in which directors, cinematographers, editors and a few actors gather to opine on the details of their craft. It is worth a year of film school and at least 1,000 hours of DVD bonus commentary. Moar

A Small-Town Buzz About the Missing
‘The Tall Man,’ a Thriller Directed by Pascal Laugier

NYT Critics' Pick


Jessica Biel plays a widowed nurse whose toddler is kidnapped in a struggling mining town in “The Tall Man.”
By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS
Published: August 30, 2012

Strange and sneaky and driven by a fury that only slowly reveals itself, “The Tall Man” opens like a ghost story and closes with its feet firmly in the real world. Until then, Pascal Laugier’s chilly little thriller manhandles our sympathies and gladdens our eyes in almost equal measure. Moar

Wishing On, and Seeking Out, a Star
‘Hollywood to Dollywood,’ a Documentary

From left, Mike Bowen, Larry Lane and Gary Lane sitting atop the RV they drive from Los Angeles to Pigeon Forge, Tenn.
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: August 30, 2012

The optimism and good humor of John Lavin’s crude, endearing documentary “Hollywood to Dollywood” are so unquenchable that its disturbing underlying theme — growing up gay in the South is no picnic — is partly obscured by its openheartedness. The subjects, Gary and Larry Lane, are gay identical twins in their mid-30s from a Southern Baptist background who grew up in a small North Carolina town and moved to Los Angeles a decade ago. Moar

Battling Themselves and Zombies
In ‘The Day,’ Dominic Monaghan and Ashley Bell Fight Zombies

Ashley Bell fending off attacks by the undead in “The Day.”
By JON CARAMANICA
Published: August 28, 2012

Like an animal warfare episode of “Wild Kingdom” but with less character motivation, “The Day” cycles through bursts of horrific violence only to end much as it begins: static, hollow and vague. An unspecified event a decade earlier — Luke Passmore’s barely-there screenplay is no help here — has left all of society more or less like “The Hunger Games.” Moar

Tornadoes and Eunuchs on the Really Big Screen
‘Flying Swords of Dragon Gate,’ With Jet Li

Jet Li, left, and Zhou Xun in “Flying Swords of Dragon Gate.”
By MIKE HALE
Published: August 30, 2012

For a movie that’s all about the new — the first Chinese-language production in Imax 3-D! — Tsui Hark’s “Flying Swords of Dragon Gate” is surprisingly old-fashioned. It seems to be having an argument with itself: the dazzling but often antiseptic immersiveness of the viewing experience is countered by storytelling suffused with nostalgia for a simpler, messier, livelier period in Chinese film. Moar