Alabama Liberal

What better low-key indie to review today (the night of the final presidential debate, which I will be writing about during and after it) than Butter, a movie that technically is about the obscure-passion of Iowa butter carving, but is really an allegory about Sarah Palin vs. Obama, and the clash of values between religious…

Okay, so this movie is a microscopic indie that pretty much bombed out in theaters a couple weeks back. [It opened very limited and still had a lousy per-theater average which is all that matters for indies.] And yet…I saw it when it opened and feel compelled to at least throw out a review. What…

I want to start by saying that this film is very good. I want to start by saying that because the majority of the review will consist of how it isn’t great and may be a slight disappointment if (like me) you loved Ben Affleck’s last two movies: Gone Baby Gone and The Town. What Works: The…

This is the best film about high school I’ve seen in years. I have to admit, it’s not my absolute favorite genre (I feel like it’s just not that interesting, and has been fully explored), but this film works not by finding an entirely revolutionary angle—–it explores some of the same tropes as other high…

This latest bomb from Tim Burton is an original movie that I wish I had liked more than I did. I was rooting for it, I really was, but it never quite grabbed me the way I had hoped. I think the film’s young target audience (it is made for children) will probably hate it….

A very strong, wholly original film with a terrific first third and a pretty good final act. What Works: From start to finish, this movie is showing you inventive, wildly original things you haven’t quite seen before. I particularly loved the first third of it, which keeps constantly inventing and playing with the rules in its highly…