RATING: (POLITE APPLAUSE) "Midsomer Murders" is the British rural version of Dick Wolf's "Law & Order" series: It hit on a tried-and-true formula in 1997 and hasn't budged from it in all those years. That's why both shows just keep on going. Like Wolf's...
Archive for March, 2009
“The Great Depression”
by Mick LaSalle March 27th, 2009 | Movie Reviews
RATING: (POLITE APPLAUSE) Ahh, the good old days, when it was possible to watch a documentary called "The Great Depression" without picturing yourself on a breadline. This four-part A&E series originally aired in 1998, but it's going into release...
Movie review: ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’
by Mick LaSalle March 27th, 2009 | Movie Reviews
Monsters vs. Aliens RATING: (ALERT VIEWER)Animation. Starring the voices of Reese Witherspoon, Hugh Laurie and Seth Rogen. Directed by Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman. (PG. 94 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.) Unlike "Coraline" and a number of recent...
Movie review: ‘The Haunting in Connecticut’
by Peter Hartlaub March 27th, 2009 | Movie Reviews
The Haunting in Connecticut RATING: (SNOOZING VIEWER)Horror. Starring Virginia Madsen, Martin Donovan, Kyle Gallner and Elias Koteas. Directed by Peter Cornwell. (PG-13. 92 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.) The rent control laws in Connecticut must be even...
Movie review: ‘Tokyo Sonata’
by Reyhan Harmanci March 27th, 2009 | Movie Reviews
Tokyo Sonata RATING: (WILD APPLAUSE)Drama. Starring Teruyuki Kagawa and Kyoko Koizumi. Directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa. (Not rated. 119 minutes. At Landmark Lumiere in San Francisco and Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley.) Since the '80s, and probably dating much...