David Riedel

ALL ARTICLES

Film review: Hansel and Gretel

Is this movie a comedy? Horror? A—gasp!—drama? Why does Jeremy Renner play Hansel for laughs? Why does Gemma Arterton...

Film review: Broken City

Here’s the deal. There are three key pieces of information that roll up in Broken City’s first three scenes: Billy...

Film review: Zero Dark Thirty

The torture debate detracts from a different critical narrative; imagine how we’d howl if the movie whitewashed that...

Film review: The Golden Globes

In the awards show canon, the Golden Globes have secured themselves a lofty place just below Oscar. How is it that...

Film Review: Les Misérables

I mention all this to give Les Misérables context in the annals of film history. Unlike Playing for Keeps, Les...

Film review: Django Unchained

Spaghetti southern: Django Unchained is a lawless, violent romp marked by stellar performances First, the cynical:...

Film review: This is 40

There’s a lot going on in writer-director Judd Apatow’s This is 40, including bickering siblings, failing businesses,...

Peter Jackson takes an unexpectedly cute approach in the...

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is the first film in writer-director Peter Jackson’s three-part Hobbit series based...

Film review: Playing for Keeps

Playing for Keeps is not the worst movie of 2012. In fact, it’s not even in the bottom 10. (It may be in the bottom...

Film review

Director Andrew Dominik returns with Brad Pitt in tow after the debacle of their leaden-paced, underwritten,...