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Friday, September 4, 2015
Movie Reviews: The Transporter Refueled, A Walk in the Woods, Phoenix
Also: Jimmy's Hall, Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, Z for Zachariah
Posted By Scott Renshaw on September 4, 2015, 8:02 AM
Labor Day weekend at the movies is traditionally slow for wide releases, but offers Salt Lake City audiences one of the year's best foreign-language films.
Christian Petzold's fascinating Phoenix tells the story of a Holocaust trying to reconnect with her husband, combining mystery elements and psychological drama into something that packs a powerhouse finish. A Walk in the Woods may have little going for it besides the rapport between Robert Redford and Nick Nolte (pictured) as estranged old friends hiking together, but that turns out to be enough. Alex Gibney's documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine mixes conventional biography with investigative reporting for an overlong film that buries its potentially intriguing lead. Director Ken Loach returns to his favored topic of class struggle in Jimmy's Hall, but limp fact-based drama weighs down its fiery heart. Z for Zachariah turns the end of the world into a romantic triangle—unfortunately, mostly of the Nicholas Sparks variety.
MaryAnn Johanson tears into the slickly pointless, Statham-free knock-off The Transporter Refueled and its manufactured idea of sexiness.
In this week's feature, City Weekly's film writers share what they learned at the movies this summer.
Christian Petzold's fascinating Phoenix tells the story of a Holocaust trying to reconnect with her husband, combining mystery elements and psychological drama into something that packs a powerhouse finish. A Walk in the Woods may have little going for it besides the rapport between Robert Redford and Nick Nolte (pictured) as estranged old friends hiking together, but that turns out to be enough. Alex Gibney's documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine mixes conventional biography with investigative reporting for an overlong film that buries its potentially intriguing lead. Director Ken Loach returns to his favored topic of class struggle in Jimmy's Hall, but limp fact-based drama weighs down its fiery heart. Z for Zachariah turns the end of the world into a romantic triangle—unfortunately, mostly of the Nicholas Sparks variety.
MaryAnn Johanson tears into the slickly pointless, Statham-free knock-off The Transporter Refueled and its manufactured idea of sexiness.
In this week's feature, City Weekly's film writers share what they learned at the movies this summer.
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