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Once in a blue moon, a G-rated animation comes along that appeals more to adults than to kids. Pixar’s WALL-E could be one of those exceptions to the rule. True, it features silent-film-inspired slapstick, which knows no target age, and a really cute robot. But to feel the sadness at the core of the movie, it helps to be old enough to remember the heroine of sex, lies and videotape telling her therapist that she obsesses over the fate of the world’s garbage.... Read more

Imagination, patience and an appreciation of the unfamiliar will come in handy for American audiences fortunate enough to find themselves confronted with the latest creation from Taiwan-based filmmaker Hou Hsiao-Hsien. Imagine, first of all, a world in which motion pictures are commissioned by great museums rather than green-lighted by studio bean counters. It sounds like something that could happen only on another planet or in a work of utopian fantasy, but this is, in fact, how Flight of the Red Balloon came to be made.... Read more

Montpelier’s Savoy Theater kicks off the second edition of its Sci Fi July series over the Fourth of July weekend with two scary monster flicks: Ridley Scott’s Alien on July 4-5 and John Carpenter’s The Thing on July 5-6. The series that puts speculative classics back on the big screen will also feature Fahrenheit 451, Barbarella, A Clockwork Orange and more, with matinees added to the late-night screenings.... Read more

If buzz were really a measure of a movie’s merits, The Fall would be unwatchable. Seldom has a less heralded film limped its way into theaters. From its premiere at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival, it took director Tarsem Singh’s film nearly two years to get a limited release in the U.S. Reviews have been mixed, and understandably so: The Fall has flaws. But it’s also a true spectacle, the type of movie that rewards a trip to watch it on the big screen.... Read more

Turning old TV shows into movies is often less a matter of paying tribute than of conceding creative desperation. My mother used to caution me, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I would offer similar advice to Hollywood filmmakers: If you don’t have something funny to say, don’t make any big-screen comedies.... Read more

The new version of The Incredible Hulk has a few questions to answer. First, when you jettison everything that was turgid, arty or downright bizarre about Hulk, Ang Lee’s 2003 take on the same character, do you also lose everything that was interesting? Second, how does Bruce Banner manage to find pants that still fit after he transforms into a 9-foot-tall muscle-bound colossus?... Read more

What a bad rap this picture has gotten. Reviewers have positively pounced on it. Many seem to relish the opportunity to pronounce the career of M. Night Shyamalan officially dead on its arrival. I’m not certain I understand the phenomenon. Are we so overloaded with truly innovative and talented directors that we feel the population needs to be brought under control, the way hunting season thins the deer herd? Even if this were a disappointing work, it wouldn’t merit the critical laceration it has already undergone.... Read more

Shout It Out: The Voices Project Movie has some things in common with tween hit Disney’s High School Musical — locker-room angst, candy-colored dance numbers and even a few teenage heartthrobs. It also has abusive parents, cyber-bullying, teen pregnancy and realistic levels of cussing and drinking. Hence Bess O’Brien’s tagline for the film, which premieres this Friday in Burlington: “The real high school musical.”... Read more

Rene Kirby is a self-proclaimed "gimp without a whimp." He has never let his small stature detract from his active lifestyle.

Rene (said "REEN") never wastes time complaining. Whether he is getting around on all fours or using his specially tailored bike, he feels better constructed than the "normies."... Read more

Taking Root, a documentary by Marlboro filmmakers Alan Dater and Lisa Merton, has been drawing attention this year, winning awards at festivals such as Canada’s Hot Docs. Merton and Dater gained an unusual degree of access to the movie’s subject, Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai, founder of her nation’s environmentalist Green Belt Movement and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Vermonters can see the film this week at Montpelier’s Savoy Theater, where it shows daily starting June 13.... Read more