Bob Mondello archive

November 20, 2009 Brace yourself: Things are about to get meta. Pedro Almodovar's latest picture strings a colorfully knotty love story across layers of dark film-within-a-film intrigue. Complex of plot, deft in its blending of comedy and melodrama, and a treasure trove of golden-age movie references, the film is what you might call a lushly tragic lark — a heartfelt, if not quite heartbreaking, paean to romance and to the romance of cinema. (Recommended)

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November 19, 2009 Based on Michael Lewis' acclaimed book, John Lee Hancock's julep-sweet screenplay turns a well-told true story into a feel-good fantasy for white liberals — a movie that doesn't dig deep and too often seems content to trade in stereotype. But as ever in Hollywood, the based-on-reality defense will provide a certain amount of cover, and Hancock will probably have an audience pleaser on his hands.

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November 15, 2009 A soldier returns home from Iraq, his mind is on his own griefs. Assigned to notify families about war casualties, he finds wise counsel in the person of his more experienced partner. Critic Bob Mondello says that for a film that comes bearing sad reminders about the costs of war, The Messenger is peopled by characters who seem gratifyingly alive. (Recommended)

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• Woody Harrelson Goes To War In 'The Messenger'

November 13, 2009 Roland Emmerich's latest cinematic apocalypse posits that the end of the world is due in a little over three years from now. Critic Bob Mondello says it's surprisingly convincing — at least in the sense that by the time it's over, you'll feel like it is 2012 already, and you'll have such a headache that it'd be kind of nice if the whole world went away.

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November 6, 2009 Claireece "Precious" Jones is living a nightmare: she's morbidly obese, twice impregnated by her father, mentally and physically abused by her mother. But just as her life seems entirely untenable, fate offers a way out — and slowly, with a mulish persistence, Precious starts to come into her own. (Recommended)

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• A Director's 'Precious' Project
• Oprah, Tyler Perry And A Painful, 'Precious' Life

October 28, 2009 Kenny Ortega's hastily assembled concert movie-cum-Michael Jackson memorial recuts 100 hours of rehearsal footage to give fans VIP access to what might be the greatest show that never was. Movie critic Bob Mondello says This Is It might be short on backstage drama, but it's not hurting for onstage razzle-dazzle.

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October 23, 2009 As your parents no doubt told you, looks aren't everything. But when a film bio focuses on famous faces — as with the new drama Amelia — it can help to have an actor who looks the part. Even apt casting and accurate costumes can't save a bad story, though; critic Bob Mondello surveys some recent hits and misses.

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October 22, 2009 The story of a pioneering, iconoclastic aviator is presented predictably and without risk in Mira Nair's biographical drama — a handsome studio picture that keeps insisting its heroine is a boundary pusher, even as it curls up cozily within the familiar limits of big-budget Hollywood hagiography.

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October 15, 2009 Every food documentary has a message, but despite its title, Jean-Paul Jaud's gentle polemic isn't just a warning of dietary doomsday. Critic Bob Mondello says that if this story about one French village's struggle to go organic is about anything, it's about hope.

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October 9, 2009 It took just 44 days for Brian Clough, the brand-new manager of Britain's top football club, to crash and burn in that job. Based on David Peace's bestselling novel — a fictional interpretation of Clough's real-life tenure with the team — The Damned United scores goals with cynicism and style. (Recommended)

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October 9, 2009 Spurred by a wistful question from his daughter — "Why don't I have good hair?" — Chris Rock sets out to explore the booming black hair-care industry. The comic doesn't exactly take a fine-toothed comb to the question of why some African-American men and women go to such lengths to keep their 'dos done just so — but he has a good time with the process.

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October 2, 2009 The Invention of Lying imagines a world where untruths are unknown and art is almost impossible. Until Ricky Gervais discovers both. Although white lies can be a blessing, critic Bob Mondello observes that silence, also, has its virtues.

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September 28, 2009 Hollywood and haute couture have always been a good fit: From the cinematic runways of Stanley Donen's Funny Face to the behind-the-scenes tastemaking of The September Issue, fashion and the business of it have long been favorite topics on film. Bob Mondello charts the trend.

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September 20, 2009 Steven Soderbergh's The Informant! is based on the true story of a corporate executive turned whistle-blower, played by Matt Damon. Critic Bob Mondello says the film is "hardly a disaster" but adds that the exclamation point isn't quite deserved.

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