Annlee Ellingson

The Nut Job features decent CG animation, especially of animals, but the writing isn't particularly clever, relying on obvious puns and slapstick humor.

A focused, if at times melodramatic, take on the play's beating heart.

Writer-director Joe Eddy's debut is sincere but relies on obvious tropes.

Zea gives a natural performance amid a neighborhood of painful stereotypes (including a nosy Asian shopkeeper), but she doesn't adjust her cadence, let alone accent, for the historical flashbacks, bringing a modern sensibility that limits the effectiveness of these scenes.

[A] contemporary B-movie Western with designs on stylistic flair.

The information comes fast from talking heads who, let's face it, can get a bit dry. Lose focus, and you risk missing the significance of what's being conveyed.

All of this is ridiculously silly, of course, with low-rent special effects to boot. But you may laugh despite yourself.

At once short on details and incredibly forthcoming, Barbara Kopple's documentary doesn't dig into specifics about Mariel's personal struggles with mental illness nor the WillingWay lifestyle that she and her boyfriend Bobby Williams espouse.

A Case of You is perfectly enjoyable as far as indie rom coms go — just not particularly original.

Scenes can drag; they at times pay homage to the filmmaker's memories rather than drive the narrative forward.

Inconsistencies cause more confusion than the magic Rose is presumably going for.

Baggage Claim promotes painfully outdated social mores.

Unfortunately, the film doesn't show its subject's creative process as much as that of her collaborators.