Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

A tastefully reverent, fundamentally sincere treatment of Margaret Laurence's 1964 Manitoba-based novel, a staple for Canada's 12th graders.

| Oct 18, 2008

Left me feeling respectfully indifferent, as if I'd been served a nutritious meal that was only fleetingly satisfying.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 25, 2008

The only way to enjoy Kari Skogland's epic portrait of a miserable 90-year- woman named Hagar (Ellen Burstyn) is to reframe it as Scary Movie for weepies.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Jul 24, 2008

Despite a terrific lead performance by Ellen Burstyn, Kari Skogland's epic The Stone Angel is a lesson in the perils of trying to cram a hefty Canadian novel that spans decades into a movie running just under two hours.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 11, 2008

Writer-director Kari Skogland adapts a beloved Canadian novel gracefully and with plenty of spunk, the same way its main character moves through the world from cradle to grave.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jul 11, 2008

Although talented newcomer Christine Horne is ideal as the younger Hagar, letting Burstyn play the character at around 50, despite best-effort lighting, was not the wisest choice.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 11, 2008

A film of tightly assembled bits and pieces that don't fit comfortably together despite clever dashes of magical realism connecting past and present.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 11, 2008

A stubbornly affecting drama that's strongest in its quieter moments.

Full Review | Jul 10, 2008

Ellen Burstyn deserves another Oscar nomination for this compelling drama.

Full Review | Jul 8, 2008

These elemental forces fuel a compelling narrative, but the second half of the movie starts to drift.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 9, 2008

There is a reverence for the idea of Laurence's book but ultimately, in spite of its spiced-up sex scenes, it's much tamer and more conventional.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 9, 2008