It's predictable and ultimately quite trivial, but Sutherland alone is almost worth the ticket price.

| Sep 1, 2007

What holds Aurora Borealis together is the complex and very realistic relationships between the characters.

| Jul 10, 2007

What looks like a goopy, disease-of-the-week movie about Alzheimer's turns out to be a surprisingly well crafted, beautifully acted movie.

| May 10, 2007

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 31, 2007

[A] tough, sweet and buoyantly funny drama about how we all grow up in different ways and on different timetables.

| Mar 1, 2007

Seems designed to reward Jackson with his biggest adult part to date, though it doesn't give the Vancouver, B.C., native a lot to work with.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 6, 2006

Good Will Hunting but in the Midwest and minus the tortured math genius, psychological breakthroughs, and convincing local color.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Oct 6, 2006

The script offers neither character revelations nor plot twists. It unfolds by the numbers, like the product of an amateur screenwriter's salon.

| Original Score: C | Oct 5, 2006

A fair-to-middling coming-of-age tale [is] played by a stellar cast in an unusual locale [but] never escapes seeming rather ordinary.

| Original Score: C+ | Oct 2, 2006

Every bromide, plot twist and stock character arrives right on time and, to give director James Burke his due, function as well as they ever have.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Sep 29, 2006

Boyd's observant script (Minneapolis guy: 'St. What?' Kate: 'St. Paul. It's on the other side of the river.') and fine acting smooth over most of the rough edges.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 28, 2006

A sensitive and touching story about a distressed family and the emotional glue that holds it together.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 28, 2006

Predictable but not preachy, its likeable types quirky and familiar, 'Aurora Borealis' is a good if undemanding watch.

| Sep 22, 2006

Most successful in capturing the emotional elements of its story, the film relies on its excellent cast to balance out sketchily drawn characters and the unfortunate obviousness of its plot.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 21, 2006

Aurora Borealis -- yes, that title eventually comes home to roost -- doesn't offend in any way, but it's so self-consciously quaint, so unwaveringly 'nice,' that you nearly wish it did.

| Sep 21, 2006

Juliette Lewis makes Aurora Borealis into a funnier, richer, more powerful film than it has any reason to be.

| Sep 20, 2006

The real surprise here is Lewis, who seems to have finally hit on a role that balances her usual flakiness with smarts and an offbeat poignancy, and she delivers the strongest work of her adult career.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Sep 15, 2006

Fine acting distinguishes Aurora Borealis, a moderately affecting seriocomic character study marred by a weak, tidily resolved third act.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Sep 15, 2006

Set in dead-of-winter Minneapolis, a ready-made metaphor for (groan, shiver) the chill in Duncan's heart, the movie tells how life warms up when he goes to work at a nursing home.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 15, 2006

All in all, while this isn't a great film, it's quite nice.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.6/5 | Sep 15, 2006