On the upside, Life Cycles does make me want to grab a bike and hit the trail, but the film lacks several significant elements that help me to connect with what's onscreen. The biggest shortcoming of this film, for instance, is the fact that the viewer never knows the riders; they are never individually introduced, they never talk, they never show emotion. Director Ryan Gibb chose not to follow the riders in any way, an interesting approach since stories lie…

Thanks to Cholodenko, we can now chalk up The Kids Are All Right with the dozen other films that portray a lesbian protagonist who sleeps with a straight man, clearly pandering to the popular convention that gay women secretly long for men. It's worth mentioning because even though the film has a fresh take on the family dynamic, head-shaking stereotypes are still present. Thus, I think this film was hyped more for its controversiality and unorthodoxy than for its accomplished…