Horror Rated R
“…a film of such frothy geekery that watching it is like having a comic-book store dropped on your head.
Documentary Rated NR
"…a political act, of course, but that’s not the most interesting thing about it."
Drama Rated PG-13
Why is my first instinct to defend Forrest Gump rather than sing its deserved praise? Released in the year of Pulp Fiction and in the midst of the American culture wars, the movie became a symbol for folks on all sides. What it became less of, with each successive argument, was a movie. That’s too
Drama Rated NR
How thoroughly does Joan Crawford own Grand Hotel? She makes Greta Garbo superfluous. A star parade (and Best Picture winner), Grand Hotel unfairly encourages such comparisons. Crawford and Garbo are joined by the likes of John Barrymore, Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore as various residents of a luxury hotel in Berlin. As a diva ballerina,
Robert Bresson once again uses the intensely physical to explore the deeply philosophical. In the case of Pickpocket, the act of lifting a wallet from a man’s jacket is a means to consider what the act of thievery swipes from the thief’s soul. Why do we steal? Is theft always wrong? Can those who break
Comedy Rated NR
Before they made The Philadelphia Story, director George Cukor and stars Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn teamed up for this decidedly less flattering look at the life of the upper class. Grant is Johnny Case, a rising, if free-spirited, businessman who is about to marry the daughter of a financing tycoon. Then he meets his
Action/Adventure Rated PG-13
Another 1990s domestic parable chastising workaholic dads, The River Wild also functions as a gorgeous travelogue and a Meryl Streep action film. Director Curtis Hanson sure packs a lot into one river trip. Streep plays Gail Hartman, a mother and wife who has become exasperated with her absentee husband, Tom (David Strathairn). So she plans
Drama Rated R
Should the fact that Young Adult ends almost exactly where it begins be considered a fault or a form of narrative integrity? Considering the movie seems to think it’s really taken us somewhere – the story is framed as a journey – I’d argue the former. Charlize Theron gives an open-wound performance as Mavis Gary,
Family Rated G
“The soft-focus animation has an impressionistic quality, as if a gentle breeze had wafted across a Monet canvas.
“…has more personality than anyone should rightly expect from a two-hour-plus, CGI-heavy, sci-fi fantasy epic.
