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Category: archive

Stepford Wives, The (1975)

Drama Rated PG

As unintentionally silly and heavy-handed as it often is, this feminist landmark ó based on Ira Levin’s novel ó still works because of the brilliance of its central, satirical metaphor: the housewife as automaton. Katharine Ross plays young mother and aspiring photographer Joanna Eberhart, who reluctantly moves to the suburban enclave of Stepford, where the

Top Hat (1935)

Musical Rated NR

It never really mattered what loopy plot was devised to get Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers together in their musicals – once they started dancing in each other’s arms, all contrivances fall to the wayside and you clearly see they were made for each other. Top Hat relies on especially flimsy contrivances, already recycling from

Illusionist, The (2006)

Drama Rated PG-13

Acting chameleon Edward Norton finally finds a color he can’t match, and it’s a surprisingly conventional hue: that of a tragic romantic lead. Norton plays a magician in 1900 Vienna who discovers his childhood love (Jessica Biel) is unhappily engaged to a sinister crown prince (Rufus Sewell). Norton should set the tone for this moody,

Barnyard (2006)

Family Rated PG

This is one long, computer-animated gag reel about farm animals who secretly act like humans. All of the jokes are obvious, some are funny and none are what you would call inspired. For every amusing gag – we finally find the source of that awful painting of dogs playing poker – there are a bunch

Saving Shiloh (2006)

Family Rated PG

The filmmakers behind Saving Shiloh, the third movie to be adapted from Phyllis Reynolds Naylor’s series of children’s novels, must think kids are a pretty slow lot, considering the way they repeatedly hammer home the moral of the story. The picture has more respect for the intelligence of the title dog than for its audience.

9 Songs (2004)

Drama Rated NR

9 Songs flits back and forth between concert footage of contemporary rock bands and explicit scenes of actors Kieran O’Brien and Margo Stilley – as a fictional couple named Matt and Lisa – having actual sex. It doesn’t take long for both elements to become incredibly boring. You might think some sort of arty, intellectual

Last Kiss, The (2006)

Drama Rated R

Who would have thought that the Hollywood version of a European film would be grittier and more downbeat than its predecessor? That’s the case with The Last Kiss, a remake of a 2001 Italian farce about a pack of thirtysomething guys who go into panic mode at the imminent prospect of marriage and babies. Whereas

Wicker Man, The (2006)

Horror Rated PG-13

If you’re killing time channel surfing and come across the last 10 minutes of The Wicker Man, by all means put down the remote. Chances are it will be the most entertaining 10 minutes of your day. You needn’t make a full investment in The Wicker Man to fully appreciate the silly heights this would-be

Sugarland Express, The (1974)

Drama Rated PG

Those who were surprised by the lightness of Steven Spielberg’s Catch Me If You Can must have forgotten this, his first feature. It’s a serious story – an ex-con busts her husband out of jail to reclaim their baby from the foster system – yet it has a looseness and wit Spielberg rarely shows. That’s

Inside Man (2006)

Thriller Rated R

Spike Lee borrows a page from Woody Allen’s recent book for the heist drama Inside Man, in which the idiosyncratic director (Do the Right Thing) plays servant to genre material (as Allen did with Match Point). The result reminds us that even the most familiar of movies needn’t always be formulaic. Denzel Washington (as the

Recent Reviews

Silkwood (1983)

Drama Rated R

“Streep is as loose as she’s ever been…”

Mother Mary (2026)

Drama Rated R

“A collage of religio-goth gestures…”

The Great Dictator (1940)

Comedy Rated G

“Charlie Chaplin was not messing around.”


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