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

Shot in the Dark, A (1964)

Comedy Rated PG

Writer-director Blake Edwards and star Peter Sellers followed up 1963’s The Pink Panther with this much more tightly focused farce. This time Sellers’ inept Inspector Clouseau is the star – he seems to have come to the picture with a specific character in mind rather than a collection of slapstick shtick. The bumbling and fumbling

One From the Heart (1982)

Musical Rated R

One of those Hollywood disasters that you almost – and I stress almost – have to see. Francis Ford Coppola made a curious follow-up to the great Apocalypse Now with this, a musical experiment that’s at once gaudy and sterile. The movie has the flash of neon but also its deadening hiss. Neon features prominently

Silk Stockings (1957)

Musical Rated NR

Initially a Broadway musical, which composer Cole Porter adapted from the 1939 film Ninotchka, Silk Stockings takes place during the Cold War in Paris, where a famous Russian composer is caught in a tug of war between American movie producer Steve Canfield (Fred Astaire), who wants to hire him, and the Soviet agents who want

Paths of Glory (1957)

Drama Rated NR

Inspired by the Music Box’s Stanley Kubrick retrospective last week, here is a Kubrick review from the archives.

Lovely & Amazing (2001)

Drama Rated R

A “women’s picture” that features people rather than platitudes. This is a family portrait of two sisters and their mother, all of whom have lives that are functioning but fractured. Thankfully, writer-director Nicole Holofcener (Walking and Talking) doesn’t go for grand gestures in the manner of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood. As a low-budget,

Philadelphia Story, The (1940)

Romantic Comedy Rated NR

The Philadelphia Story features one of the definitive Katharine Hepburn performances, largely because it so closely aligns with the public’s perception of her at the time. She plays smart but snooty socialite Tracy Lord, whose plan to marry an up-by-his-bootstraps businessman comes undone with the unexpected arrival of her ex-husband (Cary Grant). By 1940, Hepburn