This is exactly the kind of stultifyingly studious Bible movie that The Passion of the Christ is a shock-art response to. Often a word-by-word adaptation, The Gospel of John features a narrator who actually tells us “And then Jesus said…” before each line of dialogue. All of it makes for a punishingly redundant translation of

Perhaps the defining moment of Robert Altman’s legendary career. It was here, after all, where Altman’s signature traits were all assembled and perfected: the extensive ensemble cast, the fluid and unforced narrative, the overlapping dialogue that freed the movies from the stilted patter of the stage and injected them with the interrupted babbling of real

This never attains the full weight that its tragic love story demands, yet it’s nothing to scoff at. The filmmakers are going for an epic romance here, one set in the Dark Ages, and the fact that they haven’t delivered a laughable hoot is something of a moral victory. The soapy story, drawn from British

This is the Western from which every other Western – even those that came before it – feels born. Gary Cooper, in the final, grimacing stage of his career, won an Oscar for his portrayal of Will Kane, the outgoing marshal in a small town who is about to start a fresh life with his

Annette Bening bites into the title role – that of a 1930s London stage actress whose personal life is only slightly less dramatic than her theatrical one – as if it will be the last good part she ever gets. The scenery-chewing is a fortunate necessity, considering it only emphasizes the theme of ageism in

Another MGM/United Artists mess from 2002, though not quite as inept as Rollerball. Two brothers (Stephen Dorff and Brad Renfro) try to protect their neighborhood from a violent gang in 1958 Brooklyn, and the result – tough guys marching down the street in matching white T-shirts, more fake lightning than a heavy metal music video

What at first seems to be a stylistic lark – another British crime caper involving fancy camerawork and foul-mouthed antiheroes – matures into a tragic rumination on the criminal lifestyle. Ben Kingsley has received rave reviews for his performance as a violent and verbose gangster, but it’s Ray Winstone, as the retired, likable lug whom