Christopher Long covers a wide range of classic, international, and specialty releases for MovieMet. His reviews often emphasize direction, tone, film history, and the broader context that helps readers understand where a movie fits within its genre or era.
Jean-Luc Godard's “Every Man For Himself” (1980) opens with an elegant pan across a cloudy blue sky accompanied by a melodic orchestral arrangement, sound and image in perfect harmony. Anyone familiar
Jean Renoir's “A Day In The Country” (“Partie de campagne”, 1936) has its legion of devotees, finishing in the top 100 in the most recent “Sight & Sound” critics poll. While it is undeniably beautiful
An old man prays for death so that he will no longer be a burden to his granddaughter. A swordsman dressed in black appears behind him and grants his request with a single brutal stroke. An avenging
I caught “My Winnipeg” (2007) at its debut screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. After the screening, the first question to director Guy Maddin was from a man who introduced himself as
I've figured out by now that I simply have nothing useful to say about screwball comedies. I don't like them. I have watched more than half of the supposed very best of the genre and I don't find a si
“Tooth Fairy 2” is the direct-to-video sequel to “Tooth Fairy” (2010), which starred Dwayne Johnson. And you have to give The Rock credit. He made sure he was busy when they decided to make “Tooth Fai
After twenty years of trying I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never truly love any film described as a screwball comedy. My working hypothesis is that I am missing the apparently common-
I hadn't forgotten how great “Ali: Fear Eats the Soul” (1974) is, but it sure is nice to be reminded every now and then. Absurdly prolific German dynamo Rainer Werner Fassbinder had a little down tim
“All That Jazz” (1979) pits choreographer-director Bob Fosse's razzle-dazzle vs. lead actor Roy Scheider's serene confidence to create a movie musical like few others. Fosse, who also co-wrote the sc
No wonder nobody likes skeptics. In 2004, an Arkansas man boating through the swamp spotted an ivory-billed woodpecker, a species thought to be extinct since the early part of the twentieth century.
If filmmakers Scott Glosserman and Nic Hill initially set out to present an “neutral” examination of Wikipedia they fortunately had the good sense to drop the pretense after speaking to the site's co-
Like many of the characters in John Cassavetes' films, Sarah Lawson (Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes' wife) is all impulse and no filter. To want or to need is to act immediately on that desire with no thou
*The following text begins with the review written by John J. Puccio for the 2002 Miramax DVD release of “A Hard Day's Night.” The rest is written by Christopher Long on the occasion of the 2014 Crite
Harold Lamb only cares about one thing: being the most popular man at Tate University (described in a title card as “a large football stadium with a college attached” and looking an awful lot like USC
The first fifteen minutes of “The Hidden Fortress” (1958) are as accomplished as anything in Akira Kurosawa's body of work. In the first shot we meet the peasants Tahei (Minoru Chiaki) and Matashichi
Since “George Washington” (2000) opens with a teenage girl's dreamy, wise-beyond-her-years narration as the camera floats in slow-motion through waving fields of grass and glides along railroad tracks
Please accept my apologies, but I gave up on "Blue Is The Warmest Color" (2013) at the ten-minute mark. This is no way a reflection on the movie's quality, but my own reaction to director Abdellatif K
Steven Soderbergh made it difficult for auteurist critics from the very start. The chameleon-like director who has hopped genres and budget levels more than any other major filmmaker over the past two
“The Turin Horse” and “Jeanne Dielman” are my ideas of cinematic bliss. When frustrated viewers complain that “nothing happens” in a movie, save me an aisle seat. By that standard, Andrei Tarkovsky's
*The following is a review of the the new three-disc set from Criterion's Eclipse Collection: “Late Ray” which includes the films “The Home and the World,” “An Enemy of the People,” and “The Stranger.
The meeting of the World Cinema Project and the Criterion Collection is a fortuitous one. Criterion's stated mission to distribute “important classic and contemporary films” seems modest and straight
*“Grey Gardens” was released by Criterion in 2001 with Spine Number 123. In 2006 they released the follow-up version assembled from outtakes, “The Beales of Grey Gardens” on a separate disc (Spine Num
Anybody who seeks power almost certainly can't be trusted with it. The ambitious unnamed protagonist (Gian Maria Volonté) of “Investigation of a Citizen Under Suspicion” (1970) would openly admit that
This is my third tour through “Nashville” (1975) and it will probably be my last. When Criterion first announced Robert Altman's “Nashville” as an upcoming release, my Facebook feed exploded with hos
*The following is a review of the Criterion Collection's new 27-disc mega-set "Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman," released on Nov 26, 2013. * If ever a blade went snicker-snack, it is surely Zatoichi's
As surely as any Esther Williams or Jackie Chan flick, “Frances Ha” (2013) sells the distinctive screen appeal of its star, Greta Gerwig. You will either buy in or you won't, but if you resist the pit
The first part of this review was written by John Puccio in 2004 in regards to Warner Bros. SD release of “City Lights.” The rest of the review was written by Christopher Long for the 2013 Criterion B
Yasujiro Ozu's exceptional “Tokyo Story” (1953) yields potential readings to suit all temperaments. The die-hard optimist might draw inspiration from the dignified manner in which the characters endu
I don't know if I believe in love at first sight, but “Tabu” (2012) had me hooked from the very first shot. Photographed in sun-bleached black-and-white, an intrepid explorer stands forlornly in the
According to an article I may or may not have actually read, during the shooting of “The Big Lebowski” Jeff Bridges was very concerned with his motivation. To prepare for each new scene, Bridges asked
A film that starts with a romantic overture and a bit of slapstick comedy involving a terrier chasing a squirrel doesn't exactly announce itself as an entrant in the horror genre. But then again“The U
Escape aboard your rickety ship from the Island of Lost Souls. Go on, sail right into the storm, what can be worse? By the time your ship wrecks, you've blown so far of course you stumble ashore in an
Here's hoping Hollywood never gets around to remaking “I Married A Witch” (1942). The rumored Tom Cruise project(with Danny DeVito directing) from ten years ago might merely have been a disposable nui
Dennis Hopper's first leading role isn't exactly an early template for his intermittently volcanic career. As Johnny Drake, Hopper plays a soft-spoken sailor who is so shy and tentative he clutches hi
After the box-office failure of “The Magnificent Ambersons” and a bitter fight with RKO over the allegedly out-of-control production of “It's All True,” Orson Welles's wunderkind status was in jeopard
“It's not whether you cry, it's whether the audience thinks you're crying.” - Ingrid Bergman Scribbled among my viewing notes while watching this boxed set is the line: “Bergman is not the most convi
The main review was written by Christopher Long for Criterion's 2004 SD release of “Slacker.” The Video, Audio, Extras, and Film Value sections address the 2013 Blu-ray re-issue by Criterion. "I ma
Ingmar Bergman didn't exactly believe in the healing potential of catharsis. The mother-daughter confrontation that powers “Autumn Sonata” (1978) begins as a cordial, if strained, greeting. Charlotte
By the early 1960s, the spy movie had begun to supplant the Western as America's genre of choice, a transformation prompted largely by the staggeringly successful screen debut of James Bond in "Dr. No
The main review below was written by John Puccio in regards to the 2001 DVD release of “La Cage Aux Folles” by MGM/UA. The rest of the review was written by Christopher Long and addresses the 2013 Blu
Ernst Lubitsch's “To Be Or Not To Be” (1942) must be one of the slipperiest films ever made. In the first few scenes, we see Hitler window-shopping in Warsaw with a crowd of gawkers in his wake. We so
Arthur Hamilton (John Randolph) has always played by the rules and now he's paying for it. The 50-something banker has a respectable job, a dream house in Scarsdale, and a devoted wife (Frances Reid)
In September 2008, Criterion released three Max Ophuls films simultaneously on DVD: “La ronde” (1950), “Le plaisir” (1952), and “The Earrings of Madame De...” (1953). The following review is an edited
The main body of this review was written by John Puccio in regards to Criterion's 2000 SD release of “Lord of the Flies,” one of the earlier films in the Criterion Collection (Spine # 43). The other s
I have so little interest in Ang Lee's second English-language feature "The Ice Storm" (1997) that I don't even feel like providing an argument as to why I have so little interest in it. The film, wri
I've only recently discovered just how beloved “Babette's Feast” (1987) is. When I mentioned it in a film discussion group, faces lit up and one woman declared that it was possibly her favorite movie.
Belief is an irrelevant concept in the era of computer-generated cinema, but back in an age when the movies still had something to do with photography audiences believed in Harold Lloyd. For a gruelin
The opening credits of Kenji Mizoguchi's “Sansho the Bailiff” (1954) informed viewers that the 11th century-set film took place in “an era when mankind had not yet awakened as human beings.” Mizoguchi
I'm pretty sure the talking heads interviewed for this documentary agreed to participate for one main reason: they really like to say the name Sholem Aleichem. And why not? It rhymes and it's got that
The main body of this review was written by Eddie Feng in 2004 regarding the 2003 SD release of the film by New Yorker. The other sections of the review are written by Christopher Long and address the
In a 1968 appearance on William F. Buckley's “Firing Line,” Allen Ginsberg reads his poem “Wales Visitation.” He moves his hand as if conducting his own personal symphony, and his rhythmic, rapturous
Antipodes has been one of my favorite words ever since I bingoed out with the singular form of the word in a Scrabble game. In its broadest sense, antipode (my word processor only recognizes the plura
Imagine, if you can, an America in which state legislators pass laws that tell citizens who they can or cannot marry. Imagine further, if you can, that these laws are derived primarily from the belief
I have so much to say about “Marketa Lazarova” (1967) that I feel I should only say a little. Even a brief report so soon after seeing such a remarkable film is like relating the experience of riding
H.G. Wells's vision of a future radically transformed by technology has proven accurate enough; he simply missed on the scale. Wells dreamed of gigantic machines that enabled heroic achievements; mass
Their names were the stuff of legend: Matilda the Hun, Mountain Fiji, Susie Spirit, Little Egypt, Ninotchka, Tina Ferrari, Hollywood, and, of course, Big... Bad... Mama! And just at their peak, the le
Jubal Troop is one heck of a name for a Western character, isn't it? It's the kind of name you can spit right into a cuspidor from clear across the room. Credit goes to novelist Paul I. Wellman, but i
Now the remake just looks stupid. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the 2007 version with Russell Crowe and Batman, but at the time I hadn't seen the 1957 original in almost twenty years and didn't revis
You don't have to believe in God to believe that Father Greg Boyle is doing God's work. The Jesuit priest began tending to his parish in the gang-infested Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles in the
Director and star Sir Laurence Olivier doesn't shy away from center stage in this adaptation of Shakespeare's “Richard III” (1955) nor would any sane person want him to. By stripping away or at least
It's tempting to think of 1950s Japanese cinema as the bleakest of wastelands, a litany of unending misery from “Sansho the Bailiff” (1954) to “The Ballad of Narayama” (1958) to “Fires on the Plain” (
That Pierre Étaix's comedies do not tickle my funny bone is of no relevance to you and hardly even to me. I am not here on rain on anyone's parade, and a parade is more than justified because Étaix's
It's 1160 and a good man is hard to find. Rival Japanese clans have been dueling for power for most of the century and as “Gate of Hell” (1953) opens, the rebel Minamoto warriors have seized a special
It was 1984 and Americans were on course to re-elect a shitty, sadistic, semi-sentient president. In a fucking landslide. What better way to piss them all off than for a smartass Brit to flip them the
Tiffany Shlain's documentary “Connected” (2011) is a bit of a trap. The free-associative narrative structure begs to be criticized for its lack of focus, for its potpourri of subject matter, but Shlai
Henri Verdoux (Charles Chaplin) is an odd little man, a former bank clerk who loses his job in the Depression and opts for a new career in “liquidating members of the opposite sex.” Verdoux stockpiles
Cartoonist David Low first introduced the pot-bellied, walrus-mustached Colonel Blimp to British readers in the 1930s. In single-panel installments, the military lifer held court from a Turkish bath,
**“Living in a zoo can be very sad People stare at you and make you mad. Oh how I wonder what they would do If animals stared at them like they were in a zoo?” -sung by Chris Peterson in the “Zoo Anim
The blob is a metaphor, you see, a metaphor for... it's just a blob. And it is the purest blob the cinema has ever seen. It spent untold millennia soaring through space inside of a meteor just so it c
“Ministry of Fear” (1944) had its share of detractors, among them Graham Greene who despised this adaptation of his wartime novel. Fritz Lang, who directed the adaptation, had considerable misgivings
I touched a Dardenne. “The Kid With a Bike” (2011) had just screened at the Elgin Theater during the Toronto Film Festival, and I was winding my way along the side of the building trying to get back
News programs were already polling the man on the street for soundbite reactions to hot button issues and marketers were mining kinda-big-data to determine what features consumers wanted in their next
“On the Waterfront” (1954) is so frequently hailed as a pivot point in naturalistic acting that it's easy to overlook its hodge-podge collection of disparate performance styles. Marlon Brando's Terry
Celebrity is the ultimate entitlement. I know that's not a revelation, but this new documentary about trend-setting fashion editor Diana Vreeland (1903-1989) is a potent reminder. Vreeland blazed a w
If you're looking for withering portraits of human abjection and total societal collapse (and who isn't?), you might as well start your search with Japanese films of the 1950s. Start with “Sansho the
I am increasingly of the opinion that film critics review far too many films. This is a film, you write about films, therefore you are qualified to write about this film. And besides we can't find any
Like most twelve year-old boys, Ivan (Nikolai Burlyaev) thinks he knows everything; unlike most twelve year-old boys, he has good reason to believe so. Coming of age in the heart of WW2, Ivan has alr
F.W. Murnau's “Nosferatu” (1922) was adapted without permission from Bram Stoker's novel “Dracula” and, in some ways, falls short of the source material it exploited. Where Count Dracula was a seducti
“The Man Who Knew Too Much” (1934) runs just seventy-five minutes, and Alfred Hitchcock doesn't waste a second of precious screen time on plausibility. Bob (Leslie Banks) and Jill Lawrence (Edna Best)
I had never watched an episode of “Being Human” before popping in Disc One of this “Complete Second Season” set. I knew it was going to be a struggle when I was driven to distraction by the fact that
[NOTE: The following review was written for Criterion's 2004 SD release of “The Tin Drum” . That release included the 142 minute theatrical release of the film which, at the time, was the only one kno
Director Monte Hellman's "Two-Lane Blacktop" (1971) is the greatest American road movie ever made. I state this as fact, not opinion. At the same time, it's difficult to hold up "Two-Lane Blacktop" as
A film with five people credited as “Hopi Prophecy Consultants” would normally send me bolting to my panic room, but “Koyaanisqatsi” (1983) is my time-lapse crack and it provides such an immersive aud
Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) is a button-pushing middle manager who resists a soul-crushing bureaucracy by escaping into literal flights of fantasy. Imagination is the only weapon he has against the all
As awards season consumes December and my fellow critics pretend they just hate hate hate composing “best of” lists as they eagerly share those hated “best of” lists, I find myself returning again and
Andre Waters was a beast. Some of my fondest memories watching football as a teenager involve “Dirty Waters” administering brutal hits to receivers who had heard the stories, but couldn't believe the
“The following is my explanation.” In retrospect, it's difficult not to think of the first spoken line of Christopher Nolan's first feature film as a promise of everything that was to come, or perhap
I really want to like Guillermo del Toro's films. He seems like a very likeable man who supplies geek chic that isn't drenched in pop culture irony. He produces thoughtful genre films that adhere to t
I can't imagine anyone watching “Heaven's Gate” (1980) for the first time on this Criterion Blu-ray would identify it as the “unqualified disaster” Vincent Canby labeled it upon its release, a label a
Films described as “raunchy,” “erotic,” or “bawdy” usually send me running for cover. I've always thought this was because I am exceedingly old-fashioned in my sensibilities, but in the context of Pie
SOME NOTES ON “RASHOMON” SINCE YOU SURELY DON'T NEED YET ANOTHER REVIEW OF THIS MASTERPIECE:“Rashomon” is certainly a film about the elusive nature of truth and the unreliability of witnesses
When I think of wartime British cinema, I think about stiff upper lips and odes to endurance on the homefront, but Gainsborough Pictures created a very different on screen world in the mid-1940s. It w
I admit that while watching “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (1971) I did, on a few occasions, shout “Damned hippies!” Or at least I thought it. Turn on and tune in, man, but if you're going to let your seven y
The main review was written by the legendary Eddie Feng in 2002 in conjunction with Criterion's 2-disc SD release of Wong Kar-Wai's “In the Mood for Love” (2000). The Video, Audio, Extras, and Film Va
Grandmom always told me that if you don't have anything nice to say about somebody, don't say anything at all. So enough about the Mets, and on to the details of the “Mets 50th Anniversary Collector's
On April 20, 2012, the Boston Red Sox staged an elaborate on-field celebration to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park, the only baseball park ever to last a century as an active venue (Wr
Marcel Carné's “Children of Paradise” (1945) occupies a unique place in French film culture for at least a few reasons. It was shot, with much publicity, entirely during the Occupation, but premiered
Perhaps it is a bit difficult to understand why “Les Visiteurs du Soir” (1942) was a runaway commercial hit during the German occupation of France. The sumptuously staged medieval fairy tale must have
When irony rules and most tongues are permanently grafted into cheeks, I suppose it's pretty churlish to complain about a movie taking itself too seriously. But after watching “The Game” (1997) again,
Vittorio De Sica's story of a sad sack old pensioner and his adorable dog is the ultimate “check your pulse” movie. “Umberto D.” (1952) can thaw out the iciest hearts, burrow through the scaliest armo
I'm glad that Eclipse releases movies like this. I just wish that they weren't, like, this. I won't embarrass either of us by pretending to know much about Norman Mailer, and I will settle fo
One scene in “Quadrophenia” (1979) captures the absurdity and sincerity of youthful rebellion in all its sure-to-embarrass-you-in-the-future glory. Jimmy Cooper (Phil Daniels) says to his friend Kevin
My goodness, New York used to be so crowded! Released in 1928, Paul Fejos' “Lonesome” begins with the big city waking up as “the machinery of life begins to hum.” In a dizzying montage, cars choke th
I grow more prudish by the day, and I have now reached a point where I avoid watching films with graphic sexual content just as I have always tried to avoid people who discuss their (alleged) sexual e
I doubt many critics would offer “Rosetta” (1999) as a prime example of Hollywood-style filmmaking, but in some ways the title heroine is the perfect embodiment of textbook screenwriting advice. Film
There is one moment in “La promesse” (1996) that I will never forget. Fourteen year-old Igor (Jérémie Renier) assists his father Roger (Olivier Gourmet) in the family business, which involves maintai
Only the Mets could end a historic no-hitter drought with a one-hitter. For years, baseball fans grew up hearing that there were only two franchises that had never tossed a no-hitter: the Mets and th
“Down By Law” (1986) begins with a shot of a mausoleum, and with a few vintage Jarmuschian lateral tracking shots through the deserted streets of New Orleans, eventually settles on a set of characters
Eclipse Series 34; Jean Grémillon During the Occupation includes three films: “Remorques” (1941), “ Lumière d'été” (1943), and “ Le ciel est à vous” (1944). When people say “I don't get it” in resp
**"You know the French film ‘The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie'? When I first heard the title, I thought ‘Finally someone's gonna tell the truth about the bourgeoisie!' What a disappointment. " -
"Let's show the world we can dance Bad enough to strut our stuff" -"Shake Your Groove Thing," Peaches & Herb Movies like "Anchorman" and TV shows like "That 70's Show" use their 70's-era settings
Nuri Bilge Ceylan's film begins at dusk with a fire-breathing dragon that turns out to be a car skirting along a dirt road, its sunset-orange headlights scattered and distended into a tail-shape by pl
*The following review covers the Criterion releases of two films directed by Steven Soderbergh and featuring the monologist Spalding Gray: “Gray's Anatomy” (1997) and “And Everything is Going Fine” (2
*The following review covers the Criterion releases of two films directed by Steven Soderbergh and featuring the monologist Spalding Gray: “Gray's Anatomy” (1997) and “And Everything is Going Fine” (2
Film may be the ultimate mausoleum, preserving our celluloid heroes as fixed memories for generations, but Hollywood has seldom valued its history unless it's bankable. Who has time for yesterday unle
I am as far from an expert as you can get, but I have always thought of the banjo as an instrument that can never sound contemporary. I suspect this was just as true in, say, 1940, as it is today. Eve
I suspect I have become too jaded (or perhaps the correct word is traumatized) by decades of American indie quirk and its army of eccentric china doll outsiders heroically refusing to shatter under th
Men in the pre-Internet era sure were desperate for porn. Exploitation master Kroger Babb was keenly aware of that fact when he bought the rights (well, sort of) to a film by a still relatively unknow
“If you can't trust your friends, well what then?” Danny Boyle is best known today for shooting award-winning, feature-length Nike commercials, but he began his film career with this award-winning, f
If anything, I suspect that Robert Greenwald's new documentary “Koch Brothers Exposed” (2012) undersells the sheer vileness of the scions of wealth who have leveraged a nearly unparalleled stash of pr
“I'm not gonna rock the boat. Rockin' the boat's a drag. What you do is sink the boat!” - Putney Swope I took several pages of notes while staying “Up All Night” with these five films by Robert Downe
Abbas Kiarostami's Tuscan sun-dappled enigma is the cinematic gift that is going to keep on giving for decades. When the renowned Iranian director announced plans to shoot his first film outside of h
One of my numerous shortcomings as a film viewer is a severely limited tolerance for films featuring hyper-macho, confrontational characters. I'm certain “Goodfellas” is a masterpiece, but the constan
The following is a review of Criterion's May 2012 Blu-ray release of “Being John Malkovich.” The main body of the review was written by John Puccio for the 2000 SD release by Polygram USA. Christopher
The opening titles of “La terra trema” (“The Earth Will Tremble”, 1948) declare that the film takes place in the Sicilian fishing village of Aci Trezza, but that its events occur anywhere that “men ex
Bear with me for the teensiest of spoilers. There's a wonderfully quiet moment in the generally loud blockbuster “The Avengers” that sticks in my memory. Preparing to fight with the Hulk, Thor (Chris
If you looked up the term “minimalism” in a film dictionary, you would almost certainly see a still of a low-angle 50 mm lens shot from any of Yasujiro Ozu's 30+ surviving films as illustration. But t
The Czech New Wave was a an unlikely flowering that yielded a colorful and variegated bloom despite having its roots in seemingly infertile soil. Of course, Communist state-run film programs have prod
"¡Alambrista!” (1977) is such an immersive experience that its abrupt narrative ruptures really pack an emotional wallop. The opening shot of water flowing through an irrigation ditch plunks us right
Director Mario Monicelli said that he liked to tell stories about a group of people who reached beyond their means and failed in the process. Comedy predicated on such a premise usually invites viewer
Sometimes I wonder if there really is someone out there writing the jokes. In 2003, a guy named Chris Moneymaker made a lot of money from other people at the World Series of Poker. And in 2008, a guy
The instant that David Freese lofted a triple over the flailing glove of a stumble-drunk Nelson Cruz to tie the game in the ninth, all was revealed to me. The Cardinals were going to win the World Ser
A skeptic might wonder if asking a group of influential contemporary economists to explain what went wrong in the financial crisis is akin to asking a group of MTV programming execs why pop music star
I'm old school when it comes to my “Sesame Street,” and I'll go to my grave believing that Elmo is a punk. Kevin Clash, however, is definitely not a punk, not one bit. Kevin Clash is a dreamer, a tale
“At least use the conjunctive form!” (Silence) “I capitulate. Then write it as you see fit.” Yes, you can expect such fireworks and more in “Literary Translators Gone Wild!” AKA “The Wo
Time constraints prevent from taking an in-depth look at this hefty new set from the Criterion Collection, but even the basic details should pique the interest of most film buffs. The early days of B
I have long since moved from lapsed Catholic to atheist, but twelve years of Catholic education (no horror stories here; it was great) guarantees that the image of Christ on the cross has a special re
I’m not here to put down James Cameron’s “Titanic” (1997). It is a well-written, well-acted soap opera that openly and honestly tugs on the viewer’s heartstrings, and its leviathan success at the box
Once it gets its motor revved up, “The War Room” rockets along at such breakneck speed that it’s difficult even to find a logical place on the DVD to hit pause for a bathroom break. This might not be
Pardon me if I get a little choked up, but this is Rainer Werner Fassbinder we’re talking about. The term “force of nature” may be greatly overused, but there’s no better description for the dynamo th
In an essay in the Criterion booklet for “Vanya on 42nd Street,” author Steven Vineberg writes: “the project… strips down Chekhov’s late-nineteenth century story (“Uncle Vanya”) about Russian intellec
I have been known to say that the courtroom is the place that good movies go to die, but even if you find the theatrics of the American jurisprudence system as appealing as a Nancy Grace marathon, Ott
I’ve lost track of where we are in the “Is it a documentary?” debate. Does Werner Herzog still need to take up arms against the actuality-shackled “accountants” of direct cinema, or do his ecstatic wa
American audiences (and most others too, I suspect) have probably seen as many “revisionist” samurai films as classical ones, so de-romanticized portraits that undercut the myth of the honorable warri
Anyone who grew up buying baseball cards remembers that special thrill of the unknown with each fresh pack. The mystery of the wrapper had an allure that exceeded the actual contents of the pack. The
“You’re very lucky to be miserable.” – Alvy Singer to Annie Hall Even at 194 minutes, Robert B. Weide’s documentary can’t claim to provide a comprehensive view of the career of one of America’s most
In 1994, Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide, and since then over 500 Oregonians have chosen to end their lives under a law that remains controversial nearly two decad
My fondest childhood memories of playing Monopoly revolve around two key phases of the game. First, there was the selection of which token to play; I always wanted to be the dog, but if mom picked fir
*I originally wrote this review for the 2007 SD release of “La Jetée” and “Sans Soleil.” The Video, Audio, Extras, and Film Value section have been re-written for the 2012 Blu-ray re-release by Criter
The Costa Concordia was a cruise ship named to signify the hope of “continuing harmony, unity, and peace between European nations.” With its thirteen decks each named for a different European nation,
**Eclipse Series 31: Three Popular Films by Jean-Pierre Gorin includes three films by the director: “Poto and Cabengo,” “Routine Pleasures,” and “My Crasy Life,” all three of which are reviewed below.
There’s one thing I can say about every bullfighting movie I’ve seen: I’m always rooting for the bull. I don’t know if director Francesco Rosi considered this possibility when he made “The Moment of
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about film critics, it’s that they tend to be perverts, and I mean that in the most complimentary manner possible. Some of my best friends are film critics, and they
Though Gina Carano is a former MMA fighter and American Gladiator, it would be a stretch to say that she is the real thing if, by real thing, we mean that she’s an actual black-ops super agent capable
Steven Soderbergh’s “Traffic” (2000) is not my favorite of his films, but watching it again on the occasion of Criterion’s 2012 Blu-ray upgrade, I noticed one marvelous scene that had escaped my atten
In his 2006 documentary, director Chris Paine asked, “Who Killed the Electric Car?” His 2011 follow-up shows that the real answer was a Shyamalan-style twist: it was never dead at all. I see… living c
The most common statement made about “An Idiot Abroad” is that “You either find Karl Pilkington hilarious or you don’t.” There’s no doubt into which camp Ricky Gervais falls. In the introduction to ea
Cinema history is full of stories of celebrities plucked from obscurity. Lana Turner was discovered at a soda fountain in Hollywood, former bit player Harrison Ford while building a cabinet for George
What an odd masterpiece "12 Angry Men" (1957) is. Few films have ever telegraphed their endings so clearly and incessantly; from the early moment when Henry Fonda persuades his first fellow juror to v
“It was like a symphony of placid beauty.” That’s how International Chess Master Anthony Saidy describes Game Six of Bobby Fischer’s legendary 1972 match with Boris Spassky, and any patzer who has st
In the 1950s and 1960s, a group of British novelists and playwrights came to be identified as the "angry young men. " The writers themselves were "angry young men" (though writer Shelagh Delaney was,
I watched Louis Malle's "Black Moon" (1975) about a year ago and in keeping with the spirit of the film, I have chosen to review it before watching it again, jumbled and half-remembered. I'll watch it
"Araya" (1959) is not a documentary in the traditional sense, but then again neither is any other documentary. With its towering pyramids of salt stretching out diagonally towards the horizon, this st
There's no reason for the first half of "Birdemic: Shock and Terror" to exist, and not much more for the second half, but it does have a cool scene right in the middle and a catchy theme song. So it's
A few days ago, Frits van Paaschen, CEO of Starwood Hotels, went on CNBC to tout his company's growth story. One of the main drivers for future explosive growth will be the "billion or more" people th
"Yeah, man, this is the room where I keep hearing all these spooky sounds. Like stuff being knocked over. Pans clattering on the floor. I'm really freaked out. " "That's OK, sir, that's why you calle
I am no fan of Director Oliver Hirschbiegel's plodding, by-the-numbers "Downfall" (2004) but at least it spawned one of the great You Tube memes of all-time. "Five Minutes of Heaven" (2009) spawns not
There are moments of genius in the relatively non-descript "The Fugitive Kind" (1960), namely the genius of Marlon Brando in his prime. Brando's glove-play with Eva Marie Saint in "On the Waterfront"
[This dual review of "Yojimbo" and "Sanjuro" references the 2010 Blu-Ray release of both films, and has been cross-posted for each title. The main body of the review is identical for both, but the Vid
You probably know that India and the United States produce the most feature movies per year of any national film industry, but do you know what country sits in third place? China? They've got a few pe
"Uh. Words. Uh. Words. Uh huh huh huh. " -Butthead, from Beavis and Butthead in "Beard Boys" I'm all but certain that "Pontypool" is the only zombie movie that references both Norman Mailer and Rolan
In the spirit of Wittgenstein, it's important to note that the category of "neo-realism" has no single defining quality but rather a series of shared family resemblances which are present in varying c
In trying to figure out what I like so much about "Pawn Stars," I realized that the pawn business has a lot in common with film reviewing. One of the pleasures of writing about film is encountering n
Have you ever woken up from a dream in the middle of the night and thought it was the most amazing idea for a story that you've ever had? You scribble it down as fast as you can while the details are
Criterion has used the month of June to release three of the most iconic art-house films of all-time. "The Seventh Seal" is one of the films that launched the art-house movement in America and its ima
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I have an extremely limited tolerance for anything labeled as a sex comedy in large because I find them to be missing the comedy part of the eq
If you ask me to pick my favorite under-50 director today, with only a slight hesitation, I would choose Jia Zhang-ke. Not yet 40, Jia is perhaps the most prominent member of the Sixth Generation of C
In the post-war film industry controlled in large part (though not totally) by the demands of American distributors and propagandists, Japanese audiences were peppered with a series of films that eith
It's rare that a History (the History Channel is now known simply as History) documentary creates a popular buzz, but for a while last month I couldn't get through a day without someone mentioning "th
Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep" (1977) has been a legendary film almost from the moment it was released. It is, of course, a great film, but its legend owes even more to the fact that the film has
I reviewed "Edvard Munch" when it was released on DVD by New Yorker and Project X in early 2006. I felt I had discovered a lost masterpiece, though in truth Peter Watkins' magnum opus was hardly unkno
As you might expect, the History Channel's "Secrets of the Koran" is completely cartoon-free. In fact, these two episodes (45 min. each) from the network's "Decoding the Past" series avoid even the fa
In the years immediately following the end of World War 2, the world stood in shock as it learned of the enormity of the Holocaust. The horror of this genocide, along with the spectacle of the Nurembe
Mild-mannered and thoughtful, Kevin Vigilante is an idealist who believes that actions speak louder than words. He doesn't believe that everyone who disagrees with him or his party is a traitor who ha
"Well, Peter, this is what comes of empire building. " -Harry "Breaker" Morant "Breaker Morant" (1980), based on a true story, is a courtroom drama set during the Boer War, one of the many charming a