Tony Scott’s Domino: Too Dumb to Write About? Not Entirely!
Strong violence, pervasive language, sexual content/nudity and drug use I admit it. I am a sucker for films with pervasive language. In fact, the more pervasive it is, the more[…]
Category: Movies
Witchcraft Through the Ages: The Best of the New Bewitched
“Where do alchemy and acting meet?” Perhaps the definition of a great screwball comedy is that it is an outstandingly funny film for which no real script is conceivable. For[…]
There’s Nothing You Can Do: Notes on William Friedkin’s The Guardian
We have met the enemy and he is us The Guardian (1990) concerns itself with the guardian spirits of trees. We’re told some guardian spirits are evil. In this very[…]
Bennett Miller’s Capote: Flatter Than Kansas, and Almost as Boring
Life is earnest, sure, but why does art have to be? “No one got further in history with less intellectual baggage than Cicero,”1 as Freddie Binkard Artz2 liked to say.[…]
Renoir on the Seine: Boudu Saved from Drowning on DVD
Criterion’s Renoir-fest continues with this classic Criterion has already remastered Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion(1938) and The Rules of the Game (1939), so the release of Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932),[…]
To Dance Without Warning: Reliving The Last Days of Chez Nous
You can go home again The Last Days of Chez Nous is the best film so far of Gillian Armstrong’s (no relation), and one of the most underrated Australian films[…]
Night of the Living Dead: Reappraising an Undead Classic
Romero’s canonical work remains timely decades later Introduction There has been a veritable outbreak of zombie films in the last few years, from Hollywood blockbusters Resident Evil (Anderson, 2002) and[…]
The Barkleys of Broadway: Fred & Ginger’s Last Dance: Ten Pounds Shy of a Gem?
“You’d be hard to replace”? Damn near impossible! How hard is it to lose those last ten pounds, eh? Well, pretty damn hard, but if Ginger Rogers had been able[…]
Activist & Political · Reviews
The Nixon of Our Dreams? On Robert Altman’s Secret Honor
We loved him, we loved him not Of all the Presidents the United States has had to endure over the last couple of centuries, this country’s relationship with Richard Nixon[…]
Everyday Freaks and Fantasy Wars: The 2005 San Francisco International Film Festival
It was the best of times . . . Running parallel to the 48th San Francisco International Film Festival were a surprisingly large number of other celebrations of film, including[…]
Activist & Political · Festivals & Awards · Reviews
Capturing Chaos: On the 2005 Human Rights Watch Film Festival
These docs and features show a world of upheaval – and, occasionally, hope The films portray images and tell stories that most of us would rather not see or hear.[…]
Quickies: Random Short Reviews from Bobby Abate to The Whale Rider
“It’s a spring break party 24/7 365 days a year!” Bobby Abate In his online bio, queer avant-garde filmmaker Bobby Abate compares himself to Britney Spears. Like her, he says,[…]
Activist & Political · Essays · Reviews
Distribute This! Privilege (Peter Watkins, 1967, Great Britain)
Watkins’ savaging of commodified culture remains disturbingly relevant After retailing Scotland’s Jacobite rebellion of 1746 to almost universal acclaim in Culloden (1964) and, in less than a year, establishing an[…]
Activist & Political · Directors · Documentaries · Reviews
Rebel Girls: Six Documentaries by Kim Longinotto
On Dream Girls, The Day I Will Never Forget, Divorce Iranian Style, Shinjuku Boys, Gaea Girls, and Runaway The combination of reality TV and George W. Bush’s ascendancy (one wants[…]
Two by Jacques Becker: Casque d’or and Touchez pas au grisbi on DVD
Criterion resurrects a French master “Beckeresque” is not a word but maybe it should be. Embedded in its definition would be French director Jacques Becker (1906-1960) at his best: subtle,[…]
Documentaries · LGBT & Queer · Reviews
The Rage from Nowhere? Arthur Dong’s Licensed to Kill Interviews Murderers of Gay Men
“I’m bad, but I’m locked up.” When we think about how society reinforces its laws, we usually think of law enforcement agencies doing what they’re contracted to do in protecting[…]
After Kieślowski: Six Recent Polish Films on DVD
Of Pornography and beyond The recurring release of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s films in various collections attests to more than English speakers’ enduring love of the work of the late master: it[…]
The Disturbance of the Real: Arnaud Desplechin’s Kings and Queen
How real is the director’s much-vaunted “multilayered depiction of reality”? The question is, does it frighten you more that your congenial neighbor – the one whose house has the hummingbird[…]
Thinking (and Talking) It Through: Arnaud Desplechin and Kings and Queen
“Is there anything more dazzling than the possible?” Sophisticated, high-spirited, and unpredictable, Arnaud Desplechin might be likened to a raffish, Gallic Woody Allen – the comedic aspects and neurotic energy[…]
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