DVD & Blu-ray · Noir · Reviews
“She Loves Too Much”: The Ravishing Leave Her to Heaven on DVD
No matter what she says, don’t upset her
Actors & Personalities · Reviews
Hooker with a Heart of Darkness: Jane Fonda in Klute
Bree Daniels trumps all Fonda’s real-life characters
Documentaries · Exploitation & Erotica
Dancing and Dirging with Jason: On Shirley Clarke’s Portrait of Jason
“Going on stage would’ve been awfully redundant”
Compliments to the Chef: Three . . . Extremes: Dumplings Expertly Mixes Social Critique and Questionable Cuisine
Bring some dramamine to Fruit Chan’s best film to date
Documentaries · Festivals & Awards
In the Realm of the Real: The 3rd Chicago International Documentary Film Festival
“The governments will be forgotten but the masterpieces will remain.”
Comedy · DVD & Blu-ray · Pre-Code
Dinner Is Served: The Return of MGM’s Witty ’30s Romp
Cukor’s all-star gala remains a tasty dish
Train to Somewhere: Hou Hsiao-hsien Pays Sweet Homage to Ozu in Café Lumière
Hou honors the master while remaining true to his own vision
Distribute This! Blast of Silence (Allen Baron, 1961, U.S.A.)
This missing noir masterpiece enters the canon in first place
Maybe Next Year: Slim Pickings at Berlinale 2005
When good ideas go wrong
Saving AI: Artificial Intelligence: Philosophical Aspects of Spielberg’s Neglected Robo-Epic
Human, mecha, supermecha and David
Quickies: Random Short Reviews from Angel Blue to Ruan Lingyu to The Toilers and the Wayfarers
“Here’s to lost beauty. May it always be nearby with the potential to keep you warm.”
Actors & Personalities · Directors
Shadow Man: On Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby, the Coming Together and the Falling Apart
What’s inside those “sculpted spaces of dark intimacy”
African American · DVD & Blu-ray · Music & Musicals
The Good, the Bad, and the Disingenuous: Jazz on DVD
You get what you pay for, if you’re lucky
O Bruder, Where Art Thou? The 8th European Union Film Festival (Chicago)
Doing the Continental
Beyond Subtitles: Some Thoughts on Viewing Foreign Language Films
It’s the visuals, stupid
Mike Leigh’s 20th Century Snaps: Vera Drake and Naked
Two sides of the same desperate coin
Activist & Political · Crime · Horror
Training Day (for the Pacification of Iraq): Baghdad in the Ghetto
“You know what I learned today? I’m not like you.”
Sideways: Sideways to Hell, Maybe!
Alexander Payne’s new indie is headed in the wrong direction
Animation · Animators · Interviews
“It’s Amazing I’ve Survived”: An Interview with Bill Plympton
“The football game where the chicken mascot runs around crazy with an erection was inspired by a story that someone told me…”
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