Carlito’s Way September 9, 2006 in film The similarities between 1983’s Scarface and Carlito’s Way are many and well-noted. They’re both Al Pacino vehicles about Making It Big, but trying to do it in a perverse way—n…
Mission: Impossible September 1, 2006 in film Unlike most action films, Mission: Impossible’s distinct appeal operates not so much on suspense but on improbability. Obviously we are immediately tempted to correct this sentence, to change improbability to…
Get to Know Your Rabbit August 23, 2006 in film It’s some of the seldom-seen UFOs in Brian De Palma’s career that can dramatically alter one’s perception of his work. Someone brought up to believe that the director is just…
The Crime of Monsieur Lange March 27, 2005 in film The film is an exemplum of Jean Renoir’s skill at linking narratives of complex human beings to progressive sociopolitical readings.
The Ballad of Narayama September 2, 2004 in film However you slice up postwar Japanese cinema, Shohei Imamura is one of its premiere figures.
The Lickerish Quartet July 21, 2004 in film Sexually explicit cinema has existed practically as long as any other form of cinema. Culturally, we’ve done a decent job commending “art” that borrows from “pornography“—consider the work of C…
Lancelot du Lac May 25, 2004 in dvd For Robert Bresson fans, this DVD edition of the film is as good as it gets for now at least.
Dead Man May 25, 2004 in film Dead Man is likely Jim Jarmusch’s most stunning achievement. A period piece, and what’s more, one that draws directly upon a genre (the western), the film stands apart from Jarmusch’s…
Lancelot du Lac February 8, 2004 in film Lancelot du Lac is one of Robert Bresson’s late films—his 11th feature and his third in color (after Une Femme douce and the rarely-seen Four Nights of a Dreamer). W…
Only Angels Have Wings October 2, 2003 in film Howard Hawks’s masterpiece organizes its space within a nodal web of slightly claustrophobic locations, always shrouded in fog or cigarette smoke.
