Nagisa Oshima in the ’60s can be classed as a nihilist, his films angrily obliterating nearly everything in sight.
The film respects the monks’ position, and the formal choices reflect that respect.
The Bridge on the River Kwai is an action-adventure film without conventional heroes or villains.
Even though the movies are alive and well, film itself is turning ghostly.
The film offers some illuminating context in which to fully appreciate John Lennon’s solo albums, especially Double Fantasy.
In the film, characters keep finding new forms, shapes, and alignments to interact with each other in nature.
Sometimes the commentary illuminates an image, providing historical context or enlivening it with a humorous aside.
Poetry nudges us a bit too hard every now and then, mostly when a kindly poetry teacher lectures his class about learning to truly see.
Some Mad Men episode titles are more difficult to decipher than others.
Summer is officially over and all the kids are going back to school.
An intellectual achievement rather than a visceral or emotional one.
Directors aren’t the only auteurs.
Naturally, because the film is so single-mindedly focused on Ceaușescu from the outside, psychological insight is limited at best.
The best special effect in Danny Boyle’s hectic, ultimately tension-dispersing latest is James Franco’s performance.
The Mexican Revolution wasn’t one rebellion, but several.
Vincent Gallo’s high-pitched whine is back in full force for his latest effort to seize the title of cinema’s great, obnoxious total filmmaker from Jerry Lewis.
You could disagree, and claim that a few pop selections help people notice the small stuff. Hopefully.
Its greatest challenge is usually avoiding becoming muddled and weighed down by its many interwoven thematic threads.
François Ozon’s latest is more like Pastiche.
Miral is a middlebrow stew of distracting star cameos, stilted speechifying, and references to The Battle of Algiers.