George Sanders plays a man who is somehow tired of being married to Ingrid Bergman, who plays his similarly ennui-laden spouse. A trip to Italy exposes the faults in their relationship. That’s pretty much it, but Roberto Rosselini’s direction and the lovely performances make it feel like grand drama. -Lee Gardner more »
David Lynch dips into Southern Gothic and hardboiled noir for his lurid yet sweet adaptation of Barry Gifford’s novel. Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern star as lovers on the run, abetted and thwarted by a cast of Lynch regulars and the occasional ‘90s indie staple (e.g. Willem Dafoe). Once again, Dern is the secret MVP. -Lee Gardner more »
This “unhinged” deep-sea nightmare follows a sleepy hot spring town in Japan that gets a rude awakening when an ancient, bloodthirsty shark resurfaces to terrorize the local bathhouses. The townspeople must band together to save their steamy paradise, leading to a battle for the ages. After winning the Audience Award at the 202 more »
Ex-G.I. Robert Ryan is bent on revenge against his former best friend and Army buddy Van Helfin, who sold out their comrades to the Nazis. Phyllis Thaxter and a young Janet Leigh play the women caught between them. Journeyman director Fred Zinneman’s inky-black noir wows with its inexorable story and grim fatalism. Fantastic e more »
Mike Judge followed up Office Space with a vicious satire about our increasingly enshittified society. It made nary a peep in theaters but now scans like Nostradamus. Luke Wilson plays a regular bro who, hundreds of years in the future, stands as the de facto smartest man in America. The whole thing runs out of gas before the en more »
Something bad happened to Agnes. But life goes on - for everyone around her, at least. more »
Brazilian icon Carmen Miranda gets second billing but mainly serves as wacky “ethnic” comic relief. The real star, of course, is director Busby Berkeley’s trademark elaborate musical numbers, especially the Miranda-sung “The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat” and the completely insane finale. As corny as Kansas but a visual and music more »
There’s nothing quite as ridiculous as a past vision of the future, especially one as Hollywood try-hard as this. Jonny Lee Miller and a baby Angelina Jolie lead a team of techie teens out to fight The Man, embodied by Fisher Stevens. Everyone spouts goofy jargon and would-be zingers, rollerblades everywhere, and tries their bes more »
For many years, the second Star Wars film was considered The Good One—darker, more complex, romantic. Whatever the current rankings, it’s still pretty good. Great set pieces, interesting character stuff, Billy Dee Williams, and no Ewoks. -Lee Gardner more »
Terrence Malick’s return to filmmaking after a 20-year hiatus combined the poetic spirit and visual sumptuousness of Badlands and Days of Heaven with a new break from Hollywood formalism—cue the cryptic voiceovers. He applied his new method to the venerable war-movie genre but found moving and richly rewarding new life in it. Hi more »
Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie (Dave Franco and Alison Brie) find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, the more »
There are certainly better ‘80s action movies, but Commando is the most ‘80s-action-movie ‘80s action movie, and probably the most fun to watch with an audience. Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the titular badass, who’s lured out of retirement to rescue his tween daughter from some grudge-holding bad guys and a literal army of squib more »
A dark gem from Luis Bunuel’s Mexican period. Arturo de Córdova’s suave gentleman sweeps Delia Garcés off her feet, but soon after wedding bells ring, she discovers he’s a paranoid creep. His madness and violence soon escalate. An incisive portrait of domestic abuse heightened by the director’s skill and audacity. -Lee Gardner more »
Jeff Buckley, a rising star with an otherworldly voice, left the '90s music world reeling when he died suddenly after the release of his debut album. Told through never-before-seen footage and intimate accounts from the three women who knew him best, the film illuminates one of modern music's most influential and enigmatic figur more »
David Cronenberg wastes not a second in putting Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis together onscreen, because that’s the whole movie—their exquisite chemistry fuels what ends up as much a tragic romance as a sci-fi remake. Arguably the pinnacle of Cronenberg’s “body horror” period, and it’s paced like a drag race. more »
Today the disappearance of three schoolgirls and their minder would be a lurid true-crime tale or fodder for drawn-out “limited series” dramatic peekaboo. But Peter Weir’s breakout concocts a hypnotic haze of innocence, ardor, repression, suggestion, and emotional weight that utterly beguiles. A perfect cinema enigma. -Lee Gardn more »
In the ‘70s, few things scared moviegoers more than deranged rural people. Wes Craven cemented his budding horror career with this Texas Chainsaw Massacre homage that pits a roadtripping whitebread family (Dee Wallace makes clear why she’s the only one who had a bigger career) against mutant desert cannibals (ditto for Michael B more »
Toshiro Mifune invented the modern action hero in Akira Kurosawa’s classic. The former’s grungy ronin wanders into a village and right into the middle of a gang war, only to turn the factions' venality and dim wits to his advantage. Tatsuya Nakadai co-stars as a bonus badass. Fantastic score, too. -Lee Gardner more »
Tony Scott applied his visual verve and blockbuster sensibilities to one of Quentin Tarantino’s early scripts and delivered an instructive contrast to the latter’s style. Scott is less wink-y and puts real muscle behind the beats of this love-on-the-run/crime-flick/Hollywood-sendup mashup. He also knows how to shoot dialogue wit more »
A bunch of cartoon predators adopt a defenseless human infant instead of eating it. Comedy hijinks with a mid-century hepcat bias and some pretty decent songs ensue. Disney’s adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s India-set stories is charming and surprisingly unproblematic for being nearly 60 years old. -Lee Gardner more »
Robert Altman adapts a clutch of Raymond Carver short stories and, in the process, kinda invents Paul Thomas Anderson. An enormous cast plays a host of Angelenos whose lives intersect in humorous and tragic ways over the course of a few days. Also a very effective nostalgia prompt. Medflies! Cell phones the size of bricks! -Lee more »
Poor, poor Francine. Divine stars as a smell-sensitive Severna Park hausfrau beset by a porn-peddling husband, delinquent children, and demon booze. Can Tab Hunter’s hunk offer her a new life? John Waters spans the crack between his early outrages and the mainstream appeal of Hairspray with this loving Douglas Sirk pastiche. “Od more »
Haunted by the death of their young daughter, Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie thread the streets of Venice and catch glimpses of what might be ghosts. Nicolas Roeg continued his incredible ’70s run (Performance, Walkabout) with a film that’s both a piercing meditation on grief and the greatest giallo ever. -Lee Gardner more »
It probably shouldn’t work at this point, but it totally does. Stanley Kubrick’s audacious sci-fi epic still dazzles with its chutzpah, invention, visual sense, and intelligence. And the scenes aboard the spaceship form one of the great pocket thrillers ever made. -Lee Gardner more »
In 1966, Claude Lelouch’s melancholy melodrama borrowed just enough New Wave flavor to cause a middlebrow sensation, and its Francis Lai-penned theme tune has haunted cocktail lounges ever since. In 2025, it’s still a treat to watch Anouk Aimée and Jean-Louis Trintignant brood and sigh amid Lelouch’s clever filmmaking. -Lee Gard more »
Scorsese ground zero. The director had already made features, but this deeply personal knockaround slice of NYC street life in the early ‘60 cemented everything about his world-conquering style. Harvey Keitel’s Mob bagman and Robert De Niro’s anarchic ne'er-do-well form the foreground, but everything onscreen is worth your atten more »
Talk about an art film. Soviet director Sergei Parajanov’s account of the life of Armenian poet Sayat-Nova slips narrative convention for a string of lavish, ravishing tableaux vivant, all crammed with inscrutable symbolism and visual piquancy. You could spend a lifetime revisiting it and not get it all. -Lee Gardner more »
Marjane Satrapi’s screen adaptation of her graphic memoir animates its spartan monochrome illustrations to the screen for a tale of a young girl coming of age in revolutionary Iran, as the country pivots from rule by a US puppet to an even more repressive fundamentalist state. A geopolitical history lesson and a piercing account more »
Writer/director Bruce Robinson’s script is one of the best ever put onscreen. Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann’s title unemployed actors booze and quip their way through sozzled adventures en route to personal reckonings with the end of the ‘60s and their aimless youth. Richard Griffiths and Ralph Brown deliver supporting perfor more »
The central car chase and NYC street grit made it famous, but William Friedkin’s breakout film endures for its watchfulness. A pair of rough detectives (Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider) stumble onto what they believe is a major heroin ring. As they shadow the suspects, block after block, mostly on foot, the tension and pressure bu more »
