In many ways, the 1925 Phantom of the Opera is the granddaddy of the American horror film, though it’s perhaps edged out of that position by the Goldwyn production A Blind Bargain (a seemingly lost 1922 work that also starred Lon Chaney). Phantom certainly marks the starting point of Universal Pictures being the “home of […]

Back in the late ’50s and early ’60s, when I was subjected to movies aimed at my age group that were supposed to somehow be “good” for me, this film would have been high on the list of M.S.U.D. — Movies Seen Under Duress. In all honesty, however, I would have vastly preferred this movie […]

If you’re a comic-book geek, as a lot of my friends are, then this apparent travesty of the DC/Vertigo comic will probably annoy you. I say apparent travesty because I haven’t read a comic book since they cost 12 cents. Then again, even if I was familiar with the comic, I doubt I’d be bothered […]

Time has been kind to Disney’s ultra-ambitious Fantasia — time and the 1960s, that is. When it was released in 1940, old Walt’s huge vision of popularizing classical music was a huge disaster, and it only came to be embraced as a “classic” much later — not least in part because it fit the psychedelic […]

Despite the film’s terribly generic title, it would be possible to give John Duigan’s Head in the Clouds a free pass based on eye-candy alone. Any movie populated by the glamorous movie-star looks of Charlize Theron, Stuart Townsend, Penelope Cruz (1930s clothes benefit her to no end) and Thomas Kretschmann is certain to be easy […]

It’s not that I especially object to sitting through bad movies. After all, that’s something I do with alarming frequency. However, this is a special case, since this week finds me writing reviews from Florida, which I’m visiting because of a family emergency. Why bring this up? Well, simply because the perks of being a […]

No, this movie is not a great work of art, but it doesn’t pretend to be one. Yes, it follows a pretty set recipe, but there’s a huge difference between a recipe for creamed chip beef on toast (or “SOS,” as it is often so rightly called) and canard a l’orange. If Hitch isn’t quite […]

If you’ve never heard of the improbably named filmmaker Bent Hamer, don’t feel so all alone. Until this odd little comedy came my way, neither had I. A little research brings up Hamer’s small filmography, none of which seems to have made the crossing to the United States in any significant capacity, even on the […]

Sure, it’s a bit much for the Disney folks to expect people to shake loose $7.75 for a scant 63 minutes of movie, and there’s nothing in Pooh’s Heffalump Movie you haven’t seen in Pooh’s previous screen outings. Still, there’s nothing really wrong with his new one. The movie has a good message about tolerance […]

Horror fans take note (the rest of you can sit this one out): Boogeyman is much better than you probably think it is, and certainly better than I thought it would be. Yes, in plot terms, the movie’s similar to the egregious Darkness Falls; but that’s like saying The Ring is similar to FearDotCom. And […]

I believe it was Rex Harrison (though it may have been James Mason) who penned the words, “A shot that doesn’t call for tracks is agony for poor dear Max.” And it won’t take many minutes of Max Ophuls La Ronde to make this clear to even the most casual observer. Nearly every scene in […]

Jean-Pierre Jeunet exists to remind us to what creative heights movies can soar, and his latest work, Un Long Dimanche de Fiancailles or A Very Long Engagement, is his most ambitious and best film to date. Viewers expecting the whimsy of Amelie will not be disappointed, but may be surprised — and even disturbed — […]

I know it’s January and that therefore the new movies are pretty much gonna suck. But there are limits to the amount of suckage that can be decently foisted on an audience. And I think director Uwe Boll (I’m betting his last name is really Weevil) has exceeded those limits and then some. There are […]

This little movie from first-time writer/director Michael Clancy would like to be a black comedy, but it lacks the courage of those convictions and never quite gets beyond a kind of dark gray. Clancy’s desire to make a viewer-friendly film — meaning one that could be as weird and nasty as it liked, as long […]

Potential viewers should keep three things in mind before deciding to see Hide and Seek: 1) The movie’s not nearly as funny as director John Polson’s last film, Swimfan; 2) It does have several “Boo!” moments that effectively make the audience jump; and 3) Compared to the week’s other horrific offering, Alone in the Dark, […]

Northern Ireland-born Terry George, who was once interned for being a suspected IRA member, has an understandable tendency toward working on what used to be called “problem pictures” — the sort of movies that address social injustice. He co-authored the screenplay for Jim Sheridan’s In the Name of the Father, co-wrote (again with Sheridan) and […]

This spectacularly unfunny comedy expends four full reels questioning the wisdom of procreation, only to turn around and conclude it’s the greatest thing in life in the fifth. Now, that bewhiskered chestnut may still have a mile or two left in it under the right conditions. Those conditions, however, would require something better than an […]

I’m not a John Carpenter completist; movies like his Prince of Darkness and Ghosts of Mars took away any possible desire to become one. So I’ve never seen Carpenter’s original, 1976 version of Assault on Precinct 13, and therefore can’t compare this remake to its minor cult-classic parent, which was itself an uncredited reworking of […]

The Media Arts Project brings us another collection of “cutting edge” short films with The Best of Resfest. As is invariably the case with an assortment like this, the quality of the films is uneven; but here the winners far outdistance the losers in this fascinating set. Of the 11 shorts in the collection, only […]

Upon hearing that I’d seen this movie, a friend of mine asked, “How is Isabella Rossellini in it?” All I could say was that she gave the finest portrayal of a double-amputee beer baroness outfitted with glass-encased, beer-filled legs that I could imagine. That should clue you in on the level of utter strangeness at […]