Based on the hit French stage play by Jean Poiret, La Cage aux Folles became a surprise hit with mainstream American audience when it debuted in 1978, and was for a time the highest grossing foreign-language film in the States. It's easy to see why, as this farcical satire (or is it a satirical farce?) about…

The Story: Two brothers rob branches of the bank that's trying to foreclose on the family farm, but two U.S. Marshals are determined to stop them. The Lowdown: A genre throwback with remarkable depth, Hell will be a strong contender for many best-of lists come year's end.

The Story: A gifted young Jewish student from Newark attends a small liberal arts college in Ohio to escape both his overbearing parents and the Korean War, until the attentions of a beautiful but troubled young woman compromise his plans. The Lowdown: An adaptation of Philip Roth's 2008 novel of the same name, Indignation marks a spotty, but ultimately…

The Story: An anthropomorphic sausage questions his worldview when evidence emerges that things are not what they seem beyond the supermarket doors. The Lowdown: A passable raunch-com attack on modern kids' films that falls short of full-on hilarity.

In Brief: Henri-Georges Clouzot is noted as France’s answer to Hitchcock,  but the argument could be made that he was, at times, even better. Along with Wages of Fear and The Inferno, Clouzot’s mastery of morbidity is at least on par with Hitchcock’s darkest corners. Possibly the director’s best known work, Les Diaboliques (1955) is a gripping…

In Brief: One of Visconti’s best, and historically most underrated films, White Nights marks a turning point in the director’s career. This film can be seen as the transitional point at which the director begins to abandon the constraints of neorealism for a more operatic stylization, and the results are truly remarkable. As well as representing…

In Brief: More historically notable than actually good, The Moon Is Blue (1953) may be the best evidence in support of the argument that Otto Preminger should have stayed away from romantic comedies. One of the first films to challenge Hollywood’s self-imposed Production Code, The Moon Is Blue was banned by the Legion of Decency on…

In Brief: A highlight of Buster Keaton’s canon, The General (1926) is one of the purest examples of what made him such a noteworthy cinematic force. This film has it all, from Keaton’s death-defying stunts to some of the best physical comedy he ever committed to celluloid. This film is Keaton in his maturity as…

The Story: Frank Zappa in his own words (as the title would imply), this collection of interviews and performance footage elucidates the musician and composer's thoughts over the course of his 30-year career. The Lowdown: Of interest to more than just die-hard Zappa fanatics, this movie presents a fascinating portrait of an iconoclastic genius.

The Story: A young man documents the rise and fall of a cult from the inside. The Lowdown: A difficult film to watch but an important one to see, Holy Hell might not change your views on cults, but it will affect the way you see those that fall under their spell.

The Story: Based on the true story of Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of high-ranking Nazi Reinhard Heydrich by Czechoslovakian resistance fighters. The Lowdown: Flawed but worthwhile, Anthropoid is a compelling take on an important subject.

The Story: Based on the final year in the life of Florence Foster Jenkins, a wealthy heiress and New York socialite widely regarded as one of the worst singers on record. The Lowdown: A light and exceptionally gentle piece of summer counterprogramming, Stephen Frears’ fingerprints find their way onto every frame of film and standout…

In Brief: Sam Fuller’s stylish noir masterpiece on the big screen is an opportunity not to be missed. This is one of Fuller’s most brutally cynical films, and that’s saying something, because Fuller has never been known as an optimistic filmmaker.  If the opening sequence in which Constance Towers roughs up her pimp doesn’t hook…

In Brief: Francis Ford Coppola’s feature directing debut, Dementia 13 may not be perfect, but it is essential viewing for the horror completist. Cowritten by Coppola with preeminent schlockmeister Jack Hill (Spider Baby, Foxy Brown) and produced by the venerable Roger Corman, this film is arguably the genesis of the slasher sub-genre. Sure, it’s got its problems,…

In Brief: I’ve never particularly cared for American Graffiti and have been unable to join in the nostalgic navel-gazing of a generation to which I don’t belong — but I have always at least found American Graffiti a noteworthy member of the pantheon of American cinematic classics. This movie immediately precedes Star Wars in George Lucas’…

For my money, this is possibly the worst of Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespeare adaptations, which I usually like. This one shifts the setting to the late '30s, because it was 2000 and recontextualizing Shakespeare was the style at the time. This adaptation also trumpeted what passed for an ensemble cast of young actors in those days,…

In Brief: Though not being a general fan of Gus Van Sant, I find this film, Van Sant’s low-budget feature debut, slightly less objectionable than some of his later output, if only for its DIY aesthetic and pseudo-noir feel. At the very least, the director’s frank depiction of homosexuality was certainly ahead of its time,…

The Story: Three harried moms band together to fight the status quo, abandoning the burdens placed upon them by modern societal norms of child rearing in a bid to reclaim their autonomy. The Lowdown: Mean Girls meets The Hangover but with more heart than either, Bad Moms (mostly) transcends its genre trappings to deliver some genuine laughs.

The Story: A father raises his six children in the wilderness under a rigorous system of physical and intellectual training until the untimely death of the clan’s matriarch leads them to hop on a tour bus named "Steve" to see that her final wishes are honored. The Lowdown: Little Miss Sunshine for the Ivy League set, Captain Fantastic is…

In Brief: The first of three attempts to adapt Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend — and easily the most successful — The Last Man on Earth stars Vincent Price as the lone survivor of a plague that turns the afflicted into vampiric ghouls. A far more faithful adaptation of Matheson's story than The Omega Man or the more recent Will Smith version (which kept the…