Movie Reviews

The great Frank Capra’s most ambitious and disturbing film, Meet John Doe is possibly more relevant today than when it first appeared in 1941. The idea of a completely media-fabricated celebrity — raised almost to the level of deity and used as a tool for political gain — probably seemed pretty fantastic then. Of all…

The Story: The premise from the first two installments of the Purge franchise — that all crime is permitted for a 12-hour period each year — remains unchanged, only the context is different. This time … it’s political! The Lowdown: Yet another disposable horror film courtesy of Blumhouse. If you enjoyed the first two films,…

The Story: A man stranded on a desert island has lost the desire to live until a corpse washes ashore and provides him with the tools he needs to survive and, most importantly, the will to do so. The Lowdown: One of the damnedest things I’ve ever seen, Swiss Army Man is a surprisingly warm-hearted and…

In Brief: One of Fritz Lang's lesser-known films, House by the River (1950) was in fact often referred to as a "lost film." The fact seems to have been more prosaic than that. There was simply no interest in it because it was considered to be physically too dark to be watched on TV, especially…

In Brief: At an early point in Ken Russell’s Salome’s Last Dance (1988), Oscar Wilde (Nickolas Grace) is surprised to see an amateur production of his banned play Salome interrupted by a photographer taking a flash picture of the proceedings. The photographer is none other than Russell himself, who is playing a visiting dignitary in the show, prompting Wilde…

In Brief: The story goes that King of the Zombies was written and designed with Bela Lugosi in mind for the villainous Dr. Sangre. It certainly has all the earmarks of a Lugosi role — a creepy foreigner with a zombie-like wife (Patricia Stacey), a sinister, isolated castle, equally sinister servants and a small squad of zombies. Instead,…

The Story: A young model moves to Los Angeles and finds herself the center of attention, some of which is more dangerous than others. The Lowdown: A dull, pretentious and shallow examination of high fashion.

The Story: Two decades after thwarting an alien invasion, Earth finds itself in the midst of a surprise attack once again. The Lowdown: A rehash of its predecessor, with shades of interesting ideas, but becomes little more than a big-budget disasterfest with all the trappings and mindlessness this implies.

In Brief: Only a madman would attempt to film William S. Burroughs' novel Naked Lunch, and that is perhaps why David Cronenberg didn't make a film of it, instead making a film about Burroughs and the creation of the book. This does not make his 1991 film of Naked Lunch an easy undertaking for the casual…

The Story: A British couple on holiday in Marrakech become involved in espionage and intrigue. The Lowdown: Reasonably cerebral thrills are to be found in this latest transfer of a John le Carré novel to the screen. Solid entertainment with Ewan McGregor and Naomie Harris as appealing leads and Stellan Skarsgård and Damian Harris in…

The Story: During the Civil War, a poor Mississippi farmer leads a rebellion against the Confederate Army. The Lowdown: A film too aware of its own importance —  and it shows, with its endless speechifying, solemn tone and laborious pacing.

The Story: Documentary about a real-life uplifting sports tale of an unlikely racehorse. The Lowdown: Sweet without being cloying, crowd-pleasing without being obviously manipulative, this is how this kind of tale ought to be told. See it now before Hollywood decides to remake it.

In Brief: In 1957, this Roger Corman cheapie played on a double bill with Attack of the Crab Monsters and was advertised as a “Terrorama! Double Horror Sensation!” As with most sci-fi horror pictures of its era, the ad campaign smacks of wishful thinking. Yet, there’s no denying that Not of This Earth (a premise Corman liked so much…

In Brief: The Asheville Film Society's first monthly ticketed film, 1934's The Man Who Knew Too Much, is the movie that gained Alfred Hitchcock the attention of the international film world — attention that would increase with The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938), the films that took him to America. It is also a film that…

In Brief: Put bluntly, the Taviani Brothers' Wondrous Boccaccio (2015) isn't. That's not all that surprising since it's from the Taviani Brothers, gained no release in the country and is out on DVD from Film Movement, whose name is synonymous with movies no one else would touch. What you get with this adaptation of Giovanni Boccaccio's…

In Brief: Marcel Carné's Port of Shadows (1938) is — not unjustly — celebrated today as a kind of precursor to film noir, but the truth is that it's more a very French fatalist romance of a kind that can best be called poetic, trashy melodrama. And that is not a put-down by any means.…

The Story: Documentary about Anthony Weiner's doomed bid for redemption by running for mayor of New York City. The Lowdown: Yeah, you almost certainly know how this is going to play out, but that doesn't keep the film from being compelling and even fascinating.

The Story: Dory, the chronically forgetful comic relief from Finding Nemo, takes center stage in a search for her lost parents. The Lowdown: Exactly what you’d expect, Finding Dory is a slick, expensively produced, four-quadrant Pixar people-pleaser.

The Story: A young girl finds her world opening up when she becomes a member of a dance group at a community center. The Lowdown: Virtually impossible to synopsize and not even easy to describe. Let me just say that this is a rather special movie.

The Story: After reuniting with a long-lost high school buddy, a straitlaced accountant finds himself tied up in an unexpected game of espionage. The Lowdown: A generally harmless, sometimes amusing comedy thanks to its leads, but with little else memorable to offer beyond its run-of-the-mill buddy cop trappings.

The Story: "Psychic investigators" Ed and Lorraine Warren are called in on a case of demonic possession in England. The Lowdown: A considerable improvement over its predecessor, this one is genuinely unsettling and atmospheric — even knowing that the story is utter hogwash. While deploring the glorification of the Warrens, I can't deny that James…