Movie Reviews

The Story: An almost completely fictionalized account of an historic character who insisted on singing opera, despite having a terrible voice. The Lowdown: A real-life story (which gets its own film later this year) is turned into a tragi-comic film of startling beauty and complexity. Unless you're utterly allergic to subtitles, this is a must-see.

In Brief: Hank Bones' second film is a little more cinematically adventurous than The Quitters (2014), but the content is also a good deal less sophisticated. That's more of a comment than a complaint, because nothing about Pearl's Jam suggests it was ever intended to be anything other than a fun little movie made by…

In Brief: If Bela Lugosi was the king of 1940s B horror, then surely George Zucco was the king of the C’s. Zucco’s claim to stardom rests on the six-picture contract (only five were made) he had with Producers Releasing Corp., or PRC Pictures as it’s generally known. Zucco's first starring role was in the gloriously goofy…

In Brief: A pitch-perfect little movie from Aki Kaurismäki, Le Havre (2001) feels much more simple and old-fashioned than it is upon examination. Sure, the story of a reasonably shiftless French shoeshine man who befriends an illegal immigrant black boy is aimed at playing on our sentimentality, but it does so with piercingly deadpan wit…

The Story: A recently paralyzed man and his shy caretaker find themselves falling for one another. The Lowdown: A cliché-filled romance of the tear-jerking variety that goes on too long and does nothing new, but is barely sort of saved by a solid cast and a degree of complexity.

In Brief: It’s rare that Agatha Christie’s books have been given a break on the movie screen, but René Clair’s 1945 filming of And Then There Were None definitely did right by Dame Agatha. For that matter, it also did right by its splendid roster of great character actors, and it gave French filmmaker Clair one…

The Story: The Turtles return to stop Shredder and his extradimensional ally Krang from taking over the Earth, or something to that effect — the script isn’t particularly clear on the details. The Lowdown: Yet another nostalgia-driven waste of time and money from Michael Bay’s cronies.

The Story: The X-Men return to confront the world’s oldest mutant super-villain. The Lowdown: While the Biblical apocalypse was about the end of times, this Apocalypse feels as eternal (and interminable) as its title character.

In Brief: When De-Lovely came out in late summer 2004, I compared it to Peter Bogdanovich's At Long Last Love (1975) in the sense of it being another grand folly inspired by the music of Cole Porter. That remains true, though Bogdanovich fares better in that he wasn't making a biopic and has more style…

The Story: A recovering rock star and her lover find their blissful isolation disturbed by very unexpected guests. The Lowdown: Maybe not great, but this trashy, lurid look at the lives of the rich and famous — that turns into a kind of thriller — is compelling viewing with a top-notch cast and great stylist…

The Story: Life in a modern (circa 1975) luxury high-rise as a vision of a microcosm dystopia. The Lowdown: Brutal, darkly funny, nightmarish, disturbing. Maybe going in knowing that about High-Rise will fortify you for the experience — at least you've been warned. One of the most startlingly original films of the year.

The Story: People in the near future are forced to find a suitable partner or to be transformed into an animal. The Lowdown: With an unsettling, if fairly absurd, premise, this is one of the strangest films of the year. It defies easy classification. In fact, despite its dark comedy, nothing about the film is easy…

In Brief: The Devil Bat (1940) marks the only time that Bela Lugosi worked for PRC Pictures. Whether once was enough (Lugosi had worked, and would work, at worse places) or whether his deal with Sam Katzman over at Monogram precluded further films is unknown. PRC was the lowest of the "real" studios, but it had…

The Story: Alice returns to Underland to save the Mad Hatter. The Lowdown: Despite a similar cast and comparable visual style, this sequel to 2010’s Alice in Wonderland feels like an uninspired cash grab.

In Brief:  If you’ve never seen His Girl Friday (1940), this is definitely one of the greats from the “golden age” of movies — and it’s a film that still holds the record for the fastest dialogue in the history of movies. That crackling, witty banter is delivered by people who know exactly how to do…

In Brief: The films — the world — of Max Ophuls are certainly of a piece, in a similar tone of voice. All of them could be summed up with the same phrase used by the narrator (Anton Walbrook) of La Ronde (1950) when he explains that the story is set in 1900 Vienna: "I…

In Brief: The classic barnstorming melodrama The Face at the Window (1939) makes for what is probably the best of Tod Slaughter's horror output. Who is Tod Slaughter? He was England's answer to both Karloff and Lugosi — an enjoyably shameless ham who positively reveled in both his transparent, mustache-twirling villainy and his unabashed lechery. There was…

In Brief: Baz Luhrmann's follow-up to Moulin Rouge! (2001), Australia (2008), was a hugely expensive flop — big enough that Luhrmann and his friend Nicole Kidman decided maybe it would better if they didn't work together again. The truth is that it's big, a bit dumb, utterly fantasticated and completely romanticized. It’s also kind of…

The Story: After being pillaged by marauding pigs, a colony of birds sets out to get their revenge. The Lowdown: While a handsome-looking animated film, there’s not much here beyond some slapstick and a thin, pointless plot, even by cartoon standards.

The Story: A mismatched pair of unscrupulous private detectives find themselves embroiled in a dangerous conspiracy in 1977 Los Angeles. The Lowdown: Rude, raunchy, violent and very funny action-comedy-mystery with two great leads and a surprisingly terrific newcomer. Not for the easily offended, however.

The Story: An 18th-century widow must use her wiles to navigate English society of that time — and her wiles are up to the task. The Lowdown: Whit Stillman's take on Jane Austen's Lady Susan is a five-star delight — a deliciously droll one with more than a little bite to it. Funny, clever and oh-so-civilized…