I loved this movie. You can’t take your eyes off Virginia MacKenna, whose subtle performance lights up the film. The story is similar to Paradise Road. I shed a tear at the end.   posted May 20, 2013 at 7:09AM

A lovely film, with generous excerpts from Mikado and some from Princess Ida and Ruddigore. Rehearsal details mostly believable and performances uniformly superb. Highly recommended for the theater buff and poetry lover.   posted May 11, 2013 at 11:47AM

I only lasted 30’ with this. It’s well acted, but watching these adults vie for control is too painful.   posted May 11, 2013 at 11:43AM

Fire and ice, over-the-top 1959 Socialist realism/fantasy. Strains credulity, but visually stunning.   posted Apr 15, 2013 at 1:52PM

"Bord de tears" is more like it. A critic has compared this to Chekhov, but I think it’s more like Eastenders, without the local color.   posted Feb 19, 2013 at 1:05PM

A pleasant, not terribly consequential movie about people—some caring, some superficial—trying to feel OK. Rebecca Hall is delicate and lovely.   posted Feb 11, 2013 at 10:40AM

I love this movie—one of Hitchcock’s best IMHO. There are many memorable characters, superbly played. The plot is thick, and gets denser as you go, and the final minutes are as stirring as anything in film.   posted Feb 2, 2013 at 11:43AM

My friend and I only lasted 90’ through this mildly interesting 3-hour saga of disfunctional Taiwan families. Why is this film in the Criterion Collection? The performances are strong, but the dialogue is hard for this English speaker to follow, and untangling the plot and characters just doesn’t seem worth the trouble.   posted Feb 2, 2013 at 11:41AM

Intense story of the Sicilian Mafia shakedown of the 1980s and 90s, a semi-factual narrative told through the eyes of a girl in the Family. Well done, involving.   posted Jan 29, 2013 at 3:22PM

A powerful film connecting the French Occupation during WWII with the present day. This is a compelling story of a child’s grim experience (in an amazing performance) and its resonance through the years. Kristen Scott Thomas is as usual thoughtful and intense. Recommended.   posted Jan 28, 2013 at 9:27AM

Charming little movie about an only-child discovering his passion for food in a world where dysfunctional adults struggle to meet their needs.   posted Jan 22, 2013 at 8:45AM

The austerely beautiful Irish landscape of Galway is the third character in this moody first feature by director Verbeek. Much of the tension has to do with boundaries and blocked communication. There is little action as such, and many unanswered questions. Still, a patient viewer may find it thought-provoking.   posted Jan 2, 2013 at 7:56AM

Argentinian film with a tantalizing premise that is very slow to develop. I lasted only 40’. Filmed in a very claustrophobic widescreen. Awkward to view.   posted Jan 2, 2013 at 7:50AM

The director, Dmitri Tcherniakov, has hijacked this work, to no purpose. The modern-day, plain-clothes setting works against the meaning and power of the work. Time and again the visual grates against the libretto. Musical aspects fine, but in my view an irresponsible production.   posted Dec 19, 2012 at 6:50PM

A pretty wretched movie, but interesting as a send-up of the times, also a record of what was considered risqué in 1970. Only really interesting thing is that the screenplay is by Roger Ebert. And if you like Russ Meyers’s movies, there’s that.   posted Dec 11, 2012 at 6:47PM

Very interesting film made during the French Occupation of WWI. Beautiful to look at, it begins very quietly and builds to an outlandish, improbable climax. Attractive stars!   posted Nov 8, 2012 at 1:18PM

An overwhelmingly powerful movie. Made by a Chinese director and co., it presents the Japanese sack of Nanjing from a Chinese perspective. Shot in black and white, the film is beautiful to look at, despite the devastation, and the actors uniformly fine. The human cost is almost unbearable to see. An essential movie about an event that is too little discussed.   posted Oct 18, 2012 at 9:16AM

The young people in this play are sincere and fun to watch, and most of them get their kiss in the end, but this must be the Longest Night of American Adolescence. And does anyone really talk this way?   posted Oct 10, 2012 at 2:13PM

This is a devastating indictment of old world attitudes and practices of child-rearing. As the narrator implies early on, the tale offers insight into the rise of fascism. The theories of Alice Miller are put in play: repression and torture produces sadistic, twisted souls. I watched it twice. The clear dialogue and slow pace make it excellent material for German language students.   posted Oct 10, 2012 at 8:22AM

Entertaining, but vapid. Lots of product-placement.   posted Oct 10, 2012 at 8:15AM

A stark film about the consequences of the meth business in feudal Missouri, seen from the perspective of a 17-year-old girl who’s responsible for her two siblings and invalid mother. No-frills production, bravely acted. Well worth seeing.   posted Sep 1, 2012 at 7:46PM

After five minutes I realized that I’d seen this movie just months back. Forgettable.   posted Aug 13, 2012 at 7:07AM

This flick didn’t hold my interest.   posted Aug 6, 2012 at 10:32AM

A surprisingly effective and discreet discussion of sex and love in and out of marriage in 1969.   posted Jul 2, 2012 at 3:13PM

I think this is an appalling movie. With half a dozen people playing the same character, it’s very confusing, but more offensive is the attitude the director seems take: everything is up for laughs, including adolescence, sex, parenting, abortion, anti-abortion, disabled people, fat people, Jesus, his followers. Yet the movie is unfunny. And the director is unclear about what he wants to say. Don’t waste your hundred minutes.   posted Jun 25, 2012 at 11:16PM

I wish the songs were as compelling as the artists singing them.   posted Jun 18, 2012 at 1:43PM

If pool is your idea of a spectator sport, this flick’s for you. I liked Kaillie, the woman who wants her child back, and thought Gulley—the kid—very well played. But the film is a little slow. Directed by Chris Eigeman (Metropolitan).   posted Jun 18, 2012 at 1:42PM

Not your run-of-the-mill cascade, this is an involving thriller with Marilyn Monroe in a serious role. The color is vibrant and the Falls never looked better. Recommended.   posted Jun 18, 2012 at 1:36PM

I loved this movie, tough viewing though it is. The characters reveal unexpected depth. And don’t miss the short "Wasp," wh. is one of the extras. Andrea Arnold is a director to follow. See also "Fishtank."   posted Jun 11, 2012 at 10:36AM

Quirky, funny, but not quite compelling.   posted Jun 4, 2012 at 8:06AM

I couldn’t stop watching this story of a poor, angry Essex kid—and several adults—out of control. It’s a very rough ride, but well worth sticking with, because though the characters dose out their humanity in milliliters, at the end you experience a kind of progress, or enlightenment. Highly recommended.   posted May 26, 2012 at 6:20PM

Laura Greer is luminous as the femme fatale in this noir exemplar. Highly recommended.   posted May 20, 2012 at 10:43AM

Beautiful film about disposable youth in 60s Britain. Wonderful performances from amateur actors. Quiet, unobtrusive style.   posted Mar 9, 2012 at 11:09PM

If you’re human and ever went to high school, you must see MSCL. This is television at its best. The writing is smart, it looks wonderful, and the characters are loveable and unforgettable. I went into mourning when it was over.   posted Dec 18, 2011 at 6:15PM

This is a fine movie from the director of In Treatment. Powerful early scenes lead to more nuanced later ones, as the threads come gently together. The viewer never feels manipulated, and the performances are wonderful. There are lots of questions in the end, and not many clear answers.   posted Oct 24, 2011 at 12:45PM

Mild, but beautiful. One of the most memorable portrayals of aging.   posted Sep 20, 2011 at 8:50AM

Marvelous characters, compelling script, beautiful color. What a great movie, and the extras reveal that it has been the catalyst for social change in Bombay. A favorite   posted Aug 19, 2011 at 11:10AM

A very arty flick, with beautiful interiors and camera work. The plot is creepy—is he a pervert or isn’t he?—but Sandrine Bonnaire is lovely and unaffected. The movie sustained my interest, though some might question why.   posted Jul 19, 2011 at 2:39PM

The parts I enjoyed had nothing to do with music. The musical parts were laden with cliches about the art, and ruined the rest for me. I didn’t make it to the end.   posted Jul 19, 2011 at 2:37PM

Very beautiful and poetic. Memorable performances by Redgrave and Streep, and a unusual opp. to see Streep’s daughter play a young character who is later seen played by Streep. A tearjerker.   posted May 30, 2011 at 3:17PM

Quite an empty flick. Sort like watching a dress rehearsal from a partial-view seat. Huppert doesn’t make up for the deficits in scripts, direction and cast. Don’t waste your time.   posted May 20, 2011 at 11:54AM

A slight, pleasant movie. Quirky enough to earn a recommendation. btw, the language is Flemish, not Dutch, as the cover says.   posted May 20, 2011 at 11:52AM

The hand-held camera made me queasy after 10’. I bailed after 20’, not caring about any of the characters.   posted May 11, 2011 at 10:43AM

While there are a few bright moments in this little Dutch film, the viewpoint seems misogynistic to me. The pretty young women are toyed with, paraded around in the almost-all-together, silenced, assaulted. It’s not pleasant enough to be entertaining… unless you like that sort of thing. Not recommended.   posted May 10, 2011 at 11:46AM

Couldn’t sustain interest beyond 20’. Neither protagonist had pull.   posted May 4, 2011 at 9:33AM

I couldn’t sustain interest beyond the set-up of this movie: about 20’   posted Apr 18, 2011 at 11:01AM

Improbable, confusing, even maddening story, but interesting visual style.   posted Apr 5, 2011 at 11:05AM

Beautiful and powerful, in a simple style with compelling characters. About a town squeezed between the retreating Nazis and the approaching Americans in 1944. Told from the POV of a 6-year-old girl, it is not for children. There’s a lot of death at close range, and a little sex.   posted Jan 31, 2011 at 12:44PM

I loved this movie! And I’m a kid. Only 52.   posted Jan 24, 2011 at 10:32PM

This doesn’t strike me as good history, but it’s pretty bad journalism.   posted Jan 24, 2011 at 10:30PM

The opening sequence is worth the rest of the movie. Kupferman’s music is quite inventive in many styles. But the acting is pretty wooden.   posted Dec 31, 2010 at 12:40PM

Very light entertainment, but enjoyable, in the colorful, Australian crazy way. Miranda Otto, Rhys Ifans and Justine Clarke are excellent.   posted Sep 23, 2010 at 3:52PM

I only lasted 10 minutes. I couldn’t take the voice-over and the background music of the first scenes.   posted Sep 23, 2010 at 3:48PM

I loved this movie, which is both a history lesson and a powerful work of art. You will grieve for the characters here, but even more for the Polish nation, which, pinned between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, suffered doubly.   posted Aug 13, 2010 at 12:13PM

Interesting real-time film about a gorgeous singer caught up in her own image and facing cancer. Interesting feminist viewpoint from the early 60s. Striking lead performance.   posted Jul 23, 2010 at 10:21AM

I enjoyed two other Varda films: VAGABOND and CLEO, but found this very dull.   posted Jul 23, 2010 at 10:10AM

What a wonderful director Shepitko was! Fascinating study of a strong, intelligent woman in Soviet society. The lead, Bulgakova, is a marvelous subject. The end is breathtaking. Well-worth seeing, esp. after The Ascent.   posted Jun 30, 2010 at 10:48PM

What a brilliant film. Compelling story of moral choice, with memorable characters and an unforgettable visual style. Highly recommended.   posted Jun 14, 2010 at 11:25PM

Quite amateurish in style and content. Don’t bother.   posted May 8, 2010 at 7:32PM

Beautiful to look at. Imaginative music. Took me to a place I had never seen or thought about. I like to think it opened my mind.   posted May 8, 2010 at 7:30PM

An absorbing, often tense novel with Operation Gold—the tapping of Soviet lines in Berlin—as the backdrop. Approached with McEwan’s characteristic attention to the awkward details of human interaction. Essential reading if you need to dismember a corpse.   posted Jan 29, 2010 at 12:30PM

Beautiful. Haunting. But short: 45’.   posted Jan 23, 2010 at 10:26AM

I liked, in particular, The Maestro; The Passenger; Binta and the Great Idea.   posted Nov 20, 2009 at 10:52AM

An amazing Brazilian film, filmed in Lençois Maranhenses National Park. Incredible scenery you don’t associate with Brazil and a history lesson covering much of the 20th c. Fine performances.   posted Nov 20, 2009 at 10:45AM

This is clap-trap masquerading as a chick flick. Stilted, unfunny, full of stereotypes: don’t waste your time.   posted Nov 5, 2009 at 7:53PM

Couldn’t make it past first 30 minutes. Very dark print. Static story.   posted Oct 20, 2009 at 1:32PM

One of the best Urtext editions. Universal is a little better, for the detailed critical commentary.   posted Oct 13, 2009 at 12:31PM

A look at the 60s before Woodstock. How folk sought to better the world before pop music turned to love and drugs. Great up-close shots of Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary, Judy Collins, Joan Baez as well as roots music greats. Essential viewing.   posted Oct 13, 2009 at 9:24AM

What a marvelous creation: poetic, heart-breaking, original, visually arresting. It deals with people making difficult choices in difficult times.   posted Oct 7, 2009 at 10:58AM