The Ice Storm (1997) Kitschy seventies comedy does battle with some painful dramatics in Ang Lee’s highly regarded The Ice Storm, but the question of which of these wins is still in the air. It’s 1973, and the sexual revolution is in full bloom. So are the thick shag carpets, glass-bead necklaces, Watergate hearings, and […]
If Lucy Fell (1996) If Lucy Fell is the fifth romantic comedy I’ve reviewed this year, and it is the fourth to get my rating (no other genres have reached this high in 1996, according to my archives). So, am I getting soft for romances? Maybe so, but the quality of American comedy writing really
Igby Goes Down (2002) 2002 is the year of Kieran Culkin. After a rock-star performance in the one great film this year that everyone missed The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys Kieran Culkin delivers another knockout performance as a rebel without a clue or a cause in Igby Goes Down. Igby Goes Down tells the
Zus & Zo It’s cute and quaint, a Hannah and Her Sisters done up Euro-style, which invariably means these days that someone is gay. Sure enough, our gay fella is getting married, and his three sisters will stop at nothing to end the travesty because an inheritance is at stake. Regardless, it’s not terribly clear
Imitation of Life (1934) The great Claudette Colbert stars in an equally great melodrama from the Golden Age of Hollywood. Colbert is a single mother who, after taking in an itinerant black maid and fellow single mother (an impressive Louise Beavers), opens a pancake shop on the boardwalk and turns her enterprise into a success
Zero Focus The year is 1961, and in a wintry Tokyo train station, a young newlywed named Teiko bids farewell to her handsome new husband, Kenichi. Kenichi is concluding some business in the northern city of Kanazawa, promising a return on December 12, at which point the couple will begin their new life together. But,
Zentropa Lars von Trier has never been known for making movies that are on the nose. In general, you’re left to your own devices when it comes to figuring out what the hell is going on in The Kingdom or The Element of Crime. Zentropa is no exception, an inspired but devilishly confusing look at
In America (2002) In America follows an Irish foursome chasing the fabled “American Dream” while they struggle to put a devastating emotional loss behind them. “Really what it’s about is the Irish leaving death behind,” says Sheridan. “And it’s about coming to the ‘Magic Land,’ which America was. Let’s not beat around the bush. America
Z When one thinks of political assassinations, a couple of guys driving by a raconteur standing amidst a crowd then hitting him over the head with a pipe before driving away doesn’t exactly leap to mind. And yet Costa-Gravas had the presence of mind to turn the tepid story of thinly-veiled police corruption in 1963
The Hours (2002) Stephen Daldry’s The Hours is the quintessential highbrow arthouse picture of the year, the one film critics from the coasts will adore but is guaranteed to alienate audience members more in tune with Maid in Manhattan, Analyze That or The Two Towers. Consider yourself warned. A Masters degree and a penchant for
