Month: September 2004

Legendary British director Mike Hodges (Croupier) and screenwriter Trevor Preston strip the mobster film down to its bare essentials, and the result is stark and relentless. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but daring filmgoers will find a shattering exploration of the psychological assault of crime on the criminal. Clive Owen (Beyond Borders) finds … more…

Since the fall of the Taliban, Islamic fundamentalism has “reasserted itself in a sinister way,” according to Canadian journalist Sally Armstrong, and in this powerful, angry film she documents precisely how little has changed for women in that ravaged country. Through the eyes of four Afghani women — including Dr. Sima Simar, who was, for … more…

Who decided Josh Hartnett could act? Where do they come from, these bland, boring, untalented pretty boys? Is there a factory somewhere in South America that extrudes them in flesh-colored silicone? How can we stop this?

Now, I’m the first film fan to profess a disdain for foreign films revisited by American filmmakers — there’s usually little point in doing so rather than giving those foreign films a wider domestic release, beyond the sad fact that most mainstream American moviegoers simply don’t want to read subtitles. But damn if *Criminal* doesn’t actually improve upon *The Nine Queens,* the Argentine film upon which it is very closely based.