Murphy’s Romance movie review
So wonderful and so rare a film, gentle and warmly humanistic, about two people falling in love depicted plainly, honestly, and — in a way that often eludes Hollywood — with amiable realism.
female protagonist
Nancy Drew… Reporter movie review
One of the Warner Bros short features, aimed at young audiences, about the teen-girl detective’s adventures, though she’s cast as a rather interfering little brat. Still, it’s good clean fun for kids.
Harold and Maude movie review
Uplifting and unsentimental, with a fresh and warm appreciation for the eccentricities that make life interesting, this is probably the most charming movie about death that’s ever been made.
Desperately Seeking Susan movie review
A new-fashioned screwball comedy combining improbable elements, from ancient Egyptian artifacts to downtown New York chic, with classic conceits like mistaken identity and romantic conundrums.
Bandit Queen movie review
The true story of a modern-day female Robin Hood of India. A powerful and in spots devastating journey through one woman’s conquest of a culture that views women as little more than sexual commodities.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon movie review: arthouse action
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon will make you fall in love with film all over again. Instantly one of the greatest ever adventure movies, it’s also a touching, tender story of love forbidden and denied.
The Exorcist, Lost Souls, and Possessed movies review: sympathy for the devil
Do screenwriters bother with characterization or motive for Old Scratch? Rarely — the Prince of Darkness is supposed to just coast on his rep as the Ultimate Bad Dude, and yet those selfsame screenwriters must, by storytelling necessity, declaw him, prevent him from taking full advantage of the hellish forces at his command.
Nurse Betty movie review: the power of fantasy
Like a millennial Wizard of Oz, Nurse Betty is about the power of an all-consuming fantasy to help us cope with life’s disasters. Alternately startling and funny, melancholy and bizarre.
Twister movie review: storm troopers
One of my very favorite movies, a superb example of the genus Popcorn Flick, unforgettable as it puts onscreen imagery we’ve never seen before. This is as close as I get to turning my brain off at the movies.
Chicken Run movie review: rage against the machine
A witty Aardman-brand treat: Chicken Run is a sneaky, cheeky parody of prison and escape movies that nevertheless finds decidedly unsentimental pathos in the predicament of farmyard chickens.
