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Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Pulse, Tokyo Sonata) isn’t known for subtlety or restraint. Although Before We Vanish represents a change-of-pace (a sci-fi film that, as is the case with many sci-fi films, examines the human condition), many of h...

Beginners comes as close to presenting a first person perspective as a movie can without employing distracting gimmicks. Told from the point-of-view of the protagonist, Oliver (Ewan McGregor), the narrative follows not only his activities in the pr...

When word emerged from Cannes that Sofia Coppola had won the Best Director prize for her adaptation of Thomas Cullinan’s The Beguiled, a shiver of excitement coursed through the film-going community. Perhaps, after trying and missing three t...

These days, critics (and non-critics, for that matter) are fond of complaining about how multiplexes are populated by cookie-cutter motion pictures that follow safe, formula-derived patterns designed to please audiences who want a different version...

For anyone who was alive and watching American television between 1950 and 1980, it’s a sure bet that at least one episode of I Love Lucy was consumed. The most popular TV show during four of its six seasons, the first Desilu production went on ...

Being There, Hal Ashby’s 1979 adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski’s novel, is a delightfully dark comedy that, despite a cynical bent, offers viewers a good time. At the heart of Being There’s popularity is a recognition that even the most simp...

Beirut is, without a doubt, an imperfect thriller. The narrative is at times too dense, some aspects of the ending are too pat, and there are some internal inconsistencies the movie never explains. But, damn, is it good to watch a movie that e...

If the goal of Bel Ami was to capture a fleeting flavor of Dangerous Liaisons, the intention should be deemed a failure. Based on Guy de Maupassant's 1885 novel, Bel Ami is the meandering, unfocused tale of the rise of an unprincipled opportunist i...

There have been dozens of movies made about Ireland’s The Troubles. Most are hard-hitting and gut-wrenching and some are as powerful as any made about civil war and religion. With Belfast, writer/director Kenneth Branagh, now far-removed fro...

When one speaks of cultural relevance, some movies capture it in the moment (oftentimes dating the production in the process). Others grasp it as if looking in a rearview mirror. But there’s a small group, either through clairvoyance or happenst...