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A marriage between the creative talents of David Mamet and Edward Zwick might seem to be an unlikely union but, in the case of 1986 feature About Last Night..., it is surprisingly effective. Zwick, best known for the emotional resonance he brings ...

Spoilers follow! James Cameron is widely viewed as being one of the most difficult and demanding directors, due in large part to the powerful streak of perfectionism that defines his filmmaking. Cameron's most difficult and contentious shoot to...

Adrift, like many competently-crafted survival films, chronicles the ultimate underdog bout: Human against Nature, where the odds are stacked against the former by the sheer power of the latter. Most survival tales come with a “based on a tr...

Writer/director Paul Schrader has always been fascinated by the line between sanity and madness, and what it takes to push a man over the edge. This theme stands out in two of Schrader's best known scripts, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, both of whi...

Spoiler Alert: This review contains spoilers related to something that happens about mid-way through the movie. Although I generally don’t like revealing plot points, it would be difficult to present a meaningful discussion of the movie with...

The release of 1995's Maborosi introduced the world to a major new force in Japanese film making. Hirokazo Kore-eda stunned audiences with his vividly realized, emotionally resonant depiction of a young widow's struggle to piece together her life ...

Airplane! has not aged well. The fine wine hasn't turned into vinegar but it's not as pleasant to the palate as it once was. Viewed more than 25 years after its initial release, Airplane! retains the capacity to tickle the funny bone, but someone u...

When it comes to movies about dysfunctional family relationships and emotionally damaged individuals, few active filmmakers do a better job than veteran French director André Techiné (whose films, especially Wild Reeds, have been modest art-house...

Alien Nation arrived during a period when science fiction-themed action movies were all the rage. All sorts of variations on familiar themes were tried. Some, like James Cameron’s Aliens, were successful. Others, like Alien Nation, left some...

Perhaps the best single word to describe James Cameron's Aliens is relentless. Tautly paced and expertly directed, this roller coaster ride of a motion picture offers a little bit of everything, all wrapped up in a tidy science fiction/action pack...