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Sexual taboos come in all shapes and forms -- bestiality, pedophilia, incest -- but none creates a more vivid image than that of necrophilia. So, when I say that Kissed is the character study of a necrophiliac, recognize that this film is intended...

The Kitchen is a scattershot, uneven attempt to tell a gritty gangster story in which three women are the primary characters. Based on the DC comics series of the same name, the movie plays like the highlight reel of a deeper, more compelling ...

There are reasons why Hollywood rarely backs a murder mystery.  With its various narrative complexities, double dealings, and mandatory twists, the genre is generally unsuited for the constrictions demanded by a two-hour timeslot. As the PBS ...

Knowing is a classic case of a movie that is crammed with interesting ideas but is unable to conceptualize them in a compelling fashion. Knowing doesn't fail because of a lack of ambition or scope but because of flaws in execution. The movie trie...

Koyaanisqatsi, Godfrey Reggio’s 1982 cult classic, is almost hypnotic in the fascination it exerts. Merging a collage of images of ‘80s Americana with Philip Glass’ now-dated score (which bears more than a passing resemblance to the film...

Although the subject matter of divorce no longer carries the whiff of controversy and scandal it once did, Kramer vs. Kramer has lost none of its power in the forty years since its release. That’s because, although divorce has been normalize...

This review contains spoilers, if that term can be used for a movie that has been around for 85 years!While I’ll admit that Jean Vigo’s 1934 feature, L’Atalante, is charming, I won’t be among those who label it as one of the great cinemati...

Crooked cops. The mystery and allure of Hollywood in the '50s. Death, double-crossing, and secret alliances. Paparazzi waiting to get that one breakthrough picture. These are just some of the elements that make Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confiden...

Fantasy in the 1980s had a “cutesy” problem. Setting aside the deliciously bloody Schwarzenegger Conan the Barbarian, the field was littered with productions steeped in the belief that fantasy=children’s fare. Whether it was Disney’s b...

One of the most consistent makers of excellent motion pictures during the 1980s and 1990s has been Ken Loach. With a resume highlighted by such unforgettable titles as Hidden Agenda, Riff-Raff, Raining Stones, and Ladybird, Ladybird, Loach is reco...