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One could never argue that Across the Universe isn't ambitious. However, like many ambitious movies, this one fails spectacularly. Glenn Kenny of Premiere magazine called it "the perfect disaster" and, while I think that's a little harsh, I underst...

Years ago, while watching Delicatessen (in 1992) and The City of Lost Children (in 1995), I wondered which of the co-directors, Jean-Pierre Jeunet or Marc Caro, was more responsible for the films' quirky tone and striking visual style. Although Ca...

Those wacky Coens are at it again. And those serious Coens. And those loquacious Coens. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, a paean to pre-revisionist Westerns, allows the Oscar-winning brothers to try out nearly every weapon in their considerable ...

Tim Burton's name is on the credits but Big Eyes doesn't feel at all like the visually eccentric, gothic-tinged productions we normally expect from the offbeat director. Oh, there are some "Burton-esque" moments, like a vacation in ...

Bruno allows Sacha Baron Cohen to bring another member of his rogues' gallery of misfits to the big screen. This is a worthy successor to Borat and employs the similar tactic of exploiting the stupidity, ignorance, and prejudice of Americans as a ...

The Chorus is one of those feel-good stories that Miramax Films has become expert in importing. This one is the French equivalent of Mr. Holland's Opus - the inspiring story of how a teacher comes to change the lives of his headstrong students. A...

Henry Selick has a particular sensibility and, when choosing material for his movies, he seeks stories that fit into the slightly twisted, quasi-fairy tale realm where he feels comfortable working. Thus, in the past, he has collaborated with Tim B...

Dark Shadows is a mess, and it's unclear whether its bizarre recipe of comedy, campy horror, and gothic melodrama will satisfy anyone, regardless of their familiarity with the source material. By attempting to be too faithful to Dan Curtis' cult TV...

It has been a good year for movies related to the 1940 evacuation from Dunkirk. Combined with Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk (about the actual events) and Lone Scherfig’s Their Finest (about a clumsy propaganda film made about the situation), ...

Gemma Bovery is a celebration of author Gustave Flaubert and actress Gemma Arterton. Much like Claude Lelouch's 1995 Les Miserables, this is less an adaptation of a classic novel (in this case, Madame Bovary) than a transition of themes, ideas, s...