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Rarely have I felt as conflicted as I did while watching Joshua Oppenheimer’s 2012 documentary, The Act of Killing. Over the course of its nearly three-hour running time, the movie does many things, some of which are wrenching, some of which...

I admire filmmakers who take chances and defy expectations. Admittedly, that sort of thing doesn't always work, and there are flaws aplenty in After.Life, but the criss-crossing between drama, thriller, and horror is nothing if not arresting. It ...

A take-notice performance from Anna Kendrick (who drops the f-bomb more times than in all of her previous roles combined) can’t hide how threadbare and ultimately unsatisfying the narrative of Alice, Darling is. Written without much concern for ...

On paper, the story of Robert Durst makes for fascinating drama, even though it's missing an ending and several parts of the middle. When someone is writing a nonfiction book or making a documentary, such things have limited importance. But when ...

There's no doubt that the subject matter tackled by Arlington Road is topical. Terrorism at home is a very real danger in this current climate of world uncertainty, and, arguably, a greater danger is posed to U.S. security by radical political gro...

When artistic and marketing impulses collide, you end up with an unwieldy title like Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Director Werner Herzog's preferred name, Port of Call New Orleans, was deemed unsuitable by producer Edward R. Pressman,...

Those whose only exposure to the Marvel and DC superheroes has come through the various live-action films that have been made over the last 40+ years may be unaware that a second, entirely separate series of animated productions have thrived (...

The first two Disneynature documentaries, 2007's Earth and 2009's Oceans, were visual feasts - amazing experiences made all the more remarkable when blown up for big screen viewing (they were distillations of TV miniseries). Since then, the label h...

It was as ill-advised as it was inevitable: a sequel to 1999's most unexpected hit, The Blair Witch Project. These days, however, creativity rarely enters the question when huge amounts of money are involved, and The Blair Witch Project brought A...

Watching The Bling Ring, Sofia Coppola's exploration of today's "celebrity culture," is an uncomfortable - bordering on unpleasant - experience. The problem isn't the depiction of the underside of America's celebrity obsession but the manner in whi...