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Save the Last Dance, a movie about finding salvation on the dance stage, takes a little Pygmalion, a little Romeo and Juliet, and a lot of formula, wraps them up with a neat bow, and delivers a passably entertaining package. The film stumbles not ...

For an author of long-form fiction, the writing process isn't merely technical. As absurd as it might seem, the writer bonds with his or her characters to the point where they can become as "real" as any flesh-and-blood person. This is especially t...

Devastating. If, for some reason, I was asked to write a one-word review of Saving Private Ryan, that would be the term I would use. As was true of director Steven Spielberg's other masterpiece, Schindler's List, the impact of this motion pic...

The dumb, raunchy comedy is not a new genre - in one form or another, it's far older than cinema. (What else would one call Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales?) However, as far as the modern incarnation is concerned, its genesis can be traced back to...

Saw is for hard-gore horror aficionados only. To appreciate Saw in its full gory, you have to have a penchant for productions that bask in the traditions of the Grand Guignol. While most of the film relies more on psychological tension and terror...

Horror films are like candy corn: familiar, bland, and sickening if consumed in large quantities. They're both ubiquitous at this time of year and there must be a large group of individuals who appreciate their dubious charms because they never go ...

Say Anything is one of the best in a long line of teen romance movies, if not the best. Unlike many of its fellow genre entries, it is not filled with crude sex jokes, nudity, a lobotomized population, and poorly-defined subplots. And, while ...

If ever there was a movie more destined to become a cult phenomenon, I don't know if I can name it. Combine the name of the novel's author with the subject matter and the stylistic choices made by director Richard Linklater in bringing it to the s...

Upon its initial release, Scarface was savaged by many critics and suffered from tepid box office performance. Opened at the height of Oscar season with awards aspirations, it was shut out by the Academy - although it did receive three Golden Glob...

Welcome to Massachusetts, 1666, where Puritans, Indians, and adultery come together in Roland Joffe's overlong, overwrought re-interpretation of Nathaniel Hawthorne's classic, The Scarlet Letter. Literary purists will be aghast at some of the libe...