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It’s refreshing to find a teen romance that doesn’t feel obligated to end with a confession of undying affection. In real life, which Chemical Hearts seeks to emulate, high school love affairs may result in fumbling in the dark, loss of vi...

Many of Orson Welles’ films have brilliantly stood the test of time. Chimes at Midnight, his final completed feature film as a director, is not one of them. A re-imagining of three of Shakespeare’s historical plays (with links to two more)...

In recent years, I have become jaded about superhero movies, a genre I once enjoyed. A sameness and lack of energy permeates them, especially the origin stories. There's something perfunctory and unsatisfying about many of the big titles, leaving i...

Circle of Friends is the motion picture equivalent of a dime store romance novel. It has all the requisite elements -- it's a period piece (the bulk of the story takes place in the late 1950s); boasts women with heaving bosoms and a young, virile ...

Is it too much to ask that a narrative film have a beginning, a middle, and an end? Apparently in the case of Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, a loose adaptation of Darren Shan's Vampire Blood trilogy, the answer is "yes." Developed with...

When it comes to Citizen Kane, one question eclipses all others: Is it the best film ever made? For years, I have avoided writing a review of this movie, intimidated perhaps by its immense reputation. Having missed the 1991 fiftieth anni...

There is something a little retro about the relaxing blend of screwball comedy and low-key drama that represents Raymond De Felitta's City Island. An indie of the sort that achieved popularity during the 1990s but which has since fallen out of fav...

In 1927, with much fanfare, The Jazz Singer was released. As every movie-lover knows, this otherwise unremarkable motion picture possessed one crucial asset: it was the first film to use recorded sound, and ushered in the "talkie" era. The trans...

Sometimes it’s the little things that impede the full success of an ambitious film. That’s the case with Alex Garland’s Civil War – an alternate-history dystopian road trip movie that does its best not to answer the many questions viewers ...