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By now, I'm tired of penguins. After Madagascar, March of the Penguins, and Happy Feet, it's time to move on to some new species of beast or fowl. Yet I must admit that of the four recent penguin-centered movies, Surf's Up is the most entertaining...

Aspects of The Swan beguile and engage while others verge on the pretentious (like quoting Tarkovsky). As a slice-of-life/coming-of-age tale, The Swan hits many of the right notes but as an attempt to be something more, it paradoxically becom...

In March 1977, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences committed another in their seemingly-endless series of injustices, awarding the Best Picture Oscar to John Avildsen's Rocky, thereby snubbing one of the great modern American classics...

A Thin Line Between Love and Hate is muddled to the point of tedium. The screenplay is credited to four writers, and its unevenness argues that none of them were on the same wavelength. Subplots start but never finish, characters come and go...

“Raped While Dying”, “And Still No Arrests”, “How Come, Chief Willoughby?” The text of those three billboards establishes a narrative but, although that’s the starting point for Martin McDonagh’s stellar Three Billboards Outside...

Tom and Viv is culture. From the opening credits to the closing caption, this is never in doubt. Not designed for mass consumption, the examination of T.S. Eliot's tragic first marriage has all the marks of a "typical" British art film (or an...

During the Spring of 1990, I remember being transfixed in front of the television set for an hour each Sunday night over a period of five weeks. The occasion was the "Masterpiece Theater" presentation of the British mini-series "Traffik", a comple...

Traitor is an uncommonly intelligent espionage thriller that explores the moral and ethical dilemmas faced by agents who go deep undercover in the service of their country. For movies that revolve around terrorist organizations and acts, there a...