ReelViews for NR movies

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...

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...

Growing up in New Jersey, I was of course aware of the existence of Action Park, an amusement park located in the northwestern portion of the state, not far from where my grandparents lived. Nevertheless, I turned down opportunities to visit for a...

Consider how mainstream movies depict violence. Bodies are chopped up, blown apart, and torn to pieces. Blood and gore flow as freely as water. Films like Interview with the Vampire are awash in a crimson tide, and no one thinks twice about it. ...

The movie starts out with a degree of promise. A young woman, suffering through the aftermath of a traumatic breakup, travels to her former lover’s lake house, breaks in, and sets up home. Everything about it – the cinematography, the pace...

Close feels like many of the numerous direct-to-DVD titles that were prevalent during the 2000s. High on action and low on logic, those movies were made quickly and for little money to satisfy an audience whose expectations were for 90 minutes...

The decision to release The Cloverfield Project direct-to-streaming (DTS?) is not only a glimpse of how the future may look for middle-budget movies but a win-win for Paramount Pictures and Netflix. The studio has found a way to offload a whit...

"What we have here is… failure to communicate." In the history of motion pictures, there are a few - but only a few - better-known quotes. Even people who have never heard of Cool Hand Luke know that line (and can ape it with an imperfect Sto...

The setting of Cracks - an elite British all-girls boarding school during the 1930s - is a classic exploitation film locale. For her feature debut, however, Jordan Scott (daughter of Ridley, who co-executive produced the film along with his brother...

Reprinted with permission from The Vampire Gazette, Volume 348, Issue 5, May 1994. Throughout the ages, human beings have harbored a not-so-secret fascination about our kind. "Children of the night" they call us, romanticizing the price that we...