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In movie theaters, January can be a month of surprises - most of them unpleasant. (I'm still trying to wash away the lasting stink from Grandma's Boy.) Fortunately, Tristan & Isolde bucks the trend, offering a tragic love story so involving that ...

Pardon me for wondering if director Michael Winterbottom is obsessed with cock (with or without the bull). Maybe I'm just saying that because I have been unfortunate enough to see his previous outing, 9 Songs, which avoided showing up behind the c...

There are moments when True Things, a romantic melodrama about a toxic love affair, almost breaks through. But, in large part because it never coalesces the hazy vagueness surrounding the characters, it doesn't quite get there. The chemistry betwe...

When a director can take a reprehensible monster and, over the course of a scant 90 minutes, turn audience reaction from distaste to sympathy, that's the mark of an adept filmmaker. This occurs in Tsotsi, an emotionally honest tale of redemption t...

The warning signs were there that Tulip Fever was not going to be a good film. The movie had a troubled production history with hiccups and false starts resulting in an “unreleaseable” cut that has sat around gathering dust since principal ...

Spoilers! Yeah, I talk about the ending. Although the name makes it sound like a monster movie (which it could be, after a fashion), Tyrannosaur is actually a member of a peculiar class of film unique to the U.K.: the "feel bad" tale of working...

History has decreed that Umberto D., a 1952 film from celebrated Italian director Vittorio De Sica, is one of the best representations of neo-realism committed to film. (Ingmar Bergman called it a “favorite movie” and Martin Scorsese labeled i...

There are times when a performance can carry an entire motion picture, and Under the Skin is an example. The subject matter, while not inherently uninteresting, doesn't break barriers or attempt anything radical. The script is solid and effective...

Let me begin by stating that I cannot recommend Under the Skin to audiences in search of a mainstream movie experience. This film, a cryptic adaptation of Michel Faber's novel, is all about mood and setting. It's as existential as a sci-fi/horror f...

Vampire movies aren't what they used to be. Gone are the days when a cape, fangs, a cocked eyebrow, and a menacing glare were enough. By today's standards, those things are quaint. Underworld, from first time director Len Wiseman, is an example ...