The Jesus Christ Superstar of action films, a chokingly puffed-up portrayal of Arizona motorcycle cops, arranged in a sequence of blocky, unblended set pieces which demonstrate important truths about policemen -- trigger-happiness, sexual inadequacy, uniform fetishism, human-ness, sense of humor, etc. Conrad Hall's liberated camerawork indulges in slow, grandiose wind-ups …
Documentarian Mark Hartley tells the story of the studio behind such classics as Death Wish II, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, among others.
A former rodeo champion (Robert Redford) endures endless degradation as a commercial ambassador for a breakfast cereal, protecting himself from the blows to his pride by keeping himself pickled to the gills. When he sees that his corporate bosses have in mind the same sort of tawdry show-biz career for …
An aging but actively tomcatting Columbia professor develops an erotic obsession with a “thirty-odd-year” younger Cuban student, who, in his eyes, resembles Goya’s Maja. (Penelope Cruz, the student, actually played Goya’s Maja in Volaverunt, and here repeats the desnuda pose.) Isabel Coixet’s rendition of the Philip Roth novel, The Dying …
Resurrection of the character of that name, not from Greek tragedy, but from the superhero fantasy of a couple of years previous, Daredevil. Resurrection, literally. Just because she got herself killed off, back then, doesn't mean the spinoff has been relegated to a prequel: "Somebody must have brought her back …
Once, Pixar made us cry, because there is sadness in life. Now, Pixar gives us a character who cries, because that’s funny. A character whose family plays a game where the object is to make each other cry. “Butterfly. Windshield wiper. Half a butterfly.” Ho ho — recreational emotional manipulation, …
Element City is where a host of elements live and work, air, earth, water and fire. Enter Ember, a quick-witted and fiery woman who’s always stayed close to home in Firetown. Directed by Peter Sohn, starring Leah Lewis and Mamoudou Athie.
How can we live and thrive with fire, in a hotter, often drier world? Follow indigenous fire practitioners, research scientists, and fire survivors as they help redefine our relationship with fire.
Gus Van Sant's response to the Columbine school shooting, an unemotional, calculated, measured, extremely limited response, not in the least freed up by its fictionalization: the action takes place in Oregon, during football season, among autumn leaves, and the body count appears to climb higher than the reality. In the …
Michael Webber’s documentary about people fixated on owning wild, often dangerous animals (lots of TV news clips and talking heads). The heart of it is the connection between Tim Harrison, an Ohio cop who cares equally about people and “pets,” and Terry Brumfield, a man emotionally fixated on his caged …
Hellish vision of Victorian England, smoke and flame all over the place, with Hammer horror director Freddie Francis returning to the cinematographer's seat he used to occupy, and working masterfully in black-and-white as he did in The Innocents, Room at the Top, Sons and Lovers, and as few people know …
Hellish vision of Victorian England, smoke and flame all over the place, with Hammer horror director Freddie Francis returning to the cinematographer's seat he used to occupy, and working masterfully in black-and-white as he did in The Innocents, Room at the Top, Sons and Lovers, and as few people know …