In the new Great Expectations, directed by Alfonso Cuaron and scripted by Mitch Glazer, the teeming world of Charles Dickens' 1861 novel is very... More>>
Thanks to The Grave, acclaimed at the '96 Sundance Film Festival, and Hollywood's need to produce new indie stars, Josh and Jonas Pate have been... More>>
There hasn't been a good doper movie since 1978's Cheech and Chong's Up in Smoke, and even now, it reeks of yesterday's smoke, smelling like a... More>>
Spice World is not good, and other things you already knew
By Keven Mcalester,
January 22, 1998
One of the conceits to which every critic must be genetically predisposed is the idea that, at the end of the day, his or her opinion actually... More>>
Martin Scorsese's Kundun is a deeply ceremonial experience. It's like watching a serene pageant of colors, rituals, and costumes. It's about the... More>>
After Santa's overstuffed sack of Oscar qualifiers is disgorged onto screens in December, the studios have little left in their pipelines for... More>>
The best films of '97 either provoked or entertained
By Michael Sragow,
January 08, 1998
In 1997, both the big studios and the independents got stuck in their respective sewers of cliche--conflagrations, computer graphics, and crazy... More>>
The jolting Welcome to Sarajevo is often so real it hurts
By Michael Sragow,
January 08, 1998
In his 1993 book Sarajevo: A War Journal, Bosnian journalist Zlatko Dizdarevic reported on an 11-year-old boy who was waiting in line for water... More>>
Treading familiar battleground, The Boxer weighs in a little light
By Peter Rainer,
January 08, 1998
Where would Irish filmmakers these days be without The Troubles? In just the past couple of years, we've seen The Crying Game, In the Name of the... More>>
Most of the year's best films were from the outside looking in
By Andy Klein,
January 01, 1998
In Hollywood, writer-director Garson Kanin's wonderful book of film-biz reminiscences, Kanin tells of a mortifying incident in the career of John... More>>
Wag the Dog paints the White House a brilliant black
By Michael Sragow,
January 01, 1998
When was the last time the audience applauded a trailer and the movie lived up to it? Independence Day enticed millions with its preview shot of... More>>
The best of 1997 was OK, but sometimes the worst was better
By Peter Rainer,
January 01, 1998
While not a movie year to go down in infamy, 1997 was still mostly full of hype and holler. If the annual yield is judged by how many great films... More>>
With the overlong, sometimes funky Jackie Brown, Tarantino looks for direction
By Peter Rainer,
December 25, 1997
If Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown didn't arrive weighted with post-Pulp Fiction expectations, it might be easier to see it for what it is: an... More>>
Life is messy, but As Good As It Gets is just a mess
By Michael Sragow,
December 25, 1997
The ad line for As Good As It Gets is "A comedy from the heart that goes for the throat." Isn't this simply another way of saying, "You'll laugh,... More>>
He's mean, he's nasty, he's hilarious--and finally, Allen's back
By Gregg Rickman,
December 25, 1997
Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry is a film made by a free man. Liberated, for whatever reason, of the need for playing a nice guy, playing the... More>>
Director Atom Egoyan looks for lost children in The Sweet Hereafter
By Andy Klein,
December 25, 1997
With 1994's Exotica, Egyptian-born Atom Egoyan clinched his claim to being Canada's leading director. His new film, The Sweet Hereafter, a Cannes... More>>
Most of Tomorrow Never Dies lacks the wit and inventiveness of the best Bond
By Andy Klein,
December 18, 1997
Now that the Japanese Tora-san series--with fiftysome entries in 30 years--has presumably drawn to a close, following the death of star Kiyoshi... More>>
Don't come looking for subtlety, but Titanic is a great big romantic cornball success
By Peter Rainer,
December 18, 1997
If one is in a Biblical frame of mind, the sinking of the White Star Line's R.M.S. Titanic about 400 miles off the southern coast of Newfoundland... More>>
Spielberg delivers a wildly erratic--and tumultuously moving--historical epic with the overreaching passion of a man possessed
By Michael Sragow,
December 11, 1997
Was Steven Spielberg fated to make Amistad? "Amity," you might recall, was the name of the shark-bedeviled island in his breakthrough picture,... More>>
Scream 2 is as good a follow-up as one can imagine, given the difficulties of sequels
By Andy Klein,
December 11, 1997
Wes Craven's Scream, which opened almost exactly a year ago, was the surprise hit of an overcrowded Christmas season. In part, the success was a... More>>
Phil Tippett and his studio--creators of Starship Troopers' murderous bugs--are envisioning the digital future of creature features
By Michael Sragow,
December 04, 1997
Movie special-effects maestro Phil Tippett has won billowing praise for the jaw-dropping digital transformations that turned models of alien bugs... More>>
This antiquated vehicle becomes a showcase for digital effects
By Andy Klein,
November 27, 1997
First, The Heiress was unofficially remade as Washington Square, then The Big Carnival as Mad City, and The Day of the Jackal as The Jackal. But... More>>
