There is an eerie sense of familiarity wafting through The Invisible Circus, a pervasive whiff of déjà vu that intensifies with each passing minute. Regardless of whether or not one has read the novel of the same name by Jennifer Egan, it’s impossible to deny that there’s ample foreknowledge of…

Vampires have always seemed to be the coolest of the doomed, creatures both fascinating and evil. Amid all the seduction, sexual metaphor, and consumption, however, the source of the creature’s unholy hunger usually remains a mystery. Not so in Shadow of the Vampire by E. Elias Merhige (Begotten), a film…

Writer-director Anne DeSalvo explores the notion that compromise is a good thing with rare grace and an abundance of rich characterization in her debut feature, The Amati Girls. Centered on a gaggle of four adult sisters, the movie presents a lively discourse upon love and life that would kill you…

Quite obviously, Guy Ritchie was paying very close attention to the early-’90s Tarantino double-whammy of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Fascinated by the commercial success of films that blend ruthless violence with brash cutting and cartoonish characters, Ritchie emerged with a hit called Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. For…

In case you were wondering, here’s the most fulfilling way to enjoy the alleged thriller, Antitrust. Step One: Go shopping for groceries at your favorite supermarket. Step Two: When the smiling employee asks you whether you prefer paper or plastic, choose paper. Step Three: Seek out the young actor known…

The cream of this year’s crop are films carefully selected not only for their countless wonderful qualities, but because, as the list indicates, they form terrific thematic double features for contemplation and discussion. These days, there’s plenty of evidence to indicate that now, more than ever, movies may not be…

Here you will find the ingredients required to spin an audience into throes of fuzzy warm-heartedness–the hope, the compassion, the joie de vivre–all blended with the skill of a consummate confectioner. Much like a box of sweets with a convenient guide inside the lid, there are no surprises in Lasse…

During the summer of 1994, while most of the world was greeting Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump with dewy eyes and outstretched arms, this critic was grinning his fool head off at a very different tale of a lost, lone hero. While a featherweight Tom Hanks bumbled his lobotomized way through…

Assessing the merits of Quills, the lusty new feature by director Philip Kaufman (Henry and June), it’s tempting to seek correlative characters from popular movies to illustrate just how radical this business is not. In Kaufman’s film–affectionately constructed upon a screenplay by Doug Wright, who adapts his award-winning play–we discover…

If the concept of dubious celebrity Ben Affleck romping in a water park with cinematic darling Gwyneth Paltrow and two adorable moppets does not inspire in you spasms of dizziness and nausea, then you may find plenty to tolerate in Bounce, the new romantic dramedy from writer-director Don Roos. This…

Given the stress and emotional turmoil associated with family holidays, in the cinema, as in life, it’s very peculiar that anyone feels obliged to entertain the notion of Thanksgiving anymore. Really, thanks for what, exactly? Jammed freeways? Delayed flights? Overcrowded supermarkets? Big, dead birds? Witchhunts? Territorial conquest and genocide? Well,…

Refreshingly, the biggest wonder about the new Arnold Schwarzenegger ride is not that human cloning has become a reality, nor that the America of the future (“sooner than you think,” as an opening caption ominously suggests) very closely resembles present-day Vancouver, British Columbia, in Canada. It’s not even that technological…

If you’re planning to take a look at Antony Hoffman’s Red Planet, it is highly advised that you squint. This way, instead of observing a facile romance lightly spiced with danger and heavily laden with rawkin’ effects, you’ll see the movie for what it really is: a cadre of little…

Gopher. Explosives. Gopher… explosives. Gopher! Explosives! There. Now you know exactly what was running through this critic’s mind during The Legend of Bagger Vance, the impeccably aimed new tranquilizer dart from Hollywood’s Mr. Honeydrip, Robert Redford. Of course, it’s really not fair to compare this meditative drama to that other…

Oh, the plight of the common nebbish, aching to be adored, mugging for attention, and eternally desperate to bag a sexy babe. Sounds familiar, no? That’s because the little fella pops up all over the place, in movies as disparate as Losin’ It, Wings of Desire, and Fight Club, but,…

To put it mildly, it is uncomfortable and embarrassing to have one’s cynical ass whipped by a huge, hulking Hallmark card, and this is exactly the sensation one takes away from Mimi Leder’s Pay It Forward. Not that the near-total emotional submission isn’t preceded by a knock-down, drag-out battle for…

So a Jew and a Christian walk into the economically challenged valleys of Wales… No, it’s not a joke–not until the absurd, maudlin third act, anyway–but rather the essence of Solomon & Gaenor, the feature debut of British television director, documentarian, and psychotherapist Paul Morrison. Taking its cue from Jim…

Slash a steer’s throat or snip the beak off a bird and most people don’t give anything remotely resembling a damn. But take, for instance, an adorable dog–perhaps that peculiar lupine descendant you live to shelter, feed, and soul kiss. Imagine laying that poor pooch’s head on the block, then…

With global overpopulation neatly intertwining with the advent of the home video camera, we have been afforded, as a species, several near-miracles. For instance, when supersonic jets explode, or when mobs impolitely loot and riot in urban centers, the common consumer can now document the event and sell it to…

According to Patrice Leconte, women live to be vulnerable, men thrive when they are in command, and the two genders can only find happy fusion once they’ve tasted each other’s fates…unless they capriciously kill each other. At least, this seems to be the director’s thesis in Girl on the Bridge,…

It takes a special mindset to celebrate castration, and audiences confusing feminine empowerment with the crude hacking off of seemingly oppressive huevos are certain to get a bang out of Girlfight, the gritty debut feature from writer-director Karyn Kusama. Metaphorical or otherwise, there’s already a movie about deballing to suit…

So many intense themes run rampant in Joe Charbanic’s debut feature, The Watcher, that it’s tricky to keep up. For instance, a young lady who lives alone with her cat seems ominously doomed. Then there’s the gripping premise that borrowing from nihilistic wanker David Fincher (Se7en) or industrial scamp Trent…