Filmmaker Gregory Nava’s My Family (Mi Familia), a multigenerational epic about a Chicano family in East Los Angeles, is one of the most satisfying dramas I’ve ever seen. The narrative follows the changing fortunes of the Sanchez family from the early part of the century through the late 1970s. It…

In a terrifying barroom sequence about 15 minutes into Once Were Warriors, a stark melodrama about the lives of Maori tribesman living in the urban slums of New Zealand, Jake Heke (Temeura Owen)–a pumped-up, alcoholic patriarch of a troubled Maori clan who looks like Robert DeNiro on steroids–watches as a…

The latest issue of the Dallas-based bimonthly fanzine Hong Kong Film Connection (which only recently went national) is on sale now at an independent or Asian-owned video store near you, and it includes plenty of thoughtful, well-researched articles worth mentioning here. They include a wrapup of 1994 Hong Kong box-office…

Your hooey detector will probably start beeping about 10 minutes into British filmmaker Antonia Bird’s controversial melodrama Priest when Father Greg (Linus Roach), a young man of the cloth newly transferred to a blue-collar Liverpool parish, rises to address his congregation. These days, he complains from the pulpit, we are…

Nick Nolte’s craggily handsome face, steely eyes, and whiskey-and-cigarettes voice are the epitome of ravaged old-movie grandeur. But in his heart, he’s always been a character actor, not an icon. Although resourceful directors have managed to use him that way–notably Walter Hill in 48 HRS. and Extreme Prejudice and Karel…

Because I usually enjoy David Letterman’s nightly talk show, I wish I could say he did a great job hosting the 67th Annual Academy Awards. I’ll admit I enjoyed some of his jokes and all of his filmed segments, particularly the “Would you like to buy a monkey” bit; between…

There’s a reason why you’ll rarely read about music videos in this space: most of them are so unimaginative and dull that I can barely stand to look at them. Having said that, I’ll now violate my own pronouncement and tell you about a video promoting “Possum Kingdom,” a single…

Before the Rain, a three-part anthology of stories from the war-torn Balkan nation of Macedonia, is as powerful and passionate an examination of war as Schindler’s List. And although there isn’t a single dull or unoriginal shot anywhere in the picture, and the film is eloquently performed by an international…

There’s a good reason why the new thriller Hideaway is proudly designated “A Film by Brett Leonard,” a name few casual moviegoers would recognize, let alone regard with high esteem. Leonard, who directed the cyberpunk-revamped movie version of Stephen King’s short story The Lawnmower Man, is a high-tech showman with…

It’s pointless to respectfully review a film as ineptly written, indifferently directed, and slothfully performed as Just Cause, the new legal thriller about a Harvard law professor and anti-death penalty advocate (Sean Connery) who heads down south to the Florida Everglades to win freedom for condemned black murderer Bobby Earl…

Set in 1817 during the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, Colonel Chabert is about a legendary soldier presumed dead who returns home to discover that life has proceeded without him, then struggles to reclaim his identity, causing intense emotional disruptions all around him. The title character is played by the…

It’s a good bet that in any packed, claustrophobic gathering of movie buffs, some wiseacre will declare, “This reminds me of the stateroom scene in A Night at the Opera.” The scene, which occurs in the Marx Brothers’ 1935 gem, occurs aboard an ocean liner in which the brothers are…

A distinctive voice in Texas criticism was lost February 16 when Dallas Morning News film writer Russell Smith died in his Dallas home of AIDS complications. He was 38. Born and raised in Dallas, he joined the Dallas Morning News 12 years ago, working as a copy editor and a…

Subdued, elegant, and directed with disarming simplicity, I, the Worst of All (Yo, La Peor de Todas) is the kind of historical drama whose resonance sneaks up on you. On the surface, it’s an intimate religious drama about a minor figure in Catholic history, a 17th-century Mexican writer and nun…

Informed that his interviewer saw The Quick and the Dead the night before, Sam Raimi gets excited. “How full was the theater?” he asks. “Did they clap during the exciting parts? Did they go for popcorn during the quiet parts? Did everybody generally seem to like it?” He’s told that…

About 10 minutes into Sam Raimi’s Western The Quick and the Dead, his nomadic, gunslinging heroine, Ellen (Sharon Stone), slouches down in a rickety chair on the front porch of a saloon in the middle of Redemption, a Southwestern town so desolate even the cacti look withered, and lets a…

First-time feature filmmaker David Frankel’s Miami Rhapsody is so fleet-footed, cheerful, and entertaining it’s tempting to dismiss it as just another piece of popcorn entertainment. But there’s clearly a certain craft–even art–to creating a motion picture that makes you feel this swoony, giddy, and grateful, and in that light, Frankel’s…

From the fertile mind of University of North Texas film teacher Justin Wyatt (who’s also the author of High Concept, a compelling analysis of Hollywood’s blockbuster mentality) comes one of the boldest and most provocative film festivals this city has seen in a while. Titled The Cinematic Body: A Film…

It’s rare that an independent film manages to survive and thrive outside the realm of major Hollywood distribution companies. Yet that’s exactly what has happened with Sankofa, a bold low-budget slave epic currently making its way across North America, city by city, drawing huge and enthusiastic crowds wherever it plays…