Compromising Positions Compromising Positions
Richard Schickel's biography of Elia Kazan is a laudatory postscript to a life marked by social turmoil, political strife and artistic intensity.
Feb 23, 2006 / Books & the Arts / David Bromwich
A Touch of Evil A Touch of Evil
Reviews of The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Battle in Heaven, Blossoms of Fire and The Fallen Idol.
Feb 9, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
The Unquiet American The Unquiet American
Reviews of Why We Fight, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story.
Jan 25, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Cruel and Unusual Punishment Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Michael Haneke's Caché is a stylish thriller that scrapes away at the surface of polite European affluence to lay bare the moral rot beneath.
Jan 11, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Of Queers and Kong Of Queers and Kong
From Brokeback Mountain's closeted cowboys to King Kong's embrace of Anne Darrow, Hollywood has queered cherished icons of masculinity. But the two films paint a bleak picture: Lov...
Jan 5, 2006 / Books & the Arts / Richard Goldstein
A History of Violence A History of Violence
Munich is a first-rate spy thriller featuring an assassin who reveals his soul. Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain gives two extraordinary actors time and space to develop a rare emotion...
Dec 20, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Imitation of Art Imitation of Art
The Chronicles of Narnia is the perfect combination of Christian allegory and The Lord of the Rings, a well-crafted commodity and nothing more. The Ice Harvest, an anti-Christmas f...
Dec 8, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
The Best Intentions The Best Intentions
Syriana disappoints; The Boys of Baraka documents the lives of inner-city kids transported to the wild beauty of Africa; and Punishment Park zeroes in on injustice in America.
Nov 22, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Agee’s Gospel Agee’s Gospel
Two new volumes in the Library of America series present the life and work of James Agee, whose flashes of greatness as an essayist, screenwriter, novelist and Nation film reviewe...
Nov 17, 2005 / Books & the Arts / Phillip Lopate
I Act, Therefore I Am I Act, Therefore I Am
Admired from a distance and reviled up close, Laurence Olivier could establish a relation with his audience that was like an infection. His official biography chronicles a personal...
Nov 17, 2005 / Books & the Arts / David Thomson