Oscar Who? Oscar Who?
Although the producers of the Academy Awards ceremony like to boast that a billion people watch their broadcast, I take comfort in knowing that another 5 billion do not.
Feb 25, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Room With a View Room With a View
A man locks his daughters in a one-room house for their first twelve years. The girls--twins--don't attend school; they don't play with other kids. They're never even given a ba...
Feb 18, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Rear Windows Rear Windows
Said the comic gangster in Payback, misquoting an old saw, "Don't shit where you eat. Or, I mean, where you live. That's it.
Feb 11, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Two, Like, Star-Crossed Lovers Two, Like, Star-Crossed Lovers
When a young woman in high school frets about the folks in Mogadishu--when, for that matter, she can spell "Mogadishu"--American moviegoers know she needs a fashion makeover, a ...
Feb 4, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Revenge of the Pod People Revenge of the Pod People
Nobody asked me to spend my weekend watching movies about alien invasions--so for all I know, I might have been acting on promptings from an otherworldly force.
Jan 28, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Duck Soup in Japan Duck Soup in Japan
Has no one informed Dr. Akagi that he's living in a complex and serious drama about the morale of Japanese citizens toward the end of World War II?
Jan 14, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Parades Gone By Parades Gone By
To begin the new year with something old: Milestone Film and Video has just re-released two films of antiquarian interest, directed (appropriately enough) by British film histo...
Jan 7, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Holiday Celluloid Wrap-Up Holiday Celluloid Wrap-Up
What marvels of ill assortment the film distributors perform when they dump their products at the close of the year in hope of award nominations.
Dec 24, 1998 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
Saving Private Malick Saving Private Malick
For twenty years, Terrence Malick has been absent from the screen, abandoning the world's filmoids to their own devices: to watch Badlands and Days of Heaven till the pr...
Dec 17, 1998 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
The Revolution Seen Through a Glass Darkly The Revolution Seen Through a Glass Darkly
A film beginning with a shot of a little boy being beaten for not having learned the Declaration of the Rights of Man by heart, and closing in the overwhelming shadow of the guillo...
Jan 2, 1998 / Books & the Arts / Daniel Singer