Touched by an Angel Touched by an Angel
It's characteristic of Erick Zonca's extraordinary first feature, The Dreamlife of Angels, that we never learn how Isa got that scar across her right eyebrow.
Mar 4, 1999 / Books & the Arts / Stuart Klawans
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