|
|
29%
|
Hurry Sundown (1967) |
"
The last of Preminger's overblown adaptations of best-sellers, this may have a lot more juice than sustenance, but at least Preminger keeps the juices flowing. "
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 8, 2013
|
|
|
98%
|
One False Move (1992) |
"
There's plenty to be impressed by while watching this 1992 noirish thriller, cowritten by Tom Epperson and directed by Carl Franklin, but not a great deal of aftertaste."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 6, 2013
|
|
|
95%
|
The Return (Vozvrashcheniye) (2003) |
"
Beautifully structured and emotionally wrenching."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 27, 2013
|
|
|
93%
|
Matewan (1987) |
"
If Sayles's bite were as lethal as his bark, he might have given this a harder edge and a stronger conclusion. But the performances are uniformly fine."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 22, 2013
|
|
|
100%
|
Bab el hadid (Cairo Station) (The Iron Gate) (1958) |
"
The adroit interweaving of various miniplots around the station is matched by a heady mix of moods and genres: at various junctures this movie becomes a musical, a slasher film, a neorealist drama, a comedy, and a horror film."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 18, 2013
|
|
|
85%
|
The Devil Probably (Le diable probablement) (1977) |
"
Not a masterwork perhaps, but certainly the work of a master, and, judging from the work of many of his young French disciples (including Leos Carax), one of his most influential features."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 5, 2013
|
|
|
100%
|
Un condamné à mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle où il veut (A Man Escaped) (1957) |
"
The best of all prison-escape movies, it reconstructs the very notion of freedom through offscreen sounds and defines salvation in terms of painstakingly patient and meticulous effort."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 5, 2013
|
|
|
78%
|
Lonesome (1928) |
"
Lonesome, Paul Fejos's exquisite, poetic 1928 masterpiece about love and estrangement in the big city, deserves to be ranked with The Crowd as well as Sunrise, though it's not nearly as well-known as either."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 27, 2013
|
|
|
54%
|
Secret Beyond the Door... (1949) |
"
Probably the most psychoanalytically oriented of his features, and because it's Lang, the murkiness is mainly a strength."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 25, 2013
|
|
—
|
——
|
Tong nien wang shi (A Time to Live and a Time to Die) (1985) |
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
——
|
Dirty Money () |
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
3/4
|
——
|
Alone. Life Wastes Andy Hardy () |
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
|
98%
|
Ladri di Biciclette (The Bicycle Thief) (Bicycle Thieves) (1949) |
"
The work of screenwriter Cesare Zavattini, director Vittorio De Sica, the nonprofessional actors, and many others is so charged with a common purpose that there's no point in even trying to separate their achievements."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 14, 2013
|
|
|
78%
|
The City of Lost Children (La Cité des Enfants Perdus) (1995) |
"
The emotions seem almost as manufactured as the sets."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 7, 2012
|
|
|
88%
|
A Midnight Clear (1992) |
"
This fable about the futility of the war benefits not only from fine performances but an intelligent and literate offscreen narration that enhances the movie's conceptual integrity."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 4, 2012
|
|
|
0%
|
All I Want for Christmas (1991) |
"
This 1991 feature is not for diabetics or connoisseurs of real people, but everyone else should have a ball."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 3, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
The Witches (1990) |
"
A minor but very enjoyable Nicolas Roeg fairy tale."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Nov 26, 2012
|
|
|
51%
|
The World Is Not Enough (1999) |
"
This keeps one reasonably amused, titillated, and brain-dead for a little over two hours."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 23, 2012
|
|
|
86%
|
A Dry White Season (1989) |
"
The relentless plot is effectively set up and expertly pursued, and Hugh Masekela makes some striking contributions to Dave Grusin's musical score."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 7, 2012
|
|
|
94%
|
Lorenzo's Oil (1992) |
"
If any movie of recent years deserves to be called "inspirational"--a much-abused term that one hesitates to revive apart from exceptional circumstances--this one certainly does."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 7, 2012
|
|
|
80%
|
Daisies (2012) |
"
My favorite Czech film, and surely one of the most exhilarating stylistic and psychedelic eruptions of the 60s, this madcap and aggressive feminist farce by Vera Chytilova explodes in any number of directions."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 4, 2012
|
|
|
94%
|
35 Up (1991) |
"
There's certainly plenty of food for thought here, but most of it is served raw rather than cooked -- most of the significance of the development of faces, physiques, aspirations, and attitudes over three decades is left to the subjects themselves."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 14, 2012
|
|
|
88%
|
Fa Yeung Nin Wa (In the Mood for Love) (2001) |
"
Director Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong's most romantic filmmaker, is known for his excesses, and in that sense the film's spareness represents a bold departure."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 14, 2012
|
|
|
77%
|
Manon des Sources (Manon of the Spring) (Jean de Florette II ) (1986) |
"
Berri also remains a boringly uninteresting director, dotting every i and crossing every t with nothing much on his mind but platitude."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 14, 2012
|
|
2/4
|
90%
|
Three Colors: White (Trzy kolory: Bialy) (Trois Couleurs: Blanc) (1994) |
"
he love that figures centrally in White appears more as a postulate than as a realized fact. To achieve something more durable and persuasive, real characters are required, not allegorical stick figures."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 9, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Three Colors: Red (Trois couleurs: Rouge) (1994) |
"
The third and best feature of Krzysztof Kieslowski's highly ambitious Three Colors trilogy."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 8, 2012
|
|
|
96%
|
Flirting (1992) |
"
Not only worthy of its fine predecessor, this tender, perceptive, and gorgeously acted memory piece may even surpass it in subtlety, feeling, and depth of characterization."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 8, 2012
|
|
|
76%
|
Someone to Watch over Me (1987) |
"
Even though the movie doesn't leave much of a residue, it looks terrific while you're watching it: Manhattan has seldom appeared as glitzy or as glamorous."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jun 3, 2012
|
|
|
92%
|
La demoiselle d'honneur (The Bridesmaid) (2004) |
"
This 2004 French feature seems concerned not so much with the psychopathology of everyday life as with psychopaths who lurk behind the everyday."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 17, 2012
|
|
|
80%
|
Fight Club (1999) |
"
This is American self-absorption at its finest."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 11, 2012
|
|
|
73%
|
Tombstone (1993) |
"
A lot of care and attention were obviously devoted to selecting locations, designing sets, and grooming handlebar mustaches. Much less attention went to making one believe that any of the events took place circa 1879."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 10, 2012
|
|
|
50%
|
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) |
"
It's certainly distinctive, looking at times like Richard Lester put through a postmodernist blender."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 2, 2012
|
|
|
81%
|
The General (1998) |
"
I can no longer stomach the premise in so many Anglo-American crime pictures that mavericks are admirable simply because they're mavericks"
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 1, 2012
|
|
|
86%
|
Guys and Dolls (1955) |
"
Conceivably the best picture Sam Goldwyn ever produced."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 30, 2012
|
|
|
43%
|
Road House (1989) |
"
Eventually it mutates into a paranoid revenge plot that might be called Walking Short."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 30, 2012
|
|
|
44%
|
Holy Smoke! (2000) |
"
All sorts of questions go unanswered, and there's little of the density found in Campion's early work; this is mainly smoke, not fire."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 27, 2012
|
|
|
85%
|
Crna macka, beli macor (Black Cat, White Cat) (1998) |
"
As with some of Fellini's late works, the energy and inventiveness, not to mention the juicy vulgarity, are so consistent in Black Cat, White Cat that you feel you can slice into the material at almost any point."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 10, 2012
|
|
|
78%
|
Muriel's Wedding (1995) |
"
This movie only shows true tact and understanding when it comes to flattering the audience; everyone on-screen is strictly up for grabs."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 9, 2012
|
|
|
88%
|
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) |
"
A profoundly sexist and eminently hummable 1954 CinemaScope musical with some terrific athletic Michael Kidd choreography and some better-than-average direction by Stanley Donen."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 9, 2012
|
|
|
96%
|
The Wedding Banquet (Xi yan) (1993) |
"
A very adroit and entertaining social comedy."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 4, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Wagon Master (1950) |
"
This may be the closest Ford ever got to making a musical."
—
DVD Beaver
Posted Apr 3, 2012
|
|
|
29%
|
Max My Love (Max Mon Amour) (1996) |
"
Max Mon Amour isn't as good as [Nagisa Oshima's other] movies, but then what else is?"
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 3, 2012
|
|
|
83%
|
Ornette: Made in America (2012) |
"
This ambitious and affectionate effort to capture an elusive subject is undoubtedly worth a look."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 27, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
The Cool World (1964) |
"
It certainly had a visceral impact when it first appeared, helped enormously by Baird Bryant's cinematography and Dizzy Gillespie's score."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 27, 2012
|
|
|
92%
|
The Connection (2007) |
"
The film retains the same beatnik wit that the play effectively distilled, as well as a few scary shocks."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 27, 2012
|
|
|
44%
|
Jamaica Inn (1939) |
"
By common consent, one of Alfred Hitchcock's poorest and least personal works, though it has some compensations."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 20, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
The Ring (1927) |
"
Probably the most visually sophisticated of Alfred Hitchcock's silent pictures and certainly one of the best."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 20, 2012
|
|
|
50%
|
Number Seventeen (Number 17) (1932) |
"
A peculiar and neglected early Hitchcock stage adaptation."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 20, 2012
|
|
|
47%
|
Heaven's Gate (1980) |
"
The longer version is impressive as long as the characters and settings remain in long shot; only when the camera gets closer do the problems start."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 2, 2012
|
42%
35%
96%
99%
65%
61%
