Atom Egoyan asks who's to blame for a tragedy. But he offers no answers.
By Andy Klein,
December 25, 1997
With 1994's Exotica, Egyptian-born Atom Egoyan clinched his claim to being Canada's leading director. His new film, The Sweet Hereafter, should... More>>
In a new book, film critic David Thomson shows himself at his best -- and worst
By Scott Timberg,
December 18, 1997
It's an old joke, told by people who don't write criticism, that those who do are failed practitioners of the art they critique. With London-born... More>>
Don't come looking for subtlety, but Titanic is a great big, romantic cornball success
By Peter Rainer,
December 18, 1997
If one is in a Biblical frame of mind, the sinking of the White Star Line's R.M.S. Titanic about 400 miles off the southern coast of Newfoundland... More>>
Scream 2 is as good a follow-up as one can imagine, given the difficulties of sequels
By Andy Klein,
December 11, 1997
Wes Craven's Scream, which opened almost exactly a year ago, was the surprise hit of an overcrowded Christmas season. In part, the success was a... More>>
Steven Spielberg's Amistad aims high, but oversimplifies
By Peter Rainer,
December 11, 1997
Steven Spielberg's Amistad is being given the big picture treatment -- Schindler's List big, not Jurassic Park big. Last week's Newsweek featured... More>>
This antiquated vehicle becomes a showcase for digital effects
By Andy Klein,
December 04, 1997
First, The Heiress was unofficially remade as Washington Square, then Ace in the Hole as Mad City, and The Day of the Jackal as The Jackal. But... More>>
Everything old is New Wave again in Godard's Contempt
By Andy Klein,
December 04, 1997
It's hard for anyone under, say, 35 to understand the impact that the so-called French New Wave directors in general -- and Jean-Luc Godard, in... More>>
Kiss or Kill offers an Aussie take on Bonnie and Clyde
By Scott Timberg,
November 27, 1997
This Australian answer to Bonnie and Clyde, inelegantly titled Kiss or Kill, is the kind of film that carries you along even as you know exactly... More>>
In his 1993 book Sarajevo: A War Journal, the Bosnian journalist Zlatko Dizdarevic reported on an 11-year-old who was waiting in line for water... More>>
A new film festival displays the latest in Gallic cinema
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November 20, 1997
Fans of French film haven't had it very good over the last decade or so. Where once U.S. distributors were happy to screen the latest in Gallic... More>>
Even Francis Ford Coppola can't make much of John Grisham
By Michael Sragow,
November 20, 1997
John Grisham's The Rainmaker lulls you into the mindset you get while reading a bestseller at the beach. What a sad thing to say about a Francis... More>>
Disney Studios has had a near-monopoly on feature animation for almost 60 years now, and near-monopolies are nearly as destructive as full-on... More>>
Put brutally, the marvelous The Wings of the Dove is the story of a romantic frame-up that backfires. Thankfully, nothing is put brutally in this... More>>
Documentarian Errol Morris is by far best known for his 1988 feature, The Thin Blue Line, which is often described as the only film that ever got... More>>
Scientists estimate that the last Ice Age, which lasted roughly two-and-a-half million years, ended about 10,000 years ago. Glaciers covered the... More>>
Mad City, a descendant of Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole, may irritate orthodox movie buffs. In the coruscating Wilder classic, Kirk Douglas's... More>>
In The Ice Storm, promiscuity seems merely pathetic
By Andy Klein,
November 06, 1997
Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee has carved out a place for himself as our leading director of comedies of manners. His first three films --... More>>
In Starship Troopers, Paul Verhoeven plays to the mall rats
By Peter Rainer,
November 06, 1997
In Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers, based on the late Robert Heinlein's 1959 sci-fi opus, the killer arachnids upstage the humans. Not that... More>>
