A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Lars von Trier, “Antichrist” (2009) Highly controversial for its depiction of sexual violence and mutilation, “Antichrist” was made when von Trier was suffering depression and the…
Paul Verhoeven, “Starship Troopers” (1997) Loosely adapted from the Robert Heinlein novel of the same name, this film can be read as a caricature on several…
Errol Morris, “Tabloid” (2010) Errol Morris’s documentaries fall into two camps: a serious one (“Fog of War”) and one of portraits of eccentric individuals dominated by…
French and French-language Films, North American Films
Pierre Coffin, “Pings” (2 shorts, 1997) Ralph Eggleston, “For the Birds” (2000) Dony Permedi, “Kiwi!” (2006) All four films are about birds obviously but they’re also about…
Larry and Andy Wachowski, “The Matrix” (1999) Strip “The Matrix” of its sci-fi trimmings, its computer FX and choreographed martial arts and gunfight scenes and what…
Gus van Sant, “Psycho” (1998) A shot-for-shot remake of the Hitchcock original with much the same dialogue and even reconstructions of the original sets, this film…
Martin Scorsese, “Taxi Driver” (1976) As a character study of a lonely and alienated man whose mind collapses under the strain of the life he leads…
Renny Harlin, “5 Days of War” aka “5 Days of August” (2011) Directed by Renny Harlin and financed by the Georgian government, this drama is a…
Joel Coen, “Fargo” (1996) A kidnap plot cooked up to save a car salesman’s hide going awry through sheer bad luck, incompetence and stupidity is the…
Alan J Pakula, “Klute” (1971) Ostensibly a crime thriller about a prostitute who assists a small-town private investigator in a missing-person case, this film is better…