Alien: Resurrection (dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet): more a lame rehash than a revival
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, “Alien: Resurrection” (1997) The idea behind this movie was to give new life to the Alien movie franchise but despite some interesting ideas about…
Hollywood Films
American Psycho (dir. Mary Harron): compelling satire on Wall Street society
Mary Harron, “American Psycho” (2000) Based on the Brett Easton Ellis novel of the same name, “American Psycho” is a satirical survey of the people working at…
Alien 3 (dir. David Fincher): potentially interesting psych horror / slasher flick in space is a mess
David Fincher, “Alien 3” (1992) At least in this third episode in the Alien series, people finally figured out a new original way of killing the…
Hitchcock gives plenty of “Rope” in excellent interior murder mystery
Alfred Hitchcock, “Rope” (1948) Adapted from a play by Patrick Hamilton and based on an actual murder case in which two young men strangled a teenage…
Psycho (dir. Alfred Hitchcock): good psych horror thriller about predestination / free will and men’s oppression of women
Alfred Hitchcock, “Psycho” (1960) This movie is a good psychological horror thriller with excellent performances from its two leads Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates and Janet Leigh as…
Aliens (dir. James Cameron): overstretched plot meets redeemed heroine in Vietnam War fable
James Cameron, “Aliens” (1986) Sequel to Ridley Scott’s “Alien”, this is a very different movie: “Alien” is basically a haunted-house horror story with ordinary civilian worker…
Alien (dir. Ridley Scott): unique sci-fi/horror film with much to say about human society
Ridley Scott, “Alien” (1979) In the wake of news that Ridley Scott has started work on “Prometheus”, the movie prologue to “Alien”, it’s timely to revisit…
True Grit (dir. Joel and Ethan Coen): revenge film plays straight and narrow with problematic heroine
Joel and Ethan Coen, “True Grit” (2010) Adapted from the 1968 novel of the same name by Charles Portis, “True Grit” can be read as both…
The Dark Knight: a shallow movie with one-note characters beneath the pyrotechnics
Christopher Nolan, “The Dark Knight” (2008) Second in British-American director Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy that began with “Batman Begins” (2005) and will finish with “The Dark…
Chinatown: film noir addresses serious issues of political and moral corruption
Roman Polanski, “Chinatown” (1974) Chinatown” was Roman Polanski’s foray into the private eye / film noir genre and his last major film for Hollywood. A few…