Red Rocks (Les Roches Rouges, 2026) – Review
Bruno Dumont's new film opens with a boy climbing onto a scooter he cannot possibly drive, next to a girl who cannot drive it…
The Scraps Index
Film Reviews
816 film reviews in the Scraps archive.
Troy (2004) Review: Glory and Its Discounts
Troy strips out every god and bets the whole film on human vanity instead. It's a bet that pays off in the Hector-Achilles duel…
The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) – Review by Pauline Kael
Herzog is a film poet, all right, but he's a didactic film poet, given to heavy folk-art ironies; he says that society puts you…
Teorema – Review by John Simon
In this caustic review, John Simon dismantles Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema, mocking its divine stranger, symbolic sexuality, fragmented narration, and critical reputation as empty…
The Odyssey (2026) Review: What Works and What Doesn’t
From the horse half-buried in the sand to Samantha Morton's body-horror Circe, from Hades to the climactic massacre: a scene-by-scene analysis of Nolan's Odyssey…
Tequila Sunrise (1988) – Review by Pauline Kael
By rational standards the movie is flimsy and stupid, but by romantic standards it's delectable. The three talented stars are smashing, and the film's…
Working Girl (1988) – Review by Pauline Kael
This Cinderella story seems to have been concocted by people at the top of the skyscraper who have no fellow-feeling for losers. The film…
Another Woman (1988) – Review by Pauline Kael
Read Pauline Kael's sharp, critical analysis of Woody Allen's Another Woman.
Trash with a Cause
Uwe Boll's cheap, incoherent "Citizen Vigilante" proves a movie doesn't need to be good to go viral — just banned in Germany and posted…
Toy Story 5 Review: To Infinity, but Not Beyond
Pixar's "Toy Story 5" is tender, ravishing, and afraid of its own best idea—a movie about obsolescence made by people terrified of becoming obsolete.
The House That Keeps Burning Down – Scream 7 Review
Sidney Prescott answers the phone again. Seven films in, Scream 7 knows exactly how it ends before it begins — and so, by now,…
Wuthering Heights: The Moors, Instagrammed
Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights dazzles with style but sacrifices Brontë's soul. A review of the film starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.
The Weight of Grief in Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet”
Chloé Zhao's Hamnet finds poetry in parental loss. Buckley and Mescal are luminous in this meditation on how Shakespeare turned grief into art.
Shakespeare in Mourning
Review: Chloé Zhao's Hamnet, with Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, transforms Shakespeare's grief into powerful cinema. An Oscar contender.
Movie Review: The Housemaid Cleans the House
"The Housemaid" (2025): Seyfried shines in Feig's glossy thriller about abuse, class, and female revenge. Pulpy, twisty, uneven—but gripping.
Postcard Romance: People We Meet on Vacation
Beautiful locations, missing chemistry. We review Netflix's People We Meet on Vacation and what got lost adapting Emily Henry's bestselling novel.
Sirāt” Review: The Moroccan Desert Road Movie That Will Haunt You
A father searches for his missing daughter in the Moroccan desert. Óliver Laxe's "Sirāt" is 2025's most haunting cinematic experience.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: The Heart’s Stubborn Persistence
Carrey and Winslet deliver career-best performances in a film that refuses the false comfort Hollywood romances usually provide.
Park Chan-Wook’s “No Other Choice” Is a Wickedly Funny Takedown of Late Capitalism
Park Chan-wook's blackest comedy yet: a man commits murder for a job, and we laugh until we realize we're complicit. A masterpiece of moral…
Father Mother Sister Brother Review
Father Mother Sister Brother is a game, and like all games, it is deadly serious—a film made by a neurotic who still knows how…
Nuremberg Review
The seduction of Evil, viewed from a certain angle, invites misreading.
The Seduction of Evil, and Why Hollywood Can’t Resist It
Russell Crowe gives one of the most commanding performances of his career, which is precisely the problem. He makes Göring fascinating in ways that…
The Ash People: James Cameron Discovers the Dark Side of Pandora
In Avatar: Fire and Ash, Cameron shatters his ecological utopia with the Mangkwan—traumatized Na'vi who embraced fire over faith.
The Watches We Hide
Jarmusch has made a film about the distance between people who love each other, and somehow that distance feels like the closest thing to…
Lanthimos Blinks
Is Bugonia's ending real or a dream? This Yorgos Lanthimos film dodges its own themes with an alien reveal that undermines everything that came…
Elizabeth Olsen’s “Eternity” and the Impossible Choice Between Two Loves
Freyne's afterlife rom-com asks hard questions about love and choice as Olsen's character must pick between two deceased husbands for eternity. Charming performances elevate…
Dinner for Few (2014)
During dinner, "the system" feeds the few who consume all the resources while the rest survive on scraps. Inevitably, the struggle for what remains…
Interiors (1978) | Review by Pauline Kael
Interiors looks so much like a masterpiece and has such a super-banal metaphysical theme (death versus life) that it’s easy to see why many…
Shoot the Moon (1982) – Albert Finney and Diane Keaton Shine in Alan Parker’s Devastating Marriage Drama
Albert Finney and Diane Keaton star in Alan Parker’s Shoot the Moon (1982), a searing, beautifully acted portrait of love, heartbreak, and family turmoil.
The Voice of Hind Rajab (2025) | Review
Hind Rajab was a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by the Israel Defense Forces during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.
Caught Stealing (2025) | Review
When his punk-rock neighbor asks him to look after his cat for a few days, Hank suddenly finds himself caught up in a dangerous…
One Battle After Another (2025) | Review
When their evil enemy resurfaces after 16 years, a group of ex-revolutionaries reunite to rescue one of their own's daughter.
Bugonia (2025) – By Yorgos Lanthimos | Reviews
Two conspiracy-obsessed young men kidnap the high-powered CEO of a major company, convinced that she is an alien intent on destroying planet Earth.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer Is Too Real to Be Fun and Too Cold to Forget
Henry is a bleak, unsparing horror film about a killer without motive or catharsis—real horror lies in his ordinariness, and McNaughton offers no escape.
Charles Chaplin’s a Woman of Paris
Charles Chaplin’s A Woman of Paris was one of the most influential films of the silent era, occupying a place somewhat equivalent to Citizen…
Bob Fosse and the Madness Behind All That Jazz
Bob Fosse turns his life into spectacle in All That Jazz, blending ego, death, dance, and confession in a dazzling, self-destructive cinematic fever dream.
Swing Shift (1984) | Review by Pauline Kael
Swing Shift aims to honor women on the home front but gets lost in nostalgic clichés, weak scripting, and fairy-tale feminism that drains the…
F1 – The Movie | Reviews
A Formula One driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team up with a younger driver.
28 Years Later (2025) | Reviews
A group of survivors of the rage virus live on a small island. When one of the group leaves the island on a mission…
Ghare-Baire [the Home and the World, 1984] | Review by Pauline Kael
Satyajit Ray’s Ghare-Baire is a sensual, tragic tale of love, politics, and female emancipation that critiques both patriarchy and nationalism with rare depth.
Why Visconti’s Death in Venice Fails to Capture Thomas Mann’s Vision
Visconti’s Death in Venice is brilliant yet hollow—its cultural symbols lack depth, and Mann’s nuanced discourse is lost in a visually rich void.
Hope and Glory (1987) | Review by Pauline Kael
John Boorman’s Hope and Glory turns the Blitz into a joyful childhood memory, blending war's horrors with comic freedom and luminous family nostalgia.
The Brutalist, a New American Epic, Etched in Concrete | Review
Brady Corbet’s seismic drama reaches for the sky as it surveys the soul of a man and a nation. There will be Oscars.
September 5 – The Broadcast That Changed History
The media side of Munich ’72: are ratings more important than protecting victims and their families? Tense and deeply moral, Tim Fehlbaum’s film isn’t…
John Carpenter’s “Starman” Is Not About Aliens, It’s About the Heartbeat of the Universe
Starman reimagines the alien myth as a road movie, a love story, and a Christ-like tale of salvation, blending sci-fi with Carpenter’s unique human…
The Color of Money: How Scorsese Turned a Pool Hall into a Battleground for the Soul
Scorsese’s The Color of Money is a study of aging, redemption, and myth. Fast Eddie’s journey mirrors lost heroism, blending past Hollywood with a…
I’m Still Here (2024) | Review
Rio de Janeiro, 1971: Brazil is in the grip of military dictatorship. The Paiva family falls victim to a brutal government operation—Eunice suddenly finds…
Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here | Review
Salles has made a film that doesn’t just depict history but resurrects it, forcing us to sit with it, to acknowledge it, to feel…
The Drudgery of Art: Watching “Jeanne Dielman” So You Don’t Have To
Jeanne Dielman is a hypnotic endurance test—rigorous, relentless, and austere. A masterpiece of form, but is duration alone enough to make it great?
Amerikatsi (2022) | Review
An Armenian-American named Charlie (Goorjian) returns to Armenia in 1948, part of a wave of diaspora repatriation spurred on by the Soviet promise of…
A Complete Unknown (2024) | Review
A Complete Unknown avoids the usual biopic clichés, focusing on Dylan’s evolution through others’ eyes. Chalamet shines in a nuanced, Oscar-nominated role.
“Here” by Robert Zemeckis: Space and Time in Images | Review
Here adds another layer to Robert Zemeckis' ongoing challenge to conventional filmmaking, while simultaneously rejuvenating it within a narrative framework
Emilia Perez Delivers an Operatic and Messy Journey Through Identity and Redemption
Emilia Pérez is a daring blend of cartel intrigue and personal transformation, delivering bold storytelling with emotional depth and unforgettable risks.
Wake in Fright, Ted Kotcheff’s Booze-Soaked Australian Nightmare
Wake In Fright is the granddaddy of Australia’s savage cinema, a sweat-stained, booze-soaked, forcefully toxic masterpiece that glowers at the vanguard of both the…
Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu | Review
Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu unearths a primal dread, rejecting romanticized vampires for a grotesque force of decay. Hypnotic and relentless, it dares you to look.
The Great Enchantment and Its Discontents: A Review of Wicked: Part I
"Wicked: Part I" dazzles visually but feels overproduced, juggling spectacle and melodrama. Despite Erivo’s strong Elphaba, its themes and narrative feel incomplete.
The Wind That Shakes the Barley: A Film of Brutality and Elegy
Ken Loach’s The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a visceral, unflinching portrait of Ireland’s turmoil, blending raw emotion with didactic, fiery conviction.
“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” | Review
Narnia dazzles with visuals and Tilda Swinton’s icy brilliance, but hollow battles, stiff performances, and CGI gloss dampen its magical potential.
Claustrophobic and Oppressive: “Armand” Delivers Tension and Depth
A claustrophobic and intense school-set chamber drama by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes and Norway’s Oscar entry. When an…
Out of the Woods: The Blair Witch Project Turns 25
The Blair Witch Project redefined horror with raw authenticity, primal fear, and blurred reality, leaving a haunting legacy 25 years after its groundbreaking debut.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence: Nagisa Oshima’s Exploration of War and Cultural Conflict
Nagisa Oshima's Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence explores war, honor, and repressed desire through complex relationships and cultural conflict.
“The Room Next Door” Review: A Beautiful but Hollow Almodóvar Film
Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door falters in English, weighed down by stilted dialogue and missing the vibrant soul of his Spanish films, despite its…
“In the Mood for Love” Is a Masterpiece of Subtle Passion
In the Mood for Love reveals love’s fleeting essence, poised between longing and restraint, inviting viewers to experience a romance suspended in fragile moments.
Why “2001: A Space Odyssey” Remains a Timeless Classic
Fifty-six years ago, on December 12, 2001: A Space Odyssey was released.
Ghostbusters (1984) | Review by Pauline Kael
Ghostbusters is uneven: Bill Murray’s sly humor shines, but weak direction, rigid visuals, and a flat script undermine the film's potential despite a solid…
Ghostbusters II (1989) | Review by Pauline Kael
Ghostbusters II is funnier, lighter, and more relaxed than the first. Bill Murray shines, jokes land effortlessly, and the film delivers feel-good vibes.
Eastwood Explores Individualism and Justice in Juror #2
Eastwood's Juror #2 confronts truth, justice, and individualism, closing with a profound moral dilemma. If it's his last film, it’s a perfect farewell.
Murder and Obsession in Peter Jackson’s “Heavenly Creatures” | Review
In the 1950s, two teenagers blur fantasy and reality in an obsessive bond, culminating in the murder of one of their mothers. An enigmatic…
“Vermiglio”: An Intense Drama About War, Motherhood, and Female Identity | Reviews
A sincere and honest film with its audience, confirming the director's personal and insightful cinematic vision. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Venice…
Sounder (1972) | Review by Pauline Kael
Sounder is a moving film about Black resilience, blending emotional depth and modern consciousness to transcend its genre with powerful performances and direction.
The Bibi Files, a Thread Connecting Corruption and War
The Bibi Files reveals Netanyahu’s corruption and its ties to the Gaza war, screened in Toronto despite being banned in Israel due to privacy…
Scorsese’s Christ: Preaching Love, Needing to Love
The Last Temptation is a highly creative and liberal interpretation of the Gospels, portraying a Jesus who is insecure, fearful, conflicted, and who preaches…
The Gospel According to Godard: Hail Mary [Je Vous Salue, Marie]
Je vous salue, Marie explores the tension between soul and body, transcendence and immanence, as Godard reinterprets the Virgin Mary's story with a modern…
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days: Enduring the Unendurable
Mungiu's film is disturbing and shocking, but it evokes pity and calls for compassion: it asks the viewer to stay close to the protagonists…
The Room Next Door (2024) by Pedro Almodóvar | Reviews
Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” reflects on death and storytelling through two estranged friends, blending visual beauty, fiction, and existential inquiry.
Maria (2024) | Reviews
Maria by Larraín deconstructs Callas and Jolie, blending reality with art in a haunting study of stardom, featuring a captivating performance by Jolie.
Joker: Folie À Deux (2024) | Reviews
Joker: Folie à deux is a daring sequel that defies expectations, blending humanity with madness. Todd Phillips crafts a moving, explosive film that redefines…
Luca Guadagnino’s Queer: A Bold Adaptation of Burroughs’ Novel
Guadagnino's Queer is a bold yet imperfect attempt to visualize Burroughs' intricate narrative. The film reflects on desire and self but occasionally falters.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Shines at Venice 81: A Gothic Revival by Tim Burton | Reviews
Thirty-six years later, Burton's mischievous spirit opens Venice 81. Kaleidoscopic, irreverent, a transversal gothic, always illuminated, suspended between thrill and fairy tale. A gaze…
“The Crow” Returns: Bill Skarsgård’s Struggle to Escape Brandon Lee’s Legacy | Review
The new adaptation of James O’Barr's comic seeks to break free from the cult status of the Brandon Lee film but is little more…
Les Indésirables (2023) by Ladj Ly | Reviews
Les Indésirables portrays the harsh realities of life in a Parisian banlieue, where death, political corruption, and social unrest intertwine.
The Greatest Sci-Fi Film (N)Ever Made – On the Silver Globe (1988) by Andrzej Żuławski
Andrzej Żuławski’s "On the Silver Globe" is a censored, unfinished sci-fi epic that explores power and idolatry with visionary intensity and haunting visuals.
The Weight of Friendship (and Love) – The Third Man (1949) by Carol Reed
A noir-thriller set in post-war Vienna, "The Third Man" explores the complexities of friendship and betrayal. Orson Welles' Harry Lime captivates with his cynical…
Childhood Secrets and Sexuality in “Monster” by Hirokazu Kore-Eda | Review
Kore-eda's Monster explores shifting perspectives, unveiling complex truths about childhood, sexuality, and relationships, though it lacks the impact of his best works.
M. Night Shyamalan “Trap” | Review
Trap is a dual-layered thriller that challenges the audience's perception of reality. Shyamalan crafts a claustrophobic narrative where appearances deceive.
Alien: Romulus – Disney’s First Take on the Classic Sci-Fi Saga | Review
The seventh chapter in the saga centered on the conflict between humans and xenomorph aliens, Alien: Romulus by Fede Alvarez follows the familiar formula,…
Apollo 13: A Flawlessly Executed Film That Fails to Capture the True Tension of History
"Apollo 13" tells a sanitized story of courage, glossing over deeper political context, with flawless heroes. It’s technically solid but lacks dramatic tension and…
Despicable Me 4 Review: Slapstick Humor and Action in Gru’s New Chapter
Despicable Me 4 is packed with slapstick humor, plenty of music, and pure fun, but leaves little room for reflection and features an abundance…
It Ends with US: Blake Lively Leads Justin Baldoni’s Emotional Adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s Bestseller
Blake Lively shines in Justin Baldoni's melodrama, based on Colleen Hoover's bestseller: the story of a woman at a crossroads that speaks primarily to…
From Popstar Dreams to Nightmares: Shyamalan’s “Trap” Turns a Teen Fantasy into a Deadly Game of Survival
The classic game of cat and mouse in a horror film that's both theoretically exquisite and damnably entertaining: Shyamalan at his best
Maxxxine (2024) | Review
After X (2022) and Pearl (2022), Ti West concludes his slasher-horror trilogy with the definitive manifesto film: a postmodern and political game that crowns Mia…
Deadpool & Wolverine Balances Humor and Industry Critique | Review
Between explicit jokes and apparent self-parody, the 34th Marvel comic movie suggests that this multiverse business is becoming problematic and that the audience might…
How Shawn Levy’s Deadpool and Wolverine Pushes the Boundaries of Marvel Cinematic Universe Storytelling | Review
Deadpool & Wolverine by Shawn Levy is a wild, ultra-citational MCU film with chaotic humor, intense action, and a nostalgic dive into Marvel's past.
Beetlejuice (1988) | Review by Pauline Kael
"Beetlejuice" is Tim Burton's surreal farce about ghosts Adam and Barbara enlisting the chaotic Betelgeuse to scare away new, macabre homeowners.
Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger | Review
Martin Scorsese narrates a documentary exploring the revolutionary films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Their work, from The Spy in Black to Peeping…
Aki Kaurismäki’s “Crime and Punishment” Brings a Modern Finnish Twist to Dostoyevsky’s Classic Dystopia
Aki Kaurismäki’s "Rikos ja Rangaistus" updates Dostoyevsky’s "Crime and Punishment" to contemporary Finland, exploring ideological isolation and dystopian gloom.
Marco Berger’s “the Astronaut Lovers” | Reviews
The Astronaut’s Lover follows Pedro's return to Argentina and his renewed bond with Maxi, leading to a playful and ultimately revealing summer. Berger portrays…
The Tragic Tale of Rocco and His Brothers
A Southern Italian family's move to Milan leads to tragic consequences as they face modernity and individualism. Visconti's film critiques socio-economic changes in Italy.
Baltasar Kormákur’s “Touch”: Nostalgia and Melancholy in Youth | Review
"Touch" by Baltasar Kormákur explores the melancholy of lost youth and first love through the journey of Kristofer, who searches for his vanished love,…
Pier Paolo Pasolini: Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo | Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
A ogni altra considerazione sul film che Pasolini ha tratto dal Vangelo secondo Matteo bisogna avanzare una premessa: l'azzardo ha avuto già il suo…
Michael Winterbottom’s “Shoshana” Blends Historical Realism with Thriller Elements in a Captivating Look at 1930s-40s Palestine
Michael Winterbottom's eclectic films explore reality through diverse genres and themes. His latest work, "Shoshana," blends thriller, melodrama, and historical realism, depicting 1930s-40s Palestine…
Blood, Guts, and Anarchy in “When Evil Lurks” | Review
"When Evil Lurks" blends black humor and grotesque elements, reviving 1980s horror with a grand guignol style, offering a chilling, anarchic experience.
Kirill Serebrennikov’s Limonov Fails to Capture Political Depth | Review
Serebrennikov’s Limonov impresses visually but fails to capture the complex political life of Ėduard Limonov, reducing him to a clichéd mad genius
Truth and Deception in “Fly Me to the Moon” | Review
Fly Me to the Moon by Greg Berlanti humorously tackles truth and deception in NASA's lunar missions, featuring a love story between Kelly Jones…
Wei Shujun’s “Only the River Flows”: A Hypnotic Chinese Noir | Review
From China, a misty and autumnal film that declares its noir roots from the very first images, hypnotizing the viewer with a web of…
Unholy Secrets and Sinister Miracles in “Immaculate” | Review
A young nun, played by Sydney Sweeney, becomes pregnant despite being a virgin. This religious horror film follows genre conventions but sows unease.
Space, Satire, and Sparks: Fly Me to the Moon Blends History with Humor | Review
A screwball comedy set within the true (or presumed) story of the moon landing: a partially successful endeavor, with more than a few doubts…
“Twisters” Revives Disaster Genre with Human Connection | Review
The hurricane isn't just a special effect; the catastrophe impacts people. Lee Isaac Chung talks about climate change without naming it, denounces the exploitation…
How “Get Out” Exposes Racial Dynamics Through Horror | Review
Get Out successfully uses horror to expose dominant white narratives and societal decay. Peele’s sharp and straightforward style effectively highlights the complexities of racial…
The Great Escaper (2023) | Review
Fuga in Normandia moves viewers with real D-Day survivors and a tear-jerking finale. Jackson and Caine’s performances bring heartfelt authenticity.
Acid: A Dystopian Eco-Thriller by Just Philippot | Review
A film of extreme seriousness, distress, and apocalypse where the ecological parable gives way to existing horror with no escape. Unappealing to climate change…
Survival and Social Commentary in Just Philippot’s “Acid” | Review
Just Philippot’s film on acid rain devastating France is a nightmare of our time: it knows well that today’s climate is the real horror…
Miss Violence (2013) | Review
Miss Violence starts with potential but devolves into gratuitous shock value, lacking the subtlety and depth needed for its disturbing themes. The result is…
Family, Fear, and Frights Return in “a Quiet Place Part II” | Review
Redundant but overall effective, A Quiet Place II by John Krasinski shifts its genre blend from sci-fi western to sci-fi on the road, multiplying…
Inside Out 2 Explores Riley’s Puberty with New Emotions | Review
Inside Out 2 explores Riley's puberty with new emotions but misses the depth of the original. Visually stunning, it’s a global box office hit.
Silent Survival: “A Quiet Place” by John Krasinski | Review
Thriller-horror skillfully built around the theme of “fear of the neighbor,” A Quiet Place by John Krasinski is a masterful and tense ticking time bomb.
A Quiet Place: Day One: A Prequel’s Struggle Between Horror and Drama | Review
"A Quiet Place: Day One" tries to combine horror and melodrama, focusing on a terminally ill woman during an alien invasion in New York.…
The Tragic Reality of Europe’s Green Border in Agnieszka Holland’s Film | Review
Green Border reveals the tragic plight of refugees at the Belarus-Poland border, exposing Europe's moral void and contrasting the treatment of Ukrainian and non-European…
Coralie Fargeat’s “the Substance”: Irony and Grotesque in Youth Obsession | Review
With her second film "The Substance," Coralie Fargeat delivers a strange blend of "Death Becomes Her" and "Society," with hints of "Tetsuo" and a…
Richard Kelly’s “the Box”: A Modern “Twilight Zone” Experience | Review
With The Box, Donnie Darko director Richard Kelly revisits the popular science fiction atmosphere of The Twilight Zone, crafting a film that balances new…
Hit Man: A Playful Exploration of Disguise and Reality | Review
Hit Man by Richard Linklater tells the story of Gary, a philosophy professor and undercover agent, who pretends to be a hitman. The film…
Sex, Lies, and Videotape: A Long Psychoanalytic Session in Search of Truth
Perhaps it was the title that impressed (and misled) some Catholic critics, but Soderbergh's debut (Palme d'Or at Cannes 1989) is far from being…
Viridiana: When Obscurantist Power Attacked Buñuel’s Hopeless Utopia
Criticized by Catholics and politicians, banned in Spain until the start of the post-Franco Transition but awarded the Palme d'Or at Cannes: more than…
L’angosciosa Trilogia DI Werner Herzog
L'arrivo, sugli schermi nazionali, di Nosferatu, il principe della notte ci induce ad un esame critico dell'opera dell'autore, Werner Stipetić Herzog, regista di origine…
Inside Out 2 Review: A Sequel Tailored for Gen Z
Puberty and Other Disasters: The Adventure of Growing Up in Pixar's Sequel. Less groundbreaking than the original but captivating and profound, with irresistible moments…
New Emotions Take Center Stage in “Inside Out 2” | Review
Designed and orchestrated for a teenage audience, Inside Out 2 by Kelsey Mann blends teen and sports movie elements, multiplying emotions but not amplifying…
Exploring Authority and Rebellion in “the Teachers’ Lounge” by İlker Çatak | Review
Young teacher Carla Nowak's theft investigation in a multicultural German school reveals racial tensions and ethical dilemmas, challenging societal harmony.
Gladiator (2000): There Was Once a Dream That Was Rome
"Gladiator," a 2000 epic by Ridley Scott, revived the sword-and-sandal genre, featuring Russell Crowe's acclaimed performance, with rich visuals and historical liberties.
Philosophical Depth in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses” | Review
Ceylan's film examines the life of disenchanted art teacher Samet and his relationships in a remote village. It explores themes of intellectual crisis and…
Exploring Human Fragility in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses” | Review
A young teacher in Anatolia seeks escape to Istanbul amidst personal and societal contradictions. Ceylan's film beautifully captures the fragile essence of human existence.
Il Grande Lebowski (1998) | Recensioni
la Repubblica (1/5/1998) Irene Bignardi Il grande Lebowski non è un grande film – come ho avuto il dispiacere di dire da Berlino, dove è…
Hit Man: A Masterful Blend of Comedy and Noir | Review
A sensational film that uncovers the classic within the contemporary, reveals cinephilia in the imagination, and finds the ordinary in the extraordinary. A masterful…
Il Crepuscolo Del Neorealismo: “Umberto D.” DI Vittorio De Sica
"Umberto D." di Vittorio De Sica chiude idealmente la stagione del neorealismo italiano, raccontando la disperata solitudine di un pensionato e del suo cane…
Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness: A Return to Form | Review
Yorgos Lanthimos’s Kinds of Kindness blends his early cold, calculated style with recent vitality, exploring work, love, and faith. The film’s narrative and thematic…
The Watchers: Ishana Shyamalan’s Captivating Debut
Ishana Night Shyamalan's feature debut, with its highs and lows, is not just a byproduct of her father: it might be the birth of…
Provincial Life and Toxic Friendship in “Chien De La Casse” | Review
Chien de la casse explores a toxic friendship disrupted by new love, leading to growth and reconciliation. Realistic portrayal of provincial youth praised.
Cabaret’s Twisted Elegance and the Genius of Bob Fosse
Almost everything good in "Chicago" comes down to Bob Fosse, who made Rob Marshall look good, leading to six Oscars. Fosse's 1972 "Cabaret" remains…
Tim Burton’s “Beetlejuice”: A Classic Blend of Dark Humor and Whimsy
Tim Burton's Beetlejuice follows the Maitlands, deceased and trapped in their home, who hire chaotic Betelgeuse to rid intruding Deitzes, blending dark humor and…
Emancipation and Identity in Stéphanie DI Giusto’s “Rosalie”
Nadia Tereszkiewicz shines as a bearded woman in 19th-century rural France. A poignant melodrama, an unprecedented story of emancipation by Stéphanie Di Giusto
The Kill Room: A Disappointing Attempt at Black Comedy | Review
As a black comedy, it’s mediocre (Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson aren't enough to evoke Tarantino), and as a satire of contemporary art,…
Rocky (1976) | Review by Pauline Kael
The film, directed by John G. Avildsen, is a patchwork of old movie bits, yet it's emotionally effective and engaging. Stallone's performance exudes a…
Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness”: A Surreal Exploration of Power and Identity | Review
"Kinds of Kindness" by Yorgos Lanthimos explores power dynamics and identity through a surreal triptych. With intense performances and a bold narrative, it challenges…
Young Woman and the Sea: Daisy Ridley, Joachim Rønning, and an Incredible True Story | Review
"Young Woman and the Sea" tells the inspiring true story of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to swim the English Channel, starring Daisy Ridley…
Furiosa: The Mythical and Cinematic Journey of a Relentless Warrior | Review
"Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" explores the heroine's origins in a post-apocalyptic world, blending myths and genres, and drawing parallels to our reality.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael finds One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest powerful and engaging, with standout performances by Nicholson and Fletcher, though lacking in visual excitement.
Carrie (1976) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael lauds "Carrie" for Brian De Palma’s masterful horror-comedy blend, Sissy Spacek’s stellar performance, and the film’s thrilling, trashy charm and innovative style.
The Earrings of Madame De… | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael praises Ophuls's lush, romantic style in "The Earrings of Madame de...," highlighting its hypnotic rhythm and impeccable performances amidst a nostalgic elegance.
Anora: Sean Baker’s Satirical Take on Pretty Woman | Review
Anora, a rom-com by Sean Baker, explores class divides through a stripper's week with a rich Russian. Entertaining but weakened by length and repetition.
Brooklyn’s Cinderella: Anora Brings Raw Romance and Chaos | Review
Sean Baker remakes Pretty Woman in his own way: making his cinema take another step towards canonization. For the better rather than the worse.
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure with a Twist | Review
"Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" mixes humor, stunning design, and an ambitious plot in post-apocalyptic Australia. Max teams with Aunty Entity, faces exile, and rescues…
Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael praises The Road Warrior for its intense, visually striking action but criticizes its lack of depth and emotional engagement, leaving viewers feeling…
Watch Out for Furiosa: The Greek Tragedy in the Desert | Review
New chapter in the "Mad Max" saga: Miller and a heroine drawn from myth
“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” Brings New Depth to Wasteland | Review
From the dust of "Fury Road," George Miller attempts a new epic among the deserts of Wasteland, where the narrative takes precedence over the…
“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” at Cannes: Rasoulof’s Tale of Paranoia and Oppression | Review
Mohammad Rasoulof brings the paranoia and constraints of a father, and a master country, into Competition: valuable but perfectible
Emilia Pérez: A Unique Blend of Crime and Musical Drama | Review
Para-musical, gender transitions, and Mexico: Jacques Audiard brings ideas, and more, to the Competition
Saturday Night Fever (1977) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael praises "Saturday Night Fever" for its vibrant disco scenes and John Travolta's raw, captivating performance, capturing the romantic yearning of the seventies…
Cultural Richness and Emotional Depth in Sorrentino’s “Parthenope” | Review
“The Neapolitan who lives in the psychology of the miracle,” the director who becomes Odysseus: around Parthenope, mortally wounding himself...
Megalopolis – A Lifetime Dream | Review
Coppola's Megalopolis, a decade-long project, debuts at Cannes, facing mixed reactions. The film blends epic ambition and innovative storytelling, challenging conventional cinema.
Parthenope: Paolo Sorrentino’s Tribute to Youth and Naples | Review
"Era già tutto previsto": Sorrentino's ultimate ode to the mystery of youth and the mystery of Naples, through the life of a beautiful, indefinable,…
Imagination and Memory Shine in John Krasinski’s “if” | Review
You are never alone in life, nothing you love can be forgotten, and memories live forever in your heart: after "A Quiet Place", John…
Cannes 2024: David Cronenberg’s ‘the Shrouds’ Fails to Impress | Review
David Cronenberg takes us to the cemetery and leaves the film there: what a pity
Challengers: Tennis as a Religious Experience in Luca Guadagnino’s Latest Film | Review
Challengers by Guadagnino intertwines tennis and cinema, exploring deep human connections through Tashi's relationships, revealing life's profound truths.
Anh Hung Tran – The Taste of Things | Review
A 19th-century chef and his cook's bond unfolds through culinary perfection. Anh Hung Tran's film uses food to explore human relationships and fulfillment.
Ali Abbasi’s the Apprentice: A Look at Trump’s Early Years | Review
Ali Abbasi's "The Apprentice" at Cannes 2024 explores Trump's rise under Roy Cohn, presenting a nuanced, judgment-free look at his formative years and America's…
Reviving the Western: “Horizon: An American Saga” by Kevin Costner | Review
Kevin Costner's "Horizon: An American Saga" premieres at Cannes, blending classic and modern western elements in an ambitious four-part series.
The Substance: A Masterful Body-Horror Film at Cannes | Review
Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance blends body-horror and societal critique, starring Demi Moore as a star confronting her younger, more beautiful alter ego.
A Clockwork Orange: Schizophrenia / the Two Faces of Kubrick
Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange blends symbolic imagery with narrative and educational elements, exploring the dichotomies of violence, morality, and aesthetics.
Yorgos Lanthimos’s Absurdist Return in “Kinds of Kindness” | Review
"Kinds of Kindness" by Lanthimos critiques modern society with absurdity and irreverence, starring Stone, Dafoe, Plemons, and Qualley. Provocative but morally shallow.
Megalopolis: Coppola’s Ambitious Film at Cannes 2024 | Review
Farcical, baroque, pompous, obsessed with time: the latest grand film by Francis Ford Coppola is yet another kamikaze love letter to cinema
Magnolia (1999) | Recensioni
Recensioni italiane del film Magnolia, diretto da Paul Thomas Anderson. Contributi di Irene Bignardi, Tullio Kezich, Alfredo Boccioletti, Lietta Tornabuoni, Maurizio Cabona, Alberto Crespi,…
Challengers – Eroticism and Sweat Redefine Tennis Aesthetics | Film Review
Luca Guadagnino's film explores tennis as an intimate, kinetic relationship; Zendaya stars in a narrative that blends personal conflicts and professional rivalry.
Manhattan (1979) | Review by Stanley Kauffmann
Manhattan is a faulty film, but it’s moderately amusing
45 Years of Manhattan – A Sentimental Rhapsody of Desperate Humanity
Veronica Rossi revisits "Manhattan" on its 45th anniversary, highlighting its cultural impact and timeless portrayal of New York's intellectual scene. The film blends romantic…
The Garfield Movie (2024) | Review
Adventure, slapstick, and sentiment blend in the sixth big-screen outing of the voracious cat: Dindal and Reynolds (The Emperor's New Groove) are a reliable…
Just the Two of US (2023) | Review
MOVIE REVIEWS Just the Two of Us (2023) French: L’Amour et les Forêts Directed by Valérie Donzelli When Blanche crosses paths with Grégoire, she…
Anselm (2023) | Review
The portrait of the German painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer, one of the most innovative and significant artists of our time, captures his life,…
Explanation for Everything (2023) | Review
Abel is a high school student struggling to focus on his final exams, while being hopelessly in love with his best friend Janka.
The Duality of Detection in Orson Welles’ “Touch of Evil”
On April 23, 1958, Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" was released in American theaters. It contains one of the most moving deaths and epitaphs…
Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” Merges Film Theory with Visual Artistry | Film Review
"Challengers" blends tennis with cinema theory, exploring relationships and visual storytelling in Luca Guadagnino's unique style.
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith | Review by Stephen Schiff
Based on a novel by Thomas Keneally, which in turn is based on a true story, "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith" is about a…
Abel Gance’s Napoleon | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael explores the exuberant artistry of Abel Gance, particularly in his film Napoléon, lauding his ability to blend avant-garde filmmaking techniques with a…
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978) | Review by Pauline Kael
The great Australian film "The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith" is a dreamlike Requiem Mass for a nation’s lost honor
Alex Garland’s Civil War Explores the Impact of Images in a Polarized America | Review
How "Civil War" uses photography to challenge viewers' reality perceptions
‘Civil War’ Blends Sci-Fi and Reality in a Stark Vision of America’s Future | Review
Alex Garland's 'Civil War' offers a stark vision of a divided America.
Shattered Union and Alex Garland’s Gritty Vision of a Fractured America | “Civil War” Review
Hoping it's not too prophetic, the onslaught of new movie releases brings few must-sees; however, among them is "Civil War" by the ingenious Alex…
How “the Red Shoes” Defies Traditional Cinema with Its Fairy Tale Narrative
Powell & Pressburger balanced high & popular cinema, creating iconic films like "The Red Shoes," a melodrama with a fairy-tale twist, blending art &…
A Review of “Robot Dreams”: How Silence Speaks Volumes in Modern Cinema
MOVIE REVIEWS Robot Dreams (2023) Directed by Pablo Berger DOG lives in Manhattan, and tired of always being alone, he builds a robot. Set…
How Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas Transformed True Crime into an Epic Tale of Power and Paranoia
"GoodFellas" follows Henry Hill’s journey from aspiring mobster to guilt-ridden criminal, exploring the allure and destruction of organized crime with gripping authenticity.
Back to Black: A Surface-Level Tribute to Amy Winehouse | Review
The wave of musical biopics has not spared Amy Winehouse: Marisa Abela avoids caricature, but the film remains superficial, teetering between hagiography and marketing.
Zendaya Shines Bright in Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers” | a Film Review
Luca Guadagnino's melodramatic love triangle reveals the limitless possibilities hidden within the confines of a tennis court: Zendaya's star has never shone as brightly…
And the Party Goes on | Review
Rosa, heart of old Marseille, balances family, work, and activism. As retirement nears and doubts rise, she finds it's never too late for dreams.
Tatami, a Woman Fighting for Freedom | Movie Review
During the world judo championships, Iranian judoka Leila and her coach Maryam receive an ultimatum from the Islamic Republic instructing Leila to fake an…
“The First Omen” Review: A Feminist Horror Reimagining of the Antichrist’s Origin Story
The saga of Damien begins again with the prequel: a non-trivial horror that reflects on possession from a feminist perspective.
From Blancanieves to Robot Dreams: Why Pablo Berger’s Animation Is a Must-See
Review: Robot Dreams skips dialogue for a beautiful story of a dog and robot's bond. A heartwarming & unforgettable film.
Até Que a Música Pare (Until the Music Is Over, 2023) | Review
Cristiane Oliveira's 'Até que a Música Pare' blends loss, love, and cultural heritage into a narrative that captivates and heals.
The Teachers’ Lounge: A Haunting Look at Modern Education | Review
"The Teachers' Lounge" is a thriller where an idealistic teacher clashes with suspicion & discrimination in a German school.
Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire | Review of Adam Wingard’s Film
The film is the fifth feature in the MonsterVerse, bringing the two most iconic titans of cinema back to the big screen
“Los Colonos” (the Settlers), a Review of the Film by Felipe Gálvez Haberle
Between western and drama, the film by Chilean Felipe Gálvez Haberle harshly depicts the extermination of the Ona people.
“Factotum” by Bent Hamer | Review
The film by Norwegian Bent Hamer remains faithful to the novel's mood, its simple, raw, uninhibited style
Kung Fu Panda 4 | Review
While Disney is experiencing perhaps the most difficult period in its history, and while auteur animation is making more than one hit and bringing…
Todd Haynes Enchants Everyone with “May December”
Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman star in Todd Haynes' "May December," a captivating exploration of love, truth, and the price of fame.
Mads Mikkelsen Battles Nature and Society in “the Promised Land”
Nikolaj Arcel returns to direct a historical film eleven years after Royal Affair, with which he won the Silver Bear in Berlin in 2012,…
Out of Manure Bloom Flowers | Master Gardener Review
At the beginning of Master Gardener, the blooming flowers anticipate the story that will be told but above all symbolize the circularity of life…
Masquerade (1988) | Review by Pauline Kael
Masquerade blends thriller and romance with a plot of deception and love among the wealthy, set in the Hamptons. Subtle, engaging, and noir-esque.
David Lynch’s Dune: An Unintelligible Chaos of Names, Faces, Stilted Dialogue
Bruce Crouchet deems "Dune" a debacle, criticizing its pacing, adaptation, and score, resulting in a film that fails to capture the novel's essence.
A Refreshing Dressing Down of Political Correctness in the USA
Cord Jefferson's American Fiction mocks cancel culture & PC, with a stellar Jeffrey Wright as Monk, facing cultural wars. A must-see satire.
Monsters, Women, and Poor Creatures: From Mary Shelley to Yorgos Lanthimos
The "poor things" in the title of the Greek director's film are the women subjected to an eternal, ever-changing, and renewable system of oppression…
Oppenheimer: A Visionary Journey to the End of the World | Review
Nolan's "Oppenheimer" is a human, immersive film exploring the dilemma of creation, destruction, and guilt, set against a backdrop of war and scientific pursuit.
“Last Summer” Review: Catherine Breillat’s Erotic Reimagining of Queen of Hearts
Breillat reimagines "Queen of Hearts" with a forbidden love story. Last Summer explores desire, but clunky dialogue & symbolism hold it back.
Jessica Chastain Unravels Dark Past in Michel Franco’s “Memory”
Jessica Chastain confronts a dark past when a classmate re-enters her life. Memory explores trauma, forgiveness & a glimmer of hope.
Dune Part Two: A Maximalist Masterpiece Lost in a Labyrinth of Images
Villeneuve's "Dune: Part Two" overwhelms with visuals but stumbles in narrative. This review explores its ambition, epic scale, and lingering imagery, questioning if it…
Andrew Haigh’s “All of US Strangers”: A Haunting Exploration of Grief, Memory, and Healing
Andrew Haigh's "All of Us Strangers" explores a writer's struggle with grief, memory, and finding solace. The film is a haunting portrayal of loss…
Nashville (1975) | Review by Pauline Kael
"Nashville" offers an elated cinematic adventure, mixing humor and music into a deep exploration of American culture, sans overwhelming the viewer.
Sand and Salvation. “Dune: Part Two” Rides the Worm of Spectacle
The humanist sci-fi maestro Denis Villeneuve turns his gaze to jihad, letting Timothée Chalamet ride the worms: a stellar sequel
Dune 2 Review: Spectacle Soars, Spark Sputters
Dune 2 review: Breathtaking visuals & action, but is spectacle enough? Explore Paul Atreides' complex journey & Villeneuve's masterful world-building, while questioning the film's…
Beyond Black and White: The Layered Satire of ‘American Fiction’
Cord Jefferson's film, based on Percival Everett's novel, critiques racial stereotypes in literature and media, blending family drama and satire.
Hearing the Silence: Glazer’s “the Zone of Interest” and the Unseen Horrors of Auschwitz
Beyond the Wall: Witnessing Evil Through the Banality of Everyday Life in The Zone of Interest
Under the Spotlight: The Unearthly Charm of Jonathan Glazer’s “Under the Skin”
A journey through the hauntingly beautiful narrative of "Under the Skin", where the confluence of alien enigma and the essence of humanity births a…
Eden Thrives Next to the Concentration Camp: All It Takes Is Looking Away
'The Zone of Interest' review: A riveting exploration of beauty juxtaposed with horror, where willful blindness paints a surreal landscape beside a camp's shadows.
“The Zone of Interest” Review: The Calm After the Storm
A masterful adaptation of Amis's 'The Zone of Interest' by Glazer, exploring the Holocaust's representation with stark clarity and innovative cinema.
Song’s Symphony of Memories: Past Lives Review
Memories linger, questions arise: Past Lives review probes identity, fate & love's second chances. A poignant & introspective film.
From Childhood Sweethearts to Missed Connections: “Past Lives” Explores Love’s Lost Threads
Past Lives: A touching story of love & fate, capturing universal truths. A must-see indie film that tugs at the heartstrings.
Movie Review: Comandante – Salvatore Todaro’s Tale of Valor and Humanity by Edoardo De Angelis
'Comandante' blends war drama & moral choices, showcasing Todaro's heroism & humanity in WWII. A poignant, multifaceted film by De Angelis.
“Bob Marley: One Love” Sounds Good, Despite the Wooden Actors
A review of 'Bob Marley: One Love,' celebrating his enduring legacy and message of unity through the film's portrayal and iconic music
“Coup De Chance” Review: Allen’s Latest Explores Luck, Fate, and Familiar Themes
"Coup de Chance: Woody Allen's reflection on luck vs. talent in a less dark, yet poignant narrative. A blend of romance, mystery, and existential…
Green Border Review: Humanity vs. Inhumanity in Agnieszka Holland’s Powerful New Film
Agnieszka Holland's "Green Border" depicts the plight of migrants deceived by Belarus, struggling to enter the EU through Poland, in a film blending activism…
Hallucinations from a Past Future: ‘Poor Things’ Revives the Steampunk Aesthetic
Steam technology blended with fantastical elements, pseudo-Victorian costumes interwoven with contemporary fashion. The film everyone's talking about is also a new plunge into the…
Spy Games and Star Power: The Thrills and Wit of ‘Argylle’
Matthew Vaughn unleashes his imagination, tied to today's James Bonds, in a film that's both ironic and smart. Featuring a star-studded cast from Henry…
“Anyone but You” Review: Sydney Sweeney, Glen Powell, and the Return of the Great American Rom-Com
Is "Everyone But You" too good to be true? Yes, but that's perfectly fine because it's been years since we've seen a classic romantic…
Shadows and Enlightenment: ‘Orion and the Dark’ Through Charlie Kaufman’s Vision
The review of Orion and the Dark, a new and precious DreamWorks animated film distributed by Netflix, is a deeply existentialist, entertaining, and moving…
A Solitary Beacon: How Sidney Poitier and ‘in the Heat of the Night’ Reframed Hollywood’s Conversation on Race
How Sidney Poitier's iconic role in 'In the Heat of the Night' reshaped Hollywood's racial narrative, marking a pivotal shift in cinema's approach to…
Devouring Visions: Yorgos Lanthimos’ ‘Poor Things’ and the Hunger for Life | Film Review
'Poor Things' by Yorgos Lanthimos, a tale of insatiable appetite for life, blending gothic and visionary styles in a stunning cinematic feast
‘How to Have Sex’: A Journey Through Adolescence, Ambiguity, and Existentialism | Film Review
"How to Have Sex," by Molly Manning Walker, is a compelling film exploring youth, consent, and existential questions
Lanthimos’s ‘Poor Things’: A Daring Blend of Victorian and Modern Zest
Dr. Baxter, disfigured by experiments, creates Bella from a suicidal woman and her unborn child's brain in Lanthimos's dark, society-questioning film
Poor Things: Lanthimos’ Reimagining of Womanhood
Yorgos Lanthimos' 'Poor Things' at Venice Film Festival: Emma Stone's transformative role blurs lines of reality and art, challenging societal norms
Tokyo Reimagined: Wim Wenders’ Homage to Ozu in ‘Tokyo-Ga’ Echoes Through ‘Perfect Days’
If Wim Wender's Perfect Days struck a chord with you, then Tokyo-Ga (1985) is a must-watch, promising to be a delightful experience
Shadows and Echoes: The Enigmatic Symphony of Wim Wenders’ ‘Perfect Days’
Review of Wim Wenders' 'Perfect Days', a cinematic journey blending simplicity and profundity in Tokyo's everyday life
Ken Russell’s ‘the Devils’: A Masterful Dance with Darkness and Depravity
Ken Russell's 'The Devils' is a bold portrayal of 17th-century fanaticism, a cinematic journey through human darkness and religious hypocrisy
Isabelle Huppert’s Enigmatic ‘Sidonie in Japan’: Embracing Ghosts and Self-Discovery
While on a book tour in Japan, Sidonie Perceval, still haunted by the ghost of her late husband, begins an affair with her mysterious…
Bringing up Baby (1938): The Timeless Charm of a Screwball Classic
"Bringing Up Baby," a 1938 screwball comedy with Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, was initially a flop but later celebrated for its witty humor…
Alexander Payne’s Nostalgic Turn: ‘The Holdovers’ Review
In December 1970, Paul Hunham, a strict classics professor at Barton Academy, faces resentment for his harsh grading and stern attitude. After costing the…
Fritz Lang’s “M”: A Masterpiece of Cinematic Suspense
In Dusseldorf, a shadow of terror looms as an elusive child murderer roams free. This enigmatic killer preys on young girls, remaining out of…
Clutching at Grit: Ken Loach’s ‘the Old Oak’ – A Stark Reflection on Life’s Fragile Edges
Emanuela Martini's insightful review of Ken Loach's 'The Old Oak': a raw portrayal of resilience and community in a post-industrial England
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Cinematic Harmony: ‘Evil Does Not Exist’ | Review
Set against Japan's picturesque Mizubiki, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's film 'Evil Does Not Exist' blends rural tranquility and urban turmoil
Enclosures of Desire: The Unsettling Paradoxes in Glazer’s “the Zone of Interest”
Jonathan Glazer explores the stark contrast between paradise and hell in 'The Zone of Interest,' where the intertwined lives of protagonists unfold beside the…
Film Critic | in the Shadows of Doubt: Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall”
Justine Triet's "Anatomy of a Fall" is not your run-of-the-mill psychological thriller; it's a sinuous journey through the intricate mazes of a fractured union,…
Perfect Days Review: Wim Wenders’ Poetic Portrayal of Tokyo’s Underbelly
At 78, the German director debuts Perfect Days, a film set in Tokyo's public restrooms. Nominated for the 81st Golden Globes and an Oscar…
Clerks: The Cult Classic That Redefined Indie Cinema
Kevin Smith's "Clerks" turns thirty in January 2024. This low-budget cult classic hilariously follows two clerks' daily lives, highlighting a lost era of off-Hollywood…
Political Ferocity in 1980s British Cinema: “Made in Britain” | Review
David Leland's death highlights Made in Britain, a film by Alan Clarke with Tim Roth, critiquing 1980s British politics and education through the rebellious…
Celebrating the Legacy of ‘the Sting’: A 50-Year Journey with Paul Newman and Robert Redford
Fifty years ago, a cinematic masterpiece graced the silver screen, weaving a tale of intrigue, deception, and unparalleled camaraderie that would forever change the…
Hayao Miyazaki’s the Boy and the Heron | Reviews
The story follows Mahito, a 12-year-old boy struggling to cope with the loss of his mother during World War II
Perfect Days (2023) DI Wim Wenders | Recensioni
Un uomo sereno. Un lavoro importante: pulire i gabinetti. L'ultimo Wenders è un concerto di dettagli. Che celano un segreto
Riding the Final Wave: A Farewell to Arms and Fins in ‘Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom’
Review of 'Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom'—a bittersweet farewell to the DCEU, fusing action, humor, and a genuine environmental message
Charlie Chaplin’s ‘the Circus’: A Masterpiece of Melancholy and Mirth
Chaplin's The Circus was released in 1928 when cinema was rocked by the sound revolution. It follows the stratospheric success of The Gold Rush…
Leave the World Behind (2023) | Reviews
From the eponymous novel by Rumaan Alam, Sam Esmail gives us a new allegory on how today the only way we seem to be…
Maestro (2023) | Reviews
The life of composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein unfurls like a tantalizing cinematic score in Bradley Cooper's second directorial and starring venture
Fallen Leaves (2023) | Reviews
In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of love meet by chance in a karaoke bar. However, their path to happiness is beset…
Saltburn (2023) | Reviews
A student at Oxford University finds himself drawn into the world of a charming and aristocratic classmate, who invites him to his eccentric family's…
Ferrari (2023) | Reviews
Set in the summer of 1957, with Enzo Ferrari's auto empire in crisis, the ex-racer turned entrepreneur pushes himself and his drivers to the…
Paper Moon (1973): A Heartfelt Odyssey Through the Great Depression’s Charmed and Charlatan Landscape
Paper Moon, directed by Peter Bogdanovich and released in 1973, is a heartwarming yet comically charged road movie set against the backdrop of the…
Love Story (1970): A Timeless Tale of Love and Loss
Love Story is not just a love story; it is a poignant and heartbreaking tale of loss and the enduring power of love
The Color Purple (1985) | Reviews
"The Color Purple," directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 1985, is an adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name
Hannah and Her Sisters | Review by Pauline Kael
All the vital vulgarity of Woody Allen’s early movies has been drained away here, as it was in Interiors, but this time he’s made…
Exploring the Poetic Realism of ‘Withnail and I’
In 1969, two substance-abusing, unemployed actors retreat to the countryside for a holiday that proves disastrous. by Alex Godfrey “Everything looks ill,” describes Bruce…
Tim Burton’s the Nightmare Before Christmas | Review by Kim Newman
Although a fragile conceit, The Nightmare Before Christmas is certainly more worthy of your attention than any Disney 2-D cartoon since Basil - The…
Lost Harmony: Tarkovsky’s the Mirror and the Stalker
In the following essay, Dempsey discusses the enigmatic narrative and thematic aspects of Tarkovsky's films, focusing on The Mirror and The Stalker.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day – “A James Cameron Film” | Review
James Cameron’s sense of his own mission seems to be growing as fast as his production budgets. Terminator 2 is less a sequel to…
Le Notti DI Cabiria (1957) | Recensione DI Guido Aristarco
Che posto viene a occupare Le notti di Cabiria nella prospettiva odierna del cinema italiano, e nell'opera di Fellini, in quel capitolo che possiamo…
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) | Review by Owen Gleiberman
At its visionary best, Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ has scenes of feverish intensity that hold one in thrall.
Dreamchild (1985) | Review by Pauline Kael
Dreamchild is not a movie for a wide audience; it simply isn’t conceived in the broad, narrative patterns that please most moviegoers. Yet it’s…
Aliens (1986) | Review by Pauline Kael
Aliens is a very big “Boo!” movie. Long and visually repetitious, this sci-fi action-horror film is scaled to be an epic, and it’s certainly…
The Little Mermaid (1989) | Review by Pauline Kael
Parents seem desperate for harmless family entertainment. Probably they don’t mind this movie’s being vapid, because the whole family can share it, and no…
Yellow Submarine (1968) | Review by Pauline Kael
No doubt we can all do with less threat and less stress in the environment, and yet there’s something depressing about seeing yesterday’s outlaw…
Past Lives (2023) | Recensioni
Nora e Hae Sung, due amici d'infanzia profondamente legati, si separano quando la famiglia di Nora dalla Corea del Sud emigra in Canada. Due…
Bed and Board (1970) | Review by Pauline Kael
As this series of Antoine Doinel films has gone on, Truffaut has had less and less to say about his once semi-autobiographical hero, and…
Promise at Dawn (1970) | Review by Pauline Kael
Promise at Dawn starts from a clever commercial premise: to use Romain Gary’s autobiographical memoir for an anti-Freudian movie — a hero celebrating the…
La Sottile Linea Rossa | Recensioni
La sottile linea rossa (The Thin Red Line) è un film del 1998 scritto e diretto da Terrence Malick. Il film è tratto dall'omonimo…
Il Cubo (Cube, 1997) | Recensioni
Il cubo Titolo originale: Cube Anno: 1997 Regista: Vincenzo Natali * * * La Stampa (28/5/1999) Lietta Tornabuoni Horror geometrico, coreografie della paura: in «Cube»…
How Barbie Misses the Mark on Patriarchal Critique | Review
Barbie fails to deliver a genuine challenge to patriarchal norms, lacking the radical edge of earlier works by John Waters and Ira Levin. Its…
El Topo (1970) | Review by Pauline Kael
Jodorowsky has come up with something new: exploitation filmmaking joined to sentimentality — the sentimentality of the counter-culture.
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Review
MOVIE REVIEWS Towards Infinity and Beyond: Lord & Miller’s Multiverse Takes No Prisoners. An immersive and alienating experience that lays the foundation for new…
Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) | Recensioni
Recensioni italiane di "Killers of the Flower Moon", il film del 2023 diretto da Martin Scorsese. La pellicola è l'adattamento cinematografico del romanzo "Gli…
The Big Chill (1983) | Review by Pauline Kael
Anyone who believes himself to have been a revolutionary or a deeply committed radical during his student-demonstration days in the late sixties is likely…
Trading Places (1983) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael’s review of TRADING PLACES sees John Landis’s comedy as rigid and dated, saved mainly by Eddie Murphy’s sharp energy and modern presence.
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955) | Review by Pauline Kael
A nearly perfect work. The film is bathed in beauty, removed from the banalities of short skirts and modern-day streets and shops, and removed…
Patty Hearst (1988) – Review by Pauline Kael
A lean, impressive piece of work. Nicholas Kazan’s script, which is based on Patty Hearst’s own account, Every Secret Thing, comes across as bilge-free.
Bird (1988) – Review by Pauline Kael
What I saw was a rat’s nest of a movie—all flashbacks and rain. Eastwood has been conscientious: he hasn’t commercialized the material.
Back to the Future Part II (1989) – Review by Pauline Kael
Back to the Future Part II is all manic and wacky. It’s all twists.
Il Grido | Recensione DI Filippo Sacchi
Invito alla censura: non strozzare Il Grido di Antonioni
Un Coeur En Hiver (a Heart in Winter) | Review by Claire Monk [Sight and Sound]
Paris. Violin-maker Stéphane and his friend Maxime have been business partners for many years, but both now take their friendship as given and probe…
Blood Simple | Review by Pauline Kael
Blood Simple has no sense of what we normally think of as “reality,” and it has no connections with “experience.” It’s not a great…
The Coen Brothers: A Killing Joke | by David Denby
The Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men casts an ominous and mournful spell from the first shot. Over scenes of a desolate West…
Monsieur Verdoux | Review by James Agee
I think Monsieur Verdoux is one of the best movies ever made, easily the most exciting and most beautiful since Modern Times. I will…
Amadeus (1984) | Review by Pauline Kael
Milos Forman trudges through the movie as if every step were a major contribution to art, and he keeps the audience hooked the same…
Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Decalogue | Review by Stanley Kauffmann
Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Decalogue is a series of ten films, each one slightly less than an hour long, made for Polish TV in 1988-1989
Barry Lyndon | Review by Michael Dempsey
Barry Lyndon is utterly the opposite of the loose, improvised movies which are so popular with many critics these days. Every detail of it…
Bringing Out the Dead (1999) | Review by Stanley Kauffmann
A chief trouble with Martin Scorsese’s new film is that it has to strain to be a Scorsese film. Certain graphic qualities have marked…
The Straight Story (1999) | Review by Stanley Kauffmann
Anyone ignorant of Lynch who sees The Straight Story will need an extra mite of patience to allow its beauty to unfold; others will…
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace | Review by Stanley Kauffmann
This latest Star Wars has the same basic effect as the other three: the sense that it was made not only for children but…
Top Gun (1986) | Review by Stanley Kauffmann
Films like Top Gun bring out the pharisee in many of us. We deplore the ethos that these films promote at the same time…
Wings of Desire (1987) | Review by Pauline Kael
Wings of Desire constantly articulates the impossibility of finding any meaning in anything. At the same time, it’s a love-story message movie.
Top Gun (1986) | Review by Pauline Kael
Top Gun is a recruiting poster that isn’t concerned with recruiting but with being a poster.
The Piano (1993) | Review by Stanley Kauffmann
The Piano, garlanded with Cannes Festival prizes, is an overwrought, hollowly symbolic glob of glutinous nonsense
Tess (1979)
Il film conferma la tendenza di Roman Polanski a concepire il cinema come arte delle emozioni immediate e superficiali: stupore, terrore, commozione.
Raiders of the Lost Ark | Review by Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel called Raiders of the Lost Ark a return to form for Spielberg, demonstrating a competence not seen since Jaws. He described it…
Le Avventure Acquatiche DI Steve Zissou | Recensioni
Steve Zissou, è un oceanografo e regista di documentari che è deciso a vendicarsi del terribile squalo che l’ha privato del suo compagno di…
I Tenenbaum | Recensioni
Royal Tenenbaum si è sposato e ha avuto tre figli "geni": Chas, Richie e Margot, cresciuti con la madre Etheline. Royal, che si è…
Fellini’s Roma | Review by Paul D. Zimmerman
Fellini discards the twin staples of character development and continuous narrative in favor of a series of set pieces organized around the tension between…
Fellini’s Roma | Review by David Denby
In Fellini’s Roma, the director has totally liberated his obsessions from the discipline of telling a story or developing a character or even maintaining…
The Candidate | Review by Richard Schickel
We have never been overburdened with movies about electoral politics, probably because the process of running for office in this country is in itself…
The Candidate | Review by Charles Champlin
In The Candidate, Redford and Ritchie have teamed again to deliver what I think is nothing less than the best movie yet done about…
The Sorrow and the Pity (1969) – Review by David Denby
One of the greatest films ever made, "The Sorrow and The Pity" is a contribution to history, to social psychology, to anthropology, and to…
L.a. Confidential | Review by David Denby
The mesmerizing ‘L.A. Confidential’ unfolds in a seductive demimonde where violence and desire, nobility and vice, all intersect.
Crimes and Misdemeanors | Review by David Denby
Woody Allen, to our relief, has decided to embrace the movies—a story, dramatic tension, complications—rather than “art,” with the result that he’s more of…
Kagemusha | Review by David Denby
Spectacular yet severe, violent yet gravely formal, Kagemusha is marked by an overall nobility of style that extends to every gesture, stance, or movement.
Ordinary People (1980) | Review by David Denby
Heartfelt and sincere, Ordinary People plods along glumly and finally achieves a moderate degree of emotional truth and power, but it’s far from an…
Coal Miner’s Daughter | Review by David Denby
Coal Miner’s Daughter is a musical bio-pic without hysteria—a sweet-souled movie in a genre known for its flamboyant miseries and luxuriant despairs.
Pulp Fiction | Review by David Denby
Tarantino serves up low-life characters and situations from old novels and movies, and he revels in every manner of pulp flagrancy—murder and betrayal, drugs,…
Night and the City | Review by David Denby
Night and the City is based on a Jules Dassin B-movie from 1950 (same title), but its true spiritual antecedent, I suspect, is Sweet…
La Finestra DI Fronte | Recensioni
In una Roma calda e conservata, il soccorso a un anziano in stato confusionale, ex deportato, incide sulla vita di due giovani coniugi e…
L’ora DI Religione | Recensioni
La notizia della prossima beatificazione della madre costringe un celebre pittore ateo a riconsiderare il senso della presenza o dell'assenza di Dio e il…
The Truman Show | Recensioni
The Truman Show è un film del 1998 diretto da Peter Weir. La pellicola è una satira fantascientifica, ispirata parzialmente a un episodio di…
Sully | Recensioni
Recensioni del film Sully, diretto da Clint Eastwood. Contributi di Roberto Escobar, Pier Maria Bocchi, Peter Debruge
Buongiorno, Notte | Recensioni
Attraverso un resoconto che mescola la narrazione del romanzo con documenti televisivi originali dell'epoca, il Marco Bellocchio rievoca il dramma umano dello statista Aldo…
Il Traditore | Recensioni
Il traditore è un film del 2019 diretto da Marco Bellocchio. La pellicola narra le vicende di Tommaso Buscetta, mafioso e successivamente collaboratore di…
No Time to Die | Recensioni
L’agente 007 James Bond, ormai ritirato dal servizio dopo la cattura di Franz Oberhauser, viva un’esistenza tranquilla in Giamaica, lontano dalle avventure e dai…
Larry Flynt – Oltre Lo Scandalo | Recensioni
Recensioni italiane del film Larry Flynt - Oltre lo scandalo, diretto da Milos Forman. Contributi di Alessandra Levantesi, Tullio Kezich, Emanuela Martini, Irene Bignardi,…
Boogie Nights | Recensioni
Recensioni italiane del film Boogie Nights, diretto da Paul Thomas Anderson. Contributi di Lietta Tornabuoni, Tullio Kezich, Emanuela Martini, Irene Bignardi, Michele Anselmi, Massimo…
Tutti Dicono I Love You [Everybody Says I Love You] | Recensioni
Recensioni del film Tutti dicono I love you, diretto da Woody Allen. Contributi di Tullio Kezich, Lietta Tornabuoni, Irene Bignardi, Alberto Crespi, Roberto Escobar,…
La Dea Dell’amore | Recensioni
Recensioni italiane del film La dea dell'amore, diretto da Woody Allen. Contributi di Lietta Tornabuoni, Tullio Kezich, Emanuela Martini, Irene Bignardi, Paolo Mereghetti, Alberto…
Mystic River | Recensioni
Recensioni italiane del film Mystic River, diretto da Clint Eastwood. Contributi di Silvio Danese, Alfredo Boccioletti, Alessandra Levantesi, Roberto Nepoti, Emanuela Martini, Roberto Escobar
Casinò | Recensioni
Recensioni italiane del film Casinò, diretto da Martin Scorsese. Contributi di Tullio Kezich, Emanuela Martini, Irene Bignardi, Paolo Mereghetti, Alberto Crespi, Roberto Duiz, Roberto…
L’esercito Delle 12 Scimmie – Recensioni
Recensioni italiane del film L'esercito delle 12 scimmie, diretto da Terry Gilliam. Contributi di Tullio Kezich, Irene Bignardi, Alberto Crespi, Roberto Silvestri, Paolo Mereghetti,…
Dune (2021) | Recensioni
Viaggio mitico ed emozionante di un eroe, Dune narra la storia di Paul Atreides, giovane brillante e dotato di talento, nato per andare incontro…
Full Metal Jacket – Review by David Denby
Can the sentiment of Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket be anything but mere attitude—death-enthralled chic?
2001: A Space Odyssey – Fantastic Journey
Kubrick has, in one big jump, discovered new possibilities for the screen image. He took on a large challenge, and has met it commendably.
Poltergeist (1982) – Review by Pauline Kael
Poltergeist, which is about a family besieged by nasty, prankish ghosts, is no more than an entertaining hash designed to spook you. It’s The…
Shoot the Moon (1982) | Review by Pauline Kael
There wasn’t a single scene in the English director Alan Parker’s first three feature films (Bugsy Malone, Midnight Express, Fame) that I thought rang…
Heaven’s Gate – Review by Pauline Kael
Heaven’s Gate” is a numbing shambles. It’s a movie you want to deface; you want to draw mustaches on it, because there’s no observation…
Film Review: The Mission (1986)
Roland Joffé's epic film is well-meaning and technically superb.
The Long Goodbye – Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael reviews "The Long Goodbye", Robert Altman's 1973 movie based on Chandler’s 1953 Los Angeles-set novel.
Sbatti Il Mostro in Prima Pagina
Recensione di Roberto Alonge per "Cinema Nuovo". Sbatti il mostro in prima pagina è un film su un particolare tipo di giornale, il quotidiano…
Girolimoni, Il Mostro DI Roma
Recensione di Franco Alberto Gabriele e Giancarlo Guerra per "Cinema Nuovo".
Il Padrino
Recensione di Liborio Termine per "Cinema Nuovo". Mi sono chiesto qual è la ragione per cui questo film mediocre, ovvio e prevedibile a ogni…
Una Vita Violenta (1962) – Recensione DI G.b. Cavallaro
"Una vita violenta" è un film del 1962 diretto da Paolo Heusch e Brunello Rondi, tratto dall'omonimo romanzo di Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Uomini Contro | Recensioni
Raccolta di recensioni italiane sul film di Francesco Rosi "Uomini contro"
E.t. the Extra-Terrestrial – Review by Pauline Kael
Steven Spielberg’s E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial envelops you in the way that his Close Encounters of the Third Kind did. It’s a dream of a…
The First Circle (1973) – Review by Pauline Kael
Solzhenitsyn’s "The First Circle" is a view of the top echelon of the slave-labor world — the mathematicians, scientists, engineers, and professors working in…
The Iceman Cometh (1973) – Review by Pauline Kael
The play is essentially an argument between Larry, an aging anarchist (Robert Ryan), and Hickey (Lee Marvin); they speak to each other as equals,…
Note on L’avventura – By Pauline Kael
LʼAvventura is a study of the human condition at the higher social and economic levels, a study of adjusted, compromising man — afflicted by…
The Emigrants (Utvandrarna, 1971) – Review by Pauline Kael
Jan Troell’s broad-backed nature epic on the mid-nineteenth-century Swedish emigration to this country, which was shot in Sweden and here, tells the story of…
The Exorcist (1973) | Review by James Baldwin
The mindless and hysterical banality of the evil presented in The Exorcist is the most terrifying thing about the film. The Americans should certainly…
Casualties of War (1989) – Review by Pauline Kael
This movie about war and rape is the culmination of Brian De Palma's best work. In essence, it’s feminist.
Intolerance (1916) – Review by Pauline Kael
"Intolerance" is one of the two or three most influential movies ever made, and I think it is also the greatest. Yet many of…
A Clockwork Orange – Review by Paul D. Zimmerman
A Clockwork Orange is a characteristically frosty piece of film-making, shorn completely of sentiment, working through brilliant ironies and dazzling dramatic ideas that please…
The Last Picture Show (1971) – Review by Pauline Kael
The Last Picture Show arrives just when it seemed time to announce that movies as pop culture were dead.
The Sorrow and the Pity (1969) – Review by Andrew Sarris
Marcel Ophüls's The Sorrow and the Pity runs about four and a half hours . . . but, in terms of moral, intellectual, and…
The Sorrow and the Pity (1969) – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
The Sorrow and the Pity is, first, a record. Second, it is a reminder. Third, most important from any view, The Sorrow and the…
The Sorrow and the Pity (1969) – Review by Pauline Kael
A magnificent epic on the themes of collaboration and resistance.
The Usual Suspects (1995) by Bryan Singer
The Usual Suspects transcends its famous twist by exploring the intricate interplay between truth, fiction, and narrative. Bryan Singer's film is a masterful study…
Trading Places (1983) | Review by Richard Schickel
Trading Places is one of the most emotionally satisfying and morally gratifying comedies of recent times. Eddie Murphy demonstrates the powers of invention that…
The Day After (1983): The Nightmare Comes Home
ABC’s movie The Day After stirs a storm of nuclear debate.
The Last American Hero (1973) – Review by Roger Greenspun
Lamont Johnson’s The Last American Hero has a source in an Esquire article Tom Wolfe wrote several years ago about a stock-car racer and…
The Last American Hero (1973) – Review by Pauline Kael
“The last American hero” never goes soft, and maybe that’s why the picture felt so realistic to me; it wasn’t until I reread the…
Reds (1981) | Review by Stanley Kauffmann
A radical American journalist becomes involved with the Communist revolution in Russia, and hopes to bring its spirit and idealism to the United States.
Amadeus (1984) – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
The story takes off from the myth that Salieri, the Viennese court Kapellmeister more successful than Mozart yet jealous of him, poisoned the younger…
Body Double (1984) | Review by Pauline Kael
If Brian De Palma were a new young director, Body Double would probably be enough to establish him as a talented fellow. But, coming…
Chinatown (1974) – Review by Tom Milne [Sight and Sound]
With Chinatown, as with Rosemary's Baby, Roman Polanski handles the mechanics of the plot with a ruthless brilliance that is immediately involving.
Blade Runner – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
To enjoy Blade Runner, you need only disregard, as far as possible, the actors and dialogue. (And the score) The script is another reworking…
The Shining – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
The Shining doesn’t scare. The only pang in it is that it’s another step in Kubrick’s descent.
The King of Comedy – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
The picture is virtually bare of Scorsese style, such touches, heavy or helpful, as the opening manhole shot of Taxi Driver or the opening…
Raging Bull – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
Seeing Martin Scorsese’s new film is like visiting a human zoo. That’s certainly not to say that it’s dull: good zoos are not dull.…
Raiders of the Lost Ark | Review by Stanley Kauffmann
For Stanley Kauffmann, while the film's thrills did work on him, the frequency eventually irritated him. He criticized the film's reliance on nostalgia and…
Mccabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) – Review by Pauline Kael
"McCabe & Mrs. Miller" is a beautiful pipe dream of a movie — a fleeting, almost diaphanous vision of what frontier life might have…
Thieves Like US (1974) – Review by Pauline Kael
"Thieves Like Us" comes closer to the vision and sensibility of Faulkner’s novels than any of the movie adaptations of them do. Altman didn’t…
The Day of the Locust (1975) – Review by Pauline Kael
An art director in the 1930s falls in love and attempts to make a young woman an actress despite Hollywood who wants nothing to…
Conrack (1974) – Review by Pauline Kael
The true story of Pat Conroy, an idealistic beautiful white teacher who is a grade-school instructor for a group of poor black children in an…
Moscow on the Hudson (1984) – Review by Pauline Kael
This is a movie in which you are expected to understand the hero when he tries to explain the difference between being unhappy in…
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) – Review by Pauline Kael
I didn’t expect (or want) Twilight Zone—The Movie to be Borgesian, but I did rather hope that John Landis, Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, and…
Gangs of New York (2002) | Recensioni
Recensioni italiane di "Gangs of New York", il film del 2002 diretto da Martin Scorsese. Nel film, ambientato durante lo svolgimento della Guerra Civile…
Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo
A ogni altra considerazione sul film che Pasolini ha tratto dal Vangelo secondo Matteo bisogna avanzare una premessa: l'azzardo ha avuto già il suo…
Dune Is Slow Going but Apt to Stick in the Mind
In the following review, Wilmington assesses Lynch's use of dark, obsessive, and bizarre visual imagery in Dune, noting that the film as a whole…
Dune (1984) | Review by Pauline Kael
Lynch doesn’t bring a fresh conception to the material; he doesn’t make the story his own. Rather, he tries to apply his talents to…
I Film DI Michelangelo Antonioni: Professione: Reporter (1975)
Quasi privo di musica (un flauto nel deserto, una chitarra nell'ultima inquadratura) Professione: reporter è forse il più bel film “muto” degli ultimi cinquantanni, quello…
A Passage to India – Review by Pauline Kael
The movie version, adapted, directed, and edited by David Lean, is an admirable piece of work. Lean doesn’t get in over his head by…
Empire of the Sun (1987) | Review by Pauline Kael
Empire of the Sun begins majestically and stays strong for perhaps forty-five minutes. It’s so gorgeously big you want to laugh in pleasure. Steven…
Recensione | Prigionieri Dell’oceano
Il film di Hitchcock è un capolavoro di precisione, il frutto di un’organizzazione implacabile e di una sapienza cinematografica che potrebbe sbalordirci, se avessimo…
The Man Who Would Be King – Review by Pauline Kael
John Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King, based on the Rudyard Kipling short story, is an exhilaratingly farfetched adventure fantasy about two roughneck…
The Killer Elite – Review by Pauline Kael
Peckinpah's "The Killer Elite" is intensely, claustrophobically exciting, with combat scenes of martial-arts teams photographed in slow motion and then edited in such brief…
Little Big Man: Americana
In Little Big Man, Arthur Penn uses the mode of comic elegy in order to sustain a reverent feeling for the American past without…
Little Big Man: The Red and the White
Jack Crabb is 121 years old. His eyes are agate chips; senility seeps through the cracks in his voice. But Crabb is not your…
Recensione | Palm Springs
Nel nuovo film di Max Barbakow due invitati ad un matrimonio si ritrovano intrappolati in un loop temporale
Pauline Kael on François Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451
Bradbury’s idea of censorship lacks depth. But even worse is the on-screen depiction of the renegades’ solution to book burning—to have people “become” books.…
Recensione | Greyhound: Il Nemico Invisibile
Leggi la recensione di "Greyhound: Il nemico invisibile", il nuovo film scritto e interpretato da Tom Hanks. Basato su un romanzo del 1955, il…
Stardust Memories (1980) | Review by Pauline Kael
In Stardust Memories, we get more of the same thoughts over and over—it’s like watching a loop. The material is fractured and the scenes…
Brazil (1985) – Review by Pauline Kael
Brazil is the kind of ornery, intellectually fuzzy labor of love that is bound to strike some people as just about “the worst thing…
Ran (1985) – Review by Pauline Kael
Essentially, Ran is about color and pattern, the formality and pageantry of warfare, and the fun of melodrama.
The Right Stuff (1983) – Review by Pauline Kael
The Right Stuff has the happy, excited spirit of a fanfare, and it's astonishingly entertaining, considering what a screw-up it is.
The Dead (1987) – Review by Pauline Kael
The movie is a demonstration of what, in Huston’s terms, movies can give you that print can’t: primarily, the glory of performers—performers with faces…
Recensione | the Old Guard (2020)
Charlize Theron guida una squadra di immortali mercenari il cui potere è esposto alla vulnerabilità nel thriller d'azione diretto da Gina Prince-Bythewood per Netflix…
Interview with Pauline Kael (Modern Maturity)
Pauline Kael has brought the same fierce passion, independence, and incisiveness to her movie reviews since she took on Charlie Chaplin’s Limelight in 1952.…
The Deer Hunter – Review by David Denby [New York Magazine]
After the early acclaim, The Deer Hunter has been subjected in recent months to an extraordinarily coarse and brutal hazing. Everywhere one encounters people…
“I Still Love Going to Movies”- An Interview with Pauline Kael (1999)
Pauline Kael is a singular voice in the history of American film criticism. Cineaste interviewed Kael in the summer of 1999, discussing her critical…
Inside (À L’intérieur, 2007) | Review
"Inside." directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, thrusts itself upon the viewer with a brute force that feels less like a horror film…
Quantum Creeps: John Carpenter’s ‘Prince of Darkness’
John Carpenter's 'Prince of Darkness' is an often strange, sometimes terrific but in the end flawed movie that defies broad categorization in a genre…
Revisiting Donnie Darko: The Cult Classic’s Enduring Appeal
Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko was hailed as an impressive debut but his ambitious nature and complex storytelling have hindered his career. Nearly twenty years…
The Killing (1956) | Review by Gavin Lambert [Sight and Sound]
Now that its title has been changed from Bed of Fear (as it was called when I wrote about Stanley Kubrick’s last picture in…
Killer’s Kiss – Review by Gavin Lambert [Sight and Sound]
The young writer-director-photographer-editor of this unpromisingly titled film has a good deal of talent. He made Killer's Kiss a year or so ago in…
Movie Review: “Fanny and Alexander” by Ingmar Bergman
Fanny and Alexander may be Bergman’s farewell to film, but it is neither a work of pure nostalgia nor of self- pity and lamentation.…
Lolita: In Its Way, a Good Film – Review by Arlene Croce
Lolita has everything it needed to be as brilliant and beautiful as the novel, except great direction. Vladimir Nabokov’s screenplay is a model of…
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – By James Verniere
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) remains Kubrick’s crowning, confounding achievement. Homeric sci-fi film, conceptual artwork, and dopeheads’ intergalactic joyride, 2001 pushed the envelope of…
Das Boot (1981) – Review by Kenneth Turan [California Magazine]
This story of men at war under the sea has hardly a newly minted plot device or character trait to its name, yet rarely…
Pretty Poison (1968) – Review by Pauline Kael
When I discovered that Pretty Poison had opened without advance publicity or screenings, I rushed to see it, because a movie that makes the…
Weekend (1967) – Review by Pauline Kael
Only the title of Jean-Luc Godard’s new film is casual and innocent; Weekend is the most powerful mystical movie since The Seventh Seal and…
The Shining (1980) – Review by Richard Schickel
By taking a book by an author who is at the center of the craze for the supernatural, and turning it into a refusal…
La Chinoise (1967) | Review by Pauline Kael
Jean-Luc Godard's "La Chinoise" is a satire of new political youth, but a satire from within, based on observation, and a satire that loves…
Apocalypse Now (1979) – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
When I read three years ago that Vittorio Storaro had been chosen as the cinematographer for Apocalypse Now, I was shocked. Storaro, the lush…
2001: Odissea Nello Spazio (2001: A Space Odissey, 1968) – Recensione DI Tullio Kezich
2001: Odissea nello spazio abbraccia un arco di oltre un milione d’anni, dall’alba dell’uomo al primo volo verso Giove. Kubrick ha avuto al fianco…
Onibaba (Onibaba – Le Assassine) – Recensione DI Guido Cincotti [Bianco E Nero]
Siamo nel tormentato medioevo giapponese: la guerra civile infuria seminando lutti e miseria. In una capanna nascosta da un fitto canneto, tra la palude…
Dr. Strangelove – Review by Dwight Macdonald
by Dwight Macdonald With this comédie noire Stanley Kubrick clinches his title—one I conceded him years ago—to Best of Show among our younger directors…
Lolita (1962) – Review by Dwight Macdonald
by Dwight Macdonald Lolita is a good movie which might have been much better. For the title role, Stanley Kubrick discovered a teen-age television…
Doctor Zhivago (1965) – Recensione DI G. B. Cavallaro [Bianco E Nero]
Il Dottor Zivago è stato tradito da un film senza poesia e guastato dal gusto materialistico delle grandi sensazioni, degli scontri propagandistici senza retroterra…
Uccellacci E Uccellini (1966) – Recensione DI G. B. Cavallaro [Bianco E Nero]
Il film di Pier Paolo Pasolini, Uccellacci e uccellini ha un impianto allegorico, o per meglio dire da parabola. Il regista stesso parla di…
2001: Odissea Nello Spazio – Recensione DI Giacomo Gambetti [Bianco E Nero]
2001: Odissea nello spazio non somiglia a nessun film di fantascienza o di fantapolitica finora realizzato. Perché non è un film di fantascienza in…
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) – Review by Stuart Klawans [the Nation]
Eyes Wide Shut is the work of an artist who long ago stopped paying attention to the world around him. If you are someone…
Lolita (1962) – Review by Andrew Sarris
Lolita is a film that runs steadily downhill at too slow a pace for a needless two and a half hours.
Come Now, Dr. Strangelove – Review by Andrew Sarris
The great merit of Dr. Strangelove is its bad taste. It is silly to argue that we have the right to say anything we…
Dr. Strangelove: Committed, Bitter, One of the Best – Review by Judith Crist
Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is one of the most cogent, comic, and cruel movies to…
The Movies That Changed US: Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Dr. Strangelove developed in us an embryonic skepticism for what was beginning to be called the "military establishment," and it fostered a growing skepticism…
The General (1927) – Review by Bosley Crowther
The General, made in 1927, best combines the subtle character of Keaton with material that is perfect for his style.
Closely Watched Trains (1966) – Review by Bosley Crowther
by Bosley Crowther In discussing The Shop on Main Street, I spoke of the characteristic style of many of the Czechoslovakian films of the…
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Review by Bosley Crowther
by Bosley Crowther In light of the phenomenal popularity of George Lukas’ 1977 Star Wars, which seems to have done for science fiction movies…
Renaldo and Clara (1978) – Review by Pauline Kael
Like Mailer, Dylan is an artist who intended to do something in advance of conventional movies—more poetic, more ‘true’—yet "Renaldo and Clara," like Mailer’s…
The Deer Hunter (1978) – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
I submit that, if we are going to be moved to thought and action by The Deer Hunter, it ought to be by the…
Summer of ’42 (1971) – Review by Vincent Canby [the New York Times]
Robert Mulligan's Summer of '42 is a memory movie, written, directed and acted with such uncommon good humor that I don't think you'll be…
Barry Lyndon (1975) – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
Beautiful pictures are not film style. Kubrick’s latter-day work is solipsist and smug, isolated and sterile. For me Barry Lyndon is an anti-film, a…
The Homosexual Subtext of Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” (1992)
Reservoir Dogs is one of many films, past and present, that either flirt with or fully incorporate homosexual innuendo, expanding the vast symbolic field…
Joker (2019)
The ultimate guide to the movie Joker (2019), with detailed synopsis, script, reviews, interviews and more
Masterpiece: A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Kubrick’s future shock satire, A Clockwork Orange, is twice the movie it was accused of being
Slaughterhouse-Five (1972): Billy Pilgrim’s Progress – Review by Judith Crist
Slaughterhouse-Five is a masterly film, triumphantly original, wittily humane and piercingly cogent
The Black Maria Rides Again: Stanley Kubrick’s the Shining
In this essay on The Shining, Paul Miers asserts that “to understand Kubrick's achievement one must attempt a reading of the mass-market book on…
Accattone (1961) – Recensione DI Filippo Sacchi
Credo che ormai sarebbe ingenuo venire a raccontare Accattone al lettore. È da un anno che periodicamente l’Italia è costretta ad occuparsene. Il nostro…
Rain Man (1988) | Review by Pauline Kael
Rain Man is Dustin Hoffman humping one note on a piano for two hours and eleven minutes. It’s his dream role. As the autistic…
Once Upon a Time in the West – Review by Wim Wenders
I don’t want to see any more Westerns. This one is the very end, the end of a craft. This one is deadly .…
2001: L’odyssée De L’espace (1968) – Revue Par Jacques Goimard [Fiction]
D’avance, nous savions que ce serait un événement. Parce que les dix millions de dollars dépensés garantissaient la qualité du spectacle et nous promettaient…
L’etranger (Lo Straniero, 1967) – Review by Margaret Tarratt
Whilst L’Etranger is unlikely to hold a major position in Visconti’s oeuvre, it is in several ways remarkable. It is perhaps too easy to underestimate…
2001: A Space Odyssey – Review by Robert O’meara [Screen]
These are four key scenes from the main sections of 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film that can be considered, with some reservations, a…
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) – Review by Janet Maslin [the New York Times]
Given the grippingly bizarre settings and situations that Stanley Kubrick's films favored, what could be more startling than the scene that opens "Eyes Wide…
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors: Storytelling in the Novel and the Film
In the history of Ukrainian literature and cinema one and the same title marks the tarn to the modem. Tini zabutykh predkiv (Shadows of…
Uccellacci E Uccellini (1966) – Recensione DI Mario Verdone
Uccellacci e uccellini di Pier Paolo Pasolini affronta coraggiosamente e con novità, sul piano tematico e linguistico, le crisi di valori, di credenze, di…
The New Land (Nybyggarna, 1972) – Review by Pauline Kael
Seeing The New Land a year after The Emigrants is like picking up a novel you had put down the day before. The story…
Day for Night (La Nuit Américaine, 1973) – Review by Pauline Kael
Day for Night has the Truffaut proportion and grace, and it can please those who have grown up with Truffaut’s films — especially those…
Effetti Collaterali (2013) | Recensioni
Recensioni di "Effetti collaterali" (2013). Titolo originale: Side Effects. Regia di Steven Soderbergh. Con Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Masterpiece: Das Boot (1981)
Claustrophobia, terror and watery graves—long before 'Poseidon', Wolfgang Petersen delivered this tale of hell in the Atlantic
Décor as Theme: A Clockwork Orange
In this essay, Sobchack explores Kubrick's use of décor to emphasize the theme of violence in A Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon (Barry Lyndon, 1976) – Recensione DI Tullio Kezich
Barry Lyndon mette in scena una società violenta, ferocemente classista, dove l’avventuriero gode di una libertà effimera e viene presto emarginato e distrutto. Arricchito…
Arancia Meccanica (a Clockwork Orange, 1972) – Recensione DI Tullio Kezich
Stanley Kubrick ha equamente ripartito il film tra un’immagine agghiacciante del futuro e il grigiore dell’establishment antiquato e cadente. Per ripeterci che l’uomo non…
The Gospel of Pauline Kael: Eclectic Pluralism (with Hyperenthusiasm)
Kael defines the role of the critic as messianic: to help see what is in the work, what is in it that shouldn’t be,…
Godfather II: Of Families and Families – By Barbara Grizzuti Harrison
The Godfather bore witness to the bitter truth: evil, hydra-headed, renews itself and triumphs in the end; in America, the Corleones win.
2001: Odissea Nello Spazio [Riedizione] | Rassegna Stampa Italiana
Nell'anniversario della morte di Stanley Kubrick, torna nei cinema nella versione restaurata uno dei suoi capolavori, 2001: Odissea nello spazio
Masterpiece: Bicycle Thieves (1948)
Bicycle Thieves remains among the most beloved films ever made, a heart-rending, poetic and compassionate rumination on the human condition that, as has often…
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) – Review by Bosley Crowther
Examined by any standards, those of 1936 or today, Mr. Deeds had or has to be regarded as pure wishful fantasy. Longfellow Deeds, the…
La Conseguenza (the Aftermath) – Recensione DI Peter Travers
Keira Knightley e Alexander Skarsgard ci danno dentro in inconsistente film ambientato nella seconda guerra mondiale
Masterpiece: Don’t Look Now (1973)
Alan Morrison argues that there’s more to Nicolas Roeg’s British classic "Don’t Look Now" than the best sex scene in the history of cinema
Brazil (1985) – Review by Fred Glass
Brazil is a tragicomedy about the relationship between imagination and fantasy, and about the ability of a society (“somewhere in the 20th century,” as…
French New Wave Meets Nyc Streets: How “the French Connection” Revolutionized Police Films
Before Dirty Harry and The French Connection, movie cops amounted to little more than sheriffs in civvies, white hat versus black hat with a…
Movie Trial: Life Is Beautiful
The movies that split people down the middle, put in the Empire dock... Roberto Benigni's "Life Is Beautiful"
A.i. Artificial Intelligence (2001): The Mommy Returns – Review by J. Hoberman
Fairy tales can come true. Spielberg the historian is in remission; Steven the regressive has returned, with a vengeance. An occasionally spectacular, fascinatingly schizoid,…
A.i.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) – Review by Tim Kreider
Tim Kreider, who also wrote an incisive article on Eyes Wide Shut ("Introducing Sociology"), here takes a brilliant stab at AI in a -…
King and Country (1964) – Review by Dwight Macdonald
by Dwight Macdonald This film establishes Joseph Losey as a versatile director who commands a wide range of styles for wrecking a movie. In…
Suspiria (1977) – Recensione DI Guido Fink
I soli fotogrammi relativamente suggestivi di Suspiria (1977) sono quelli iniziali. Spaventata e indifesa, Susy (Jessica Harper) arriva da New York all'aeroporto di Friburgo,…
Eraserhead (1977) – Review by Russ Island
With his film Eraserhead, David Lynch has created what can only be called a surrealistic masterpiece. Uncompromising in style, this black-and-white film is not…
Apocalypse Now (1979) – Review by William Cadbury
What does Apocalypse Now mean—the film as we have it, considering the minimal difference between the 35mm version with the title sequence and the…
Manhattan (1979) – Review by Maurice Yacowar
After the somberness of Interiors, Woody Allen has returned to the romantic comedy style of Annie Hall. The result is his most lyrical and emotional…
Alien (1979) – Review by Laura Sanden
For the filmgoer who can distance himself from the occasional gore of the first viewing, or who can sit through it a second time,…
Lenny (1974): Bruce Unspruced – Review by Judith Crist
Lenny is Fosse’s first nonmusical, but it is a choreographed work nevertheless, set to the rhythms that were Bruce’s
Hardcore (1979) – Review by Charles Schwenk [Cinemonkey]
Amongst film aficionados, the more simple-minded or shy smut fans, and the strong and growing coterie of Paul Schrader enthusiasts, Hardcore was awaited with…
The Deer Hunter (1978) – Review by Sid Falko [Cinemonkey]
The Deer Hunter has created such controversy as a political entity that I think it would be valuable to consider it, briefly, purely as…
John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) – Review by Sean Mercer [Cinemonkey]
The essence of Halloween is a burst of violence on the part of an insane, though clever, man who is "unstoppable," ubiquitous, and virtually…
The Sting (1973) – Review by Pauline Kael
The Sting, with Paul Newman and Robert Redford, strings together the chapters of a Saturday-afternoon serial, each with its own cliffhanger, and we’re invited…
Sleeper (1973) – Review by Pauline Kael
Woody Allen appears before us as the battered adolescent, scarred forever, a little too nice and much too threatened to allow himself to be…
Papillon (1973) – Review by Pauline Kael
Papillon is a strange mixture of grimness and propriety. There are unnecessary brutalities involving characters we hardly know , and at the same time…
Lacombe, Lucien (1974) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael's 1974 New Yorker review of "Lacombe, Lucien", directed by Louis Malle
Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979) – Review by Carl Bennett [Cinemonkey]
Richard Pryor—In Concert is a unique cinematic experience because there are so few films that present a complete, uncut performance of a stand-up comedian.…
As for All These Women (1964) | the New York Times Review
Ingmar Bergman's new comedy, As for All These Women, which opened here last night, was received coldly by Stockholm newspaper critics. “Dull” and “harmless”…
Serpico: The Hero as Freak – Review by Pauline Kael
What could be a more appropriate subject for a 1973 movie than the ordeal of Frank Serpico, the New York City policeman who became…
Bonnie and Clyde (1967): Gangsters on the Road to Nowhere – Review by Richard Gilman
Bonnie and Clyde is about violence and crime, and the desire of the ego to define itself, to live in violence and crime if…
Movie Trial: A.i.: Artificial Intelligence
The movies that split people down the middle, put in the Empire dock... Simon Ingram (Prosecution) and Kat Brown (Defence) on Steven Speilberg's "A.…
The Servant (1963) – Review by Andrew Sarris
The Servant is a genuinely shocking experience for audiences with the imagination to understand the dimensions of the shock. In years to come The Servant…
2001: A Space Odyssey – Review by John Simon
2001: A Space Odyssey is fascinating when it concentrates on apes or machines, and dreadful when it deals with the in-betweens: humans. For all…
Once Upon a Time in the West (1969) – Review by Dave Kehr
In Leone’s hands, capitalism itself becomes a mythic force, as much a part of the landscape (it’s embodied here by the building of a…
Good Morning, Vietnam (1987) – Review by Pauline Kael
This movie has had the bad judgment to turn Robin Williams into a role model. Good Morning, Vietnam takes a real culture hero and…
The Killing Fields (1984): Unreal – Review by Pauline Kael
The Killing Fields, which is based on Sydney Schanberg’s 1980 Times Magazine article "The Death and Life of Dith Pran,” is by no means…
Blow up: Tourist in the City of Youth – Review by Pauline Kael
Will Blow-Up be taken seriously in 1968 only by the same sort of cultural diehards who are still sending out five-page single-spaced letters on their interpretation…
Blow Out (1981) | Review by Pauline Kael
De Palma keeps our senses heightened that way all through Blow Out; the entire movie has the rapt intensity that he got in the slow-motion sequences…
Prizzi’s Honor (1985) | Review by Pauline Kael
If John Huston’s name were not on Prizzi’s Honor, I’d have thought a fresh new talent had burst on the scene, and he’d certainly…
Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) – Review by Pauline Kael
Rambo: First Blood Part II explodes your previous conception of “overwrought”—it’s like a tank sitting on your lap firing at you. Jump-cutting from one…
Purple Rain (1984) – Review by Pauline Kael
As a movie, Purple Rain is a mawkish fictionalized bio [...] It’s pretty terrible; the narrative hook is: will the damaged boy learn to…
Gremlins (1984) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael's review of Gremlins in 1984 was, much like the film itself, a mixed bag. She acknowledged its entertainment value and technical accomplishments…
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael praises "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" for its thrilling stunts and humor, calling it an imaginative, fast-paced adventure that entertains…
The Shining (1980): Jack the Ripper – By Douglas Brode
Jack has consistently avoided the movie-star trap of appearing in a string of safe, conventional movies by involving himself with films made by off-center…
The Bible (1966) – Review by Pauline Kael
One of the worst failures of the movie is, implicitly, a rather comic modern predicament. Huston obviously can't make anything acceptable out of the…
The Pluck of ‘Barry Lyndon’ – Review by Jonathan Rosenbaum
So Barry Lyndon is a failure. So what? How many “successes” have you seen lately that are half as interesting or accomplished, that are…
Taxi Driver (1976) – Review by Charles Michener [Film Comment]
By far his most ambitious film to date technically and in the scope of its references, Taxi Driver shows Scorsese's urgency working at full…
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) – Review by Pauline Kael
Crimes and Misdemeanors, written and directed by Woody Allen, is a sad, censuring look at the world-famous doctor and other crooks in high places…
New York Stories (1989): Two-Base Hit – Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael reviews 'New York Stories', the 1989 anthology film consisting of three shorts with the central theme being New York City. Episodes directed…
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) – Review by Pauline Kael
What saves Munchausen from mediocrity is that you sense that Gilliam is brainstorming. He goes hippety-hoppety all over the place. The picture is too…
Last Tango in Paris: The Unvisitable Past – Review by Julian Jebb [Sight and Sound]
In Last Tango there is a quite plain idea—it’s very nearly a film with a message: sex as an instrument of power divorced from…
Dangerous Liaisons (1988) – Review by Pauline Kael
Possibly there’s no way to make a picture this fast (it was shot in ten weeks) and achieve something comparable in greatness to the…
Mississippi Burning (1988) – Review by Pauline Kael
The director Alan Parker likes to operate in a wildly melodramatic universe of his own creation. In Mississippi Burning, which is set during the…
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) – Review by Pauline Kael
Pedro Almodóvar may be the only first-rank director who sets out to tickle himself and the audience. He doesn’t violate his principles to do…
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Also Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy, Alice’s Restaurant) | Review by Pauline Kael
Butch Cassidy will probably be a hit; it has a great title, and it has star appeal for a wide audience.
‘Barry Lyndon’: Kubrick’s Latest Has Brains and Beauty
Barry Lyndon is a leisurely, serious, witty, inordinately beautiful, premium-length screen adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's first novel, The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq.,…
Kubrick’s ‘Barry Lyndon’ Is Brilliant in Its Images – Review by Vincent Canby
Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick's handsome, assured screen adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's first novel, is so long and leisurely, so panoramic in its narrative…
A Clockwork Orange – Review by Dale Winogura [Cinefantastique]
Stanley Kubrick has topped a masterpiece with a masterpiece. A Clockwork Orange is not the best Anglo-Saxon language film of 1971, it is the…
2001: A Space Odyssey: Plans That Go Wrong – Review by Philip French
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is remarkable on a number of counts. Firstly, it is perhaps the first multi-million-dollar supercolossal movie since D.…
Fellini Satyricon – Review by Robert L. Jerome [Cinefantastique]
This view of the Satyricon is proof positive that the golden resources lavished on Fellini by his trusting producers can be reduced to brightly-colored…
Hell in the Pacific – Review by Pauline Kael
Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune are the stars of Hell in the Pacific, and there’s nobody else in the movie — just this American…
Kagemusha (1980) – Review by Pauline Kael
A new epic film by Kurosawa is an international event, especially when it's the only film he has made in Japan in ten years,…
The Shining – Review by John Hofsess
"The Shining" is not Kubrick's greatest film or his greatest gamble, but it is his most ambitious attempt to connect with a mass audience.
2001: A Space Odyssey – Review by John Hofsess
2001 no less than Dr. Strangelove is an apocalyptic vision: it i is an alternate future but no less pessimistic. Beneath its austerely beautiful…
2001: A Space Odyssey – Reviews by Louise Sweeney and John Allen [the Christian Science Monitor]
Louise Sweeney, New York-based film critic for The Christian Science Monitor, wrote a generally favorable review following the New York premiere of 2001: A…
2001: A Space Odyssey – Review by Charles Champlin [the Los Angeles Times]
Any annoyance over the ending—if indeed it is widely felt—cannot really compromise Kubrick’s epic achievement, his mastery of the techniques of screen sight and…
Popeye (1980) – Review by Pauline Kael
Sometimes the components of a picture seem miraculously right and you go to it expecting a magical interaction. That's the case with Popeye. But…
2001: A Space Odyssey – The Harvard Crimson Review
After we have seen a stewardess walk up a wall and across the ceiling early in the film, we no longer question similar amazements…
Tess (1979) – Review by Pauline Kael
Polanski's Tess is Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles under sedation. The film has a penitential attitude toward the suffering that men inflict on women.…
We Still Kill the Old Way (a Ciascuno Il Suo, 1967): Business as Usual – Review by Pauline Kael
We Still Kill the Old Way is an unusual thriller, for it’s not about a big heist or a cute gang of thieves and…
If…. (1968): School Days, School Days – Review by Pauline Kael
I think If . . . . will be a success, but I think it’s far from a masterpiece, and I should like to make…
Stephen King on the Big Screen: Stanley Kubrick’s ‘the Shining’ – By Mark Browning
Far from showing an ignorance of horror, as King asserts, the film shows Kubrick's depth of knowledge of film form and its possibilities.
‘The Godfather’ and the Decline of Marlon Brando – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
Hurricane Marlon is sweeping the country, and I wish it were more than hot air. A tornado of praise—cover stories and huzzahs—blasts out the…
Full Metal Jacket: Blank Cartridge – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
Full Metal Jacket betrays Kubrick’s avant-garde admirers.
Spartacus (1960) – Recensione DI Ernesto G. Laura
Spartacus ha il pregio di inserire una voce autentica nella grande produzione di Hollywood e dunque di incidere sul gusto di milioni di spettatori…
Band of Outsiders: Godard Among the Gangsters – Review by Pauline Kael
Jean-Luc Godard intended to give the public what it wanted. His next film was going to be about a girl and a gun—”A sure-fire…
Poltergeist (1982): Hooper’s Vision & Spielberg’s Charm Create a Great Ghost Story – Review by Kyle Counts
Spielberg, as co-author/producer (and some say director), has tempered Hooper’s harsh, visceral style with folksy humor and near-bloodless titillation, while Hooper has underscored Spielberg's…
The Deer Hunter: “God Bless America” – Review by Chris Auty [Time Out]
The Deer Hunter is a brilliant epic about the simple things of life. To its director Michael Cimino they are 'friendship, courage, dignity, grace'…
Cries and Whispers: Bergman’s Women – Review by Paul D. Zimmerman
Ingmar Bergman—the Swedish creator of The Seventh Seal—long ago abandoned his interest in the mysterious ties between God and man in favor of a…
Stanley Kubrick’s Visceral ‘Barry Lyndon’- By Benjamin Ross
Director Benjamin Ross, whose debut feature is The Young Poisoner’s Handbook, celebrates the drama of failure in Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon
Frenzy: The Hitchcock Problem – Review by William S. Pechter
With Frenzy, its director, Alfred Hitchcock, is said to have returned to form, but to what form has he returned? To a resounding orchestral…
Cries and Whispers: Bergman’s Study in Scarlet – Review by Hollis Alpert
In Ingmar Bergman’s latest film, Cries and Whispers, the predominant tones are red, and from the very beginning of its production he did not…
Beyond the Stars – By Jeremy Bernstein
We are happy to report, for the benefit of science-fiction buffs—who have long felt that, at its best, science fiction is a splendid medium…
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie | Reviews by Vincent Canby
Luis Buñuel's brilliant new comedy, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Le Charme Discret de la Bourgeoisie), is so free in form and yet…
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) – Review by Robert Hatch
By setting his film in the surreal world of dreaming, Buñuel casts himself as a jester rather than as an Old Testament prophet, crying…
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) | Review by Pauline Kael
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is a cosmic vaudeville show —an Old Master’s mischief. Now seventy-two, Luis Bunuel is no longer savage about…
Deliverance (1972) | Review by Richard Schickel
Four prosperous businessmen decide to spend a weekend canoeing a wild river running through essentially untamed country before it all disappears, flooded over by…
Deliverance (1972) | Review by Arthur Knight
Deliverance, which James Dickey adapted from his own best-selling novel, is one of those rare films that resonates like a literary work but that…
Jules and Jim – Review by Pauline Kael
Jules and Jim is not only one of the most beautiful films ever made, and the greatest motion picture of recent years, it is…
Pale Rider (1985) | Review by Pauline Kael
As an actor, Eastwood never lets down his guard. His idea of being a real man is that it’s something you have to pretend…
Back to the Future (1985) – Review by Pauline Kael
What keeps Back to the Future from being a comedy classic is that its eye is on the market. Despite Zemeckis and Gale’s wit…
Victim (1961) – Review by Pauline Kael
It was a bit startling to pick up an English newspaper and see that the review of Victim was entitled “Ten-letter word”—but as it…
A Taste of Honey (1961) – Review by Pauline Kael
The audiences at popular American movies seem to want heroes they can look up to; the audiences at art houses seem to want heroes…
Accattone: Poet and the Pimp – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
Accattone lives as a work of narrow but intense vision—a film about viciousness and criminality that evokes compassion. Its style is neorealist: it was…
2001: A Space Odyssey: Lost in the Stars – Review by Stanley Kauffmann
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey took five years and $10 million to make, and it’s easy to see where the time and the money have…
The Godfather Part II – Review by Leonard Quart and Albert Auster
The Godfather II is a sequel to a film whose narrative drive and choreographed violence made it one of the better genre films of…
When Marnie Was There (2014) – Review by Kate Stables
Despite the absence of the kind of imaginative spectacle or battle sequences that galvanised Spirited Away (2001) and Princess Mononoke (1997), When Marnie Was…
The Godfather: The Resurrection of Don Brando – Review by Richard Schickel
There’s nothing fun or funny to be found here. It offers us only the absorption of good acting and good storytelling combined with a…
The Godfather: How Brando Brought Don Corleone to Life – By Joseph Gelmis
And then there was Marlon Brando, against all the odds, cast in one of filmdom’s juiciest roles, as mob chief Don Vito Corleone. He…
The Godfather Plays on Our Secret Admiration for Men Who Get What They Want – By Arthur Schlesinger Jr. [Vogue]
Inflation does not always assure survival. My guess is that three years from now we will still remember scenes from Raoul Walsh’s The Roaring…
The Godfather: Keeping up with the Corleones – Review by William S. Pechter [Commentary]
The Godfather is, furthermore, and by critical consensus, a stunning confirmation of my claims for Coppola's talents: vividly seen, richly detailed, throbbing with incident…
The Life of Brian (1979) – Review by Dennis Altman
Blasphemy is by no means dead in Britain, as the recent condemnation of Gay News, for publishing a poem portraying Christ as homosexual, reveals.…
Escape from Alcatraz (1979) Review by Jack Clancy [Cinema Papers]
Escape from Alcatraz opens with the camera panning across San Francisco Bay and the bridge, and then to the grim, gloomy island of Alcatraz.…
Barry Lyndon: Settecento – Recensione DI Enzo Ungari
Lontano dal cinema di formule e procedimenti a cui rimanda soltanto per la sua mole produttiva, Barry Lyndon si situa in quella zona dove…
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) | Review by Pauline Kael
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is the most innocent of all technological-marvel movies, and one of the most satisfying. This film has retained…
Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900: Hail, Folly! – Review by Pauline Kael
Bertolucci is trying to transcend the audience appeal of his lyrical, psychological films. He is trying to make a people’s film by drawing on…
The American Friend – Review by Pauline Kael
Angst-dark primary colors—reds and blues so intense they’re nearpsychedelic, yet grimy, rotting in the thick, muggy atmosphere. Cities that blur into each other. Characters…
Padre Padrone: The Sacred Oak – Review by Pauline Kael
The Taviani brothers have learned to fuse political commitment and artistic commitment into stylized passion. Their film Padre Padrone has the beauty of anger…
Straw Dogs: Peckinpah’s Obsession – Review by Pauline Kael
Sam Peckinpah, who is an artist, has, with Straw Dogs, made the first American film that is a fascist work of art.
The French Connection (1971) | Review by Pauline Kael
An extraordinarily well-made new thriller gets the audience sky-high and keeps it up there—The French Connection, directed by William Friedkin, which is one of…
The Conformist: The Poetry of Images – Review by Pauline Kael
In this film, one knows that Bertolucci knows who he is and what he’s doing; young as he is, he's a master director. Except…
Before the Revolution (Prima Della Rivoluzione, 1964) – Review by Pauline Kael
This movie expresses what it means to be young with the lyricism and narcissism and self-consciousness of the intelligent young.
Outland (1981) – Review by Pauline Kael
The picture is horrifying yet somber, and the barrage of sounds coming from all directions intensifies the pressure—we can’t escape the clanging metal or…
Return of the Jedi (1983) – Review by Pauline Kael
Some of the trick effects might seem miraculous if the imagery had any lustre, but Return of the Jedi is an impersonal and rather…
C’era Una Volta in America: Oppio E Cinema, Anni 30 – DI Silvana Cielo [Filmcritica]
Così come il mito americano C'era una volta in America è crudele e sentimentale, come gli anni ’30 è più reale di un sogno…
C’era Una Volta in America – Recensione DI Stefano Consiglio [Filmcritica]
«Credevo fosse un’avventura. E invece era la vita... » (J. Conrad) ... Riprendendo questa frase nel corso di un’intervista, Sergio Leone si riferiva al…
Quest for Fire (1981) – Review by Pauline Kael
Eighty thousand years ago, on broad primeval plains, Naoh (Everett McGill), the bravest warrior of the spear-carrying Ulam tribe, and two fellow-warriors, Amoukar (Ron…
The Exorcist | Review by Pauline Kael
Kael critiques "The Exorcist" for its shallow shock value and questions its cultural impact, calling out its lack of genuine depth or terror.
Mean Streets: Everyday Inferno – Review by Pauline Kael
Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets is a true original of our period, a triumph of personal filmmaking. It has its own hallucinatory look; the characters…
2001, Un’odissea Al Parallelepipedo | Recensione DI Ennio Flaiano
L’ironia di Kubrick resta sempre fredda, il suo umorismo sereno, forse perciò più toccante. Si limita a prospettare l’eccezionale come raggiunto e quindi divenuto…
The Color Purple (1985) | Review by Pauline Kael
If you're among the millions of people who have read the book, you probably expect the actors to be more important than they turn…
Eyes Wide Shut: I Wake up Dreaming – Review by J. Hoberman
The best thing about Eyes Wide Shut may be its title, but anyone planning to see Stanley Kubrick's long-awaited, posthumously released swan song is…
Full Metal Jacket: The Whole World Is Watching – Review by Bruce Kawin
Full Metal Jacket is not cold. It is not bitter. It is not distanced from its subject. It does not suffer from too many…
David Lynch’s the Elephant Man – Review by Bruce Kawin [Film Quarterly]
Not since Shakespeare called for “a muse of fire” in Henry V and Olivier provided the light of an arc-rod projector has there been…
Stanley Kubrick’s Last Film – By Amy Taubin [Film Comment]
To be blunt about it, it's impossible at this moment to separate thoughts and feelings about Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut from the fact…
Eyes Wide Shut: Ghost Sonata – By Richard T. Jameson [Film Comment]
How are we supposed to watch Eyes Wide Shut? Really, how are we supposed to watch any Stanley Kubrick movie? Apprehension of so many of…
The Godfather: Alchemy – Review by Pauline Kael
A wide, startlingly vivid view of a Mafia dynasty, in which organized crime becomes an obscene nightmare image of American free enterprise. The movie…
Straw Dogs: Has Movie Violence Gone Too Far? – Review by Vincent Canby
It may be about time for movies to realize that they aren’t realistic. They are, for all the reality of their locales and of…
Straw Dogs (1971) – Review by David Denby
Although Peckinpah’s general attitudes turn out to be reactionary to the point of madness, he has never functioned better as a filmmaker: Straw Dogs…
Dirty Harry: Saint Cop | Review by Pauline Kael
Dirty Harry is obviously just a genre movie, but this action genre has always had a fascist potential, and it has finally surfaced. Since…
Excalibur (1981) – Review by Pauline Kael
Boorman doesn't bother with episodes that don't stir him; there’s no dull connective tissue. The film is like Flaubert’s more exotic fantasies—one lush, enraptured…
A Clockwork Orange | Review by Andrew Sarris
Let me report simply that A Clockwork Orange manifests itself on the screen as a painless, bloodless, and ultimately pointless futuristic fantasy.
A Clockwork Orange (1971) – Review by Jackson Burgess
If anybody is looking for a film which will embody and reinforce his worst moments of panic, it is available in Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork…
A Clockwork Orange – Review by Stephen Mamber
A Clockwork Orange has fallen heir to the same controversies regarding film violence that blossomed with Bonnie and Clyde and seem never to have…
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) – Review by Andrew Sarris [the Village Voice]
Once Upon a Time in the West is Sergio Leone’s most American Western, but it is still dominantly and paradoxically European in spirit, at…
Barry Lyndon (1975) – Review by J. Hoberman [the Village Voice]
Barry Lyndon is the loveliest of Stanley Kubrick's films. Indeed, it's the one Kubrick movie that could even invite that adjective (or epithet).
The Elephant Man (1980) – Review by Pauline Kael
The Elephant Man is a very pleasurable surprise. Though I had seen Eraserhead, which is the only other feature directed by David Lynch, and…
Cries and Whispers (1972) – Review by Pauline Kael
Bergman is not a playful dreamer, as we already know from nightmarish films like The Silence, which seems to take place in a trance.…
The Killing (1956) – Review by A.h. Weiler
Though The Killing is composed of familiar ingredients and it calls for fuller explanations, it evolves as a fairly diverting melodrama.
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) – Review by Andrew Sarris
I kept my eyes wide open all through Eyes Wide Shut and saw more control-freak unreality than visual genius around the edges of the…
Young Frankenstein (1974) – Review by Pauline Kael
The movie works because it has the Mary Shelley story to lean on: we know that the monster will be created and will get…
The Godfather Part II (1974) – Review by Pauline Kael
Throughout the three hours and twenty minutes of Part II, there are so many moments of epiphany — mysterious, reverberant images, such as the…
Stalking ‘the Deer Hunter’ – Review by Terry Curtis Fox
It is hard to think of a recent American film which has been as classically and persistently misread as The Deer Hunter.
La Grande Illusion (1937) – Review by Pauline Kael
La Grande Illusion is a perceptive study of human needs and the subtle barriers of class among a group of prisoners and their captors…
The Shining: A New Definition for “Ultimate Horror” – By Jim Wynorski [Fangoria]
Both Kubrick and King merit congratulations for making The Shining one of the most overpowering experiences of horror ever committed to celluloid. It manages…
Third Dive into the Ocean: Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘the Stalker’ – Positif Review
The thaw in the Soviet Union made it possible for new filmmakers, although not without difficulty, to assert their personal vision. The most striking…
Edward Scissorhands (1990) – Review by Pauline Kael
by Pauline Kael In Tim Burton’s Edward Scissorhands, the towers and spires of a medieval castle rise high in the air right out of…
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Reviews by Andrew Sarris
Andrew Sarris famously panned Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, then reversed himself after seeing it under the influence.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: Cliché in the Jungle – Review by Tom Milne [the Guardian]
In this review of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Tom Milne dismisses Spielberg's classic as dross. In a scathing review he objects to the…
Simon of the Desert (1965): Saintliness – Review by Pauline Kael
Buñuel attacks the Church as the perverter and frustrater of man—the power trying to hold down sexuality, animality, irrationality, man’s “instinctual nature.’’
Dances with Wolves (1990) – Review by Pauline Kael
The movie—Costner’s debut as a director—is childishly naïve. When Lieutenant Dunbar is alone with his pet wolf, he’s like Robinson Crusoe on Mars. When…
The Deer Hunter: In Hell Without a Map – Review by Frank Rich
This excruciatingly violent, three-hour Viet Nam saga demolishes the moral and ideological cliches of an era: it shoves the audience into hell and leaves…
The Deer Hunter – Review by Pat Kincaid [Workers Vanguard]
The Deer Hunter has done what The Green Berets could not do more than a decade ago: it has moved audiences to actively root…
The Deer Hunter: Lame Deer – Review by John Simon [National Review]
For all its pretensions to something newer and better, this film is only an extension of the old Hollywood war-movie lie. The enemy is…
The Conversation (1974) – Review by Andrew Sarris
by Andrew Sarris I It came over the car radio while I was driving out to wintry, stormy Long Island for the Memorial Day…
The Godfather (1972) | Review by Andrew Sarris
I am convinced that The Godfather could have been a more profound film if Coppola had shown more interest (and perhaps more courage) in…
Barry Lyndon: Time Regained
In this lavishly mounted epic, Stanley Kubrick captures the ghostly ephemerality of a vanishing world with paradoxical immediacy.
Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb – Review by Penelope Gilliatt
The key of the brilliant comic tone of the film is in the title. What makes the picture so funny, terrifying and horribly believable…
Importance and Ultimate Failure of Last Tango in Paris
Last Tango in Paris is an important film because of the way it deals with film history. By showing the inadequacy of and parodying two…
Last Tango in Paris (1973): A Transit to Narcissus – Review by Norman Mailer
In this review of Last Tango in Paris, Norman Mailer offers an extensive critique of Bertolucci’s film on the basis of Marlon Brando’s compromised…
Wild at Heart (1990) – Review by Armond White
Some people want to call this art in the postmodern age, but no matter how inflated with esteem Lynch becomes, his art isn’t so…
Wild at Heart (1990) – Review by Peter Travers
Imagine The Wizard of Oz with an oversexed witch, gun-toting Munchkins. and love ballads from Elvis Presley, and you’ll get some idea of this…
Cape Fear (1991) – Review by Terrence Rafferty [the New Yorker]
The movie is a disgrace: an ugly, incoherent, dishonest piece of work. The original picture, directed by a skillful journeyman, J. Lee Thompson, is…
Scorsese’s Cape Fear: Sacred and Profane – Review by J. Hoberman [Sight and Sound]
J. Hoberman's review of "Cape Fear" (1991) by Martin Scorsese
Per Un Pugno DI Dollari (1964) – Recensione DI Tullio Kezich
Tullio Kezich recensisce "Per un pugno di dollari", primo capitolo della "trilogia del dollaro" di Sergio Leone. Articolo pubblicato sulla rivista 'Bianco e Nero'
Hardcore (1979) – Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael reviews Paul Schrader's "Hardcore"
Halloween (1978) | Review by Pauline Kael
John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN is largely just a matter of the camera tracking subjectively from the mad killer’s point of view.
Pauline Kael and the Australian Cinema: Interview
In this interview, conducted by Sue Mathews, Pauline Kael discusses recent Australian films and, not surprisingly, offers some startling opinions.
Born on the Fourth of July (1989) – Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael reviews Oliver Stone's 'Born on the Fourth of July' (1989). Published in The New Yorker, January 22, 1990
Dead Poets Society: Stonework – Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael's review of 'Dead Poets Society' (1989) by Peter Weir
Blade Runner (1982) – Review by Norman Spinrad [Starlog]
Blade Runner (1982), review by Norman Spinrad for Starlog magazine, November 1982 Issue
Batman (1989) – Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael reviews Tim Burton's Batman. Published in The New Yorker, July 10, 1989
An American Tail (1986) | Reviews
The following is a collection of reviews for "An American Tail, "the 1986 animated film directed by Don Bluth and written by Judy Freudberg…
The Maltese Falcon (1941) | Reviews
Sam Spade, a private detective, gets involved in a murderous hunt for a valuable statuette.
Blue Velvet (1986) – Review by Tracy Biga [Film Quarterly]
Much of the humor in David Lynch’s reworked fifties crime thriller/horror/gothic film Blue Velvet comes from mundane statements which, when filtered by his personal…
The Godfather (1972) – Review by Janet Maslin [Boston After Dark]
Janet Maslin reviews Francis Ford Coppola's 'The Godfather'. Published in Boston After Dark, 1972 March 28
Last Tango in Paris | Review by Pauline Kael
The following review, one of the most renowned in the history of film criticism, appeared in The New Yorker magazine on October 28, 1972
Blue Velvet (1986) – Review by Pauline Kael
When you come out of the theatre after seeing David Lynch’s Blue Velvet, you certainly know that you've seen something. You wouldn’t mistake frames…
Stanley Kubrick’s the Shining – Review by Flo Leibowitz and Lynn Jeffress [Film Quarterly]
by Flo Leibowitz and Lynn Jeffress To all appearances, The Shining is simply a hopelessly clichéd gothic horror film. Can this be serious? A…
Retribution (2015) | Reviews
Pumped up but wholly derivative, Dani de la Torre's bomb-on-wheels thriller makes for an efficient Hollywood calling card.
Lolita (1962) – Review by Richard Combs
The base of Kubrick's fiction is pure abstraction, back-projection or studio mock-up, and the only reality is invested in the comedy-drama of the characters.…
Persona (1966) – Review by Pauline Kael
Bergman's movies have almost always had some kind of show within the show: a ballet, a circus, a magic show, a bit of animation,…
Spartacus (1960) – Review by Eugene Archer
Hailed in Farewell by Eugene Archer Critics have always debated the correct way to apportion the credit for a multi-million-dollar production among producers, writers,…
Spartacus (1960) and the Guns of Navarone (1961) – The Guardian Review
EPIC FILMS ANCIENT AND MODERN A week of epics. It is true that neither Spartacus (Gaumont) nor The Guns of Navarone (Regal) conform to…
Le Notti DI Cabiria (1957) – Review by James Kerans [Film Quarterly]
Fellini here confirms his position as the greatest master now steadily producing films
Umberto D. (1952) – Review by Bosley Crowther
by Bosley Crowther Old age has never been a topic of particular interest to makers of films for a very obvious reason: It is…
Last Tango in Paris (1972) – Review by Bosley Crowther
by Bosley Crowther The vast attention that Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris received while it was several months in the making and when…
Kubrick’s Strange Love – Review by Gerard Fay [the Guardian]
by Gerard Fay Stanley Kubrick is unusual among American film directors for a complete lack of flamboyance. He dresses without distinction, talks quietly and…
A Clockwork Orange – Review by Don Daniels [Sight and Sound]
by Don Daniels Stanley Kubrick’s films seem to provoke the kind of mindless praise and attack that is called ‘controversy’ these days. In the…
The Wild Bunch: Man and Myth – Time Magazine Review
“When the legend becomes fact,” says the canny newspaper editor in John Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, “print the legend.” Sam Peckinpah…
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) – Review by Pauline Kael
This mediocre movie seems destined to be a tidal wave of a hit. Spielberg, who was perhaps the greatest of all pure, escapist movie…
The Godfather Part III (1990) | Review by Pauline Kael
Read Pauline Kael’s incisive take on Coppola’s final chapter, exploring Michael Corleone’s tragic fate and the film’s operatic tone.
Goodfellas (1990) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael's review praises "GoodFellas" for its vivid filmmaking but criticizes its shallow characters and lack of depth, celebrating style over substantial narrative.
Convoy (1978) – Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael reviews Sam Peckinpah's "Convoy"
Blade Runner – Review by Michael Dempsey [Film Quarterly]
by Michael Dempsey In director Ridley Scott’s $30-million noir thriller, Blade Runner, set in Los Angeles 36 years from now, sophisticated new robots known…
Barry Lyndon: Kubrick’s Grandest Gamble – By Richard Schickel [Time Magazine]
In a December 1975 cover story, TIME Magazine examines Barry Lyndon and the many paradoxes of Stanley Kubrick, covering the filmmaker’s Herculean task in…
A Clockwork Orange (1972) – Review by Richard Schickel
For a director like Stanley Kubrick, a novel like Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange must have seemed an irresistible challenge. Kubrick is essentially a…
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis – Review by Richard Schickel
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis has correctly been hailed as a return to the old, great form of its director, Vittorio De Sica.
A Clockwork Orange (1972) | Review by Dilys Powell
Dilys Powell reviews Stanley Kubrick's 'A Clockwork Orange'
Notes on Seeing ‘Barry Lyndon’ – By Harold Rosenberg
Kubrick's Barry Lyndon is a lot more than a substitute for an allbutforgotten tale. The movie also translates the printed page into art for…
![Barry Lyndon [1975] Marisa Berenson as Lady Lyndon](https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Barry-Lyndon-1975-Marisa-Berenson-as-Lady-Lyndon-768x432.png)
Barry Lyndon | Review by Dilys Powell
Dilys Powell review of Stanley Kubrick's 'Barry Lyndon'
Dark Roots: Humor and Tragedy in ‘Doctor Strangelove’
by Caran Wakefield Pablo Ferraro’s original commercial for Doctor Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb teases the audience,…
2001: A Space Odyssey | Review by Dilys Powell
Dilys Powell reviews '2001: A Space Odyssey' by Stanley Kubrick
Dr Strangelove | Review by Dilys Powell
Dilys Powell reviews Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove
La Dolce Vita (1960) | Review by Dilys Powell
Dilys Powell reviews Federico Fellini's 'La Dolce Vita'
The Great Dictator (1940) | Review by Dilys Powell
After nearly thirty years, then, of playing one character in one set of clothes, Chaplin takes on a double role. The subject of the…
Il Sogno Della Farfalla (1994) – Recensione DI Paolo Taggi [Segnocinema]
di Paolo Taggi A quattordici anni un ragazzo decide di scegliere il silenzio. Da quel momento può fare a meno delle proprie parole e…
C’era Una Volta in America: La Vertigine Del Tempo – DI Morando Morandini [Segno Cinema]
'C'era una volta in America' e altri ricordi. Il sentimento del passato e degli errori compiuti, il senso del tradimento e del rimorso nel…
Il Mio Nome È Nessuno: Giocare Coi Miti
Nel film 'Il mio nome è Nessuno' di Tonino Valerii - prodotto da Leone - s'incrociano tre universi del western: l'hollywoodiano classico, quello degli…
Giù La Testa: Il Pessimismo Della Rivoluzione
Giù la testa, il più spietato, lucido, egoistico, radicalmente nichilista dei film di Sergio Leone. Saggio critico di Gianni Canova
C’era Una Volta Il West: Il Rito E L’enfasi – DI Roberto Pugliese [Segno Cinema]
L’amplificazione dei ritmi e delle pause trova in C'era una volta il West la sua massima celebrazione e ragion d'essere. Saggio di Roberto Pugliese
Arancia Meccanica (1972) – Recensione DI Pietro Bianchi
di Pietro Bianchi È difficile dire quale fosse la precisa intenzione del regista Stanley Kubrick quando decise di fare un film, Arancia meccanica, dal…
Shoeshine (Sciuscià, 1946) – Review by Pauline Kael
Shoeshine, written by Cesare Zavattini, is a social protest film that rises above its purpose. It is a lyric study of how two boys…
Full Metal Jacket (1987) – Review by Janet Maslin [the New York Times]
Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket establishes its grip on the viewer's attention instantaneously, with an opening scene in which young recruits are shorn by…
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love ‘Barry Lyndon’
John Hofsess reviews Stanley Kubrick's 'Barry Lyndon' for The New York Times
Planet of the Apes (1968) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael reviews "Planet of the Apes", a 1968 science fiction film directed by Franklin J. Schaffner. Published in 'The New Yorker', February 17,…
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael reviews Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly". Published in 'The New Yorker', March 2, 1968
Superman (1978) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael's review of 'Superman' (1978). Published in 'The New Yorker', January 1, 1979
Pauline Kael on ‘Star Wars’
Pauline Kael reviews George Lucas' Star Wars. Published in 'The New Yorker', September 26, 1977
«La Vergogna DI Bergman»: Dal Silenzio DI Dio Al Mare Dei Morti
Ingmar Bergman ha definito il suo ultimo film, che ha per titolo Skammen (La vergogna) una storia di gente che non ha nessuna fede,…
2001: Fuori Nello Spazio Ma Dentro La Vita
2001: IL FILM DI STANLEY KUBRICK Il viaggio interplanetario è un viaggio biologico di Lino Curci Sono giorni di scienza, non di fantascienza. Per…
Futuristic ‘Blade Runner’ – Review by Janet Maslin
The view of the future offered by Ridley Scott's muddled yet mesmerizing 'Blade Runner' is as intricately detailed as anything a science-fiction film has…
Taxi Driver (1976) | Review by Pauline Kael
No other film has ever dramatized urban indifference so powerfully; at first, here, it’s horrifyingly funny, and then just horrifying.
Persona (1966) – Review by Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss reviews Ingmar Bergman's "Persona" for Film Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Summer, 1967)
The Leopard [Il Gattopardo, 1963] – Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael reviews Luchino Visconti's 'The leopard' (Il Gattopardo). Published in The New Yorker, September 19, 1983
Existential Ethics. Where the Paths of Glory Lead
Stanley Kubrick's 'Paths of Glory' (1957) is much more than an antiwar film; it is as much about the necessary absurdity of the human…
Silence | Recensioni
Nel XVII secolo due giovani missionari portoghesi, padre Rodrigues e padre Garupe, vanno in Giappone alla ricerca del loro mentore padre Ferreira, di cui…
Scarface (1983) | Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael reviews Brian De Palma's 'Scarface'
Alien (1979) – Review by Brian Mcfarlane [Cinema Papers]
Brian McFarlane reviews Ridley Scott's sci-fi movie 'Alien'. Published in 'Cinema Papers' magazine, December 1979 - January 1980 issue
8½: Confessions of a Movie Director – Review by Pauline Kael
The director-hero of 8½ is the center of the film universe, the creator on whose word everything waits, the man sought after by everyone,…
Alien (1979): A Gothic Set in Space – Review by Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby reviews Ridley Scott Si-Fi movie 'Alien' (1979). Published in The New York Times, May 25, 1982
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) – Review by Pauline Kael
The whole collapsing industry is being inspired by old Saturday afternoon serials, and the three biggest American moviemakers are hooked on technological playthings and…
Raging Bull (1980) – Review by Pauline Kael
Religious Pulp, or the Incredible Hulk by Pauline Kael As Jake la Motta, the former middleweight boxing champ, in Raging Bull, Robert De Niro…
Spartacus and the Second Part of the Soul
by Gordon Braden Roman History at the Movies At the end of Ridley Scott’s film Gladiator (2000), the mortally wounded Maximus (Russell Crowe), having…
The Godfather – Review by Vincent Canby [the New York Times]
Taking a best-selling novel of more drive than genius (Mario Puzo's The Godfather), about a subject of something less than common experience (the Mafia),…
The Two Messages of ‘Spartacus’ – By Janet Maslin
Seen today, in the lovingly restored 197-minute version now playing at the Ziegfeld, the two-tiered historical pageant that is Spartacus says at least as…
Strange Days (1995) – Sight and Sound Review
Philip Strick reviews 'Strange Days', the 1995 science fiction thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Published in 'Sight and Sound', January 1996
The White Balloon (Badkonake Sefid, 1995) – Review by Simon Louvish [Sight & Sound]
Sight and Sound review of 'The White Balloon', a 1995 Iranian film directed by Jafar Panahi, with a screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami
Seven (1995): The Allure of Decay
Revulsion against the body haunts the new film by David Fincher as it does so much current cinema. What makes ‘Seven' distinctive? Amy Taubin…
Seven (1995) | Sight and Sound Review
Fincher has created the most authentically hellish screen metropolis since Gotham City, a nameless warren of damp corridors, subterranean sex joints and dilapidated tenements,…
Amici Miei (1975) – Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
Amici miei è un'opera crudelissima e scanzonata, cattiva come una beffa del Lasca e cupa come il racconto d'un filosofo pessimista
Sedotta E Abbandonata (1964) – Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
di Giovanni Grazzini Con Sedotta e abbandonata gli affezionati spettatori di Divorzio all’italiana si ritrovano in una Sicilia dominata da un grottesco senso dell’onore,…
Kubrick’s Shining | Review by Richard T. Jameson
The Shining is a horror movie only in the sense that all Kubrick’s mature work has been horror movies—films that constitute a Swiftian vision…
Lolita (1962) – Review by Robert Hatch
Sue Lyon makes Lolita a mirror of the popular culture and as alarming a harbinger of Western civilization's imminent collapse as I can remember.
Historicism in “the Shining” – By Fredric Jameson
Kubrick’s adaptation of King's novel, while it maintains elements necessary to cue the genre of the horror film, expands King’s work of popular entertainment…
Eyes Wide Shut: What the Critics Failed to See in Kubrick’s Last Film | by Lee Siegel [Harper’s Magazine]
Not a single critic, not even those few who claimed to like Eyes Wide Shut, made any attempt to understand the film on its…
Scorsese’s Gangs of New York: Why Myth Matters – By Timothy J. Gilfoyle
by Timothy J. Gilfoyle In December 2002, Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York opened to critical acclaim. The Chicago Tribune’s Michael Wilmington described the…
The Grapes of Wrath (1940) | Review by Dilys Powell
by Dilys Powell The Grapes of Wrath is not just a film, not just a tragedy, not just a social indictment even; it is…
Sex an Dr. Strangelove
This study will point out how Dr. Strangelove is a sex allegory: from foreplay to explosion in the mechanized world.
L’anno Del Dragone – Recensione DI Gualtiero De Marinis per “Cineforum”
C'è un patto di non aggressione tra la polizia e gli «anziani» della comunità cinese di Chinatown. Ma quando al posto dell'opimo William McKenna…
Fuori Orario (1986) | Recensione DI Franco La Polla
«Cambiano le regole. Quando si fanno le ore piccole è zona franca», dice il simpatico barista a Marcy e Paul, offrendo loro la consumazione,…
Platoon (1986) – Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael reviews Oliver Stone's "Platoon". Published in "The New Yorker", January 12, 1987
Arancia Meccanica – Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
Giovanni Grazzini recensisce "Arancia Meccanica" di Stanley Kubrick. Corriere della Sera, 24 agosto 1972
2001: A Space Odyssey – Catcher in the Milky-Way
Paul Schrader reviews Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey". Published in 'Spectacle', September 13, 1968
The Age of Innocence: Dread and Desire
Aching desire and repression and guilt collide in Scorsese’s version of Edith Wharton’s 'The Age of Innocence'
Paths of Glory – Review by Bosley Crowther
To a certain extent, this forthright picture has the impact of hard reality, mainly because its frank avowal of agonizing, uncompensated injustice is pursued…
Paths of Glory | Review by Dilys Powell
Paths of Glory is the work of a brilliant young professional who is easing himself into the more difficult teaches of his job.
Eyes Wide Shut: All Eyes on Them – Review by Richard Schickel
The theme is sexual obsession. The stars are Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. The director is Stanley Kubrick. Who could look anywhere else?
Arancia Meccanica: Roll Over Beethoven
E se "Arancia meccanica" fosse il primo metafilm di tutto il cinema postmoderno? Saggio di Marcello Walter Bruno
Arancia Meccanica E Lolita: Kubrick Replay
Le riedizioni di Lolita e di Arancia Meccanica: il cinema come "magnifica ossessione", la componente ludica della violenza in una messa in scena "assoluta"…
Dr. Strangelove – Review by Bosley Crowther
Stanley Kubrick's new film, called Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, is beyond any question the most…
Full Metal Kubrick – Un Dossier Provvisorio – DI Paolo Cherchi Usai
Full Metal Jacket (1987) di Stanley Kubrick. Recensione di Paolo Cherchi Usai, in "Segnocinema", n. 31, 1988
Full Metal Jacket: Kubrick’s Ulterior War
Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" review published in Film Comment, September/October 1998. By Robert Castle and Stephen Donatelli
Eyes Wide Shut: Kubrick Casts a Riveting Spell – Review by Todd Mccarthy [Variety]
Unquestionably one of the most highly anticipated films of modern times due to its high-powered talent combo, protracted and secrecy-enshrouded shoot, rumored racy content
Full Metal Jacket (1987) | Review by Pauline Kael
Chances are that when Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam film Full Metal Jacket is at midpoint a lot of moviegoers will be asking themselves what it’s…
I Cancelli Del Cielo: Recensione DI “Segno Cinema”
I cancelli del cielo si aprono sull’inferno. Il film è il crack economico più disastroso di tutti i tempi e gode di un efferato…
Il Cacciatore – Recensione DI Morando Morandini
Morando Morandini recensisce "Il cacciatore" di Michael Cimino
The Deer Hunter – Review by Vincent Canby [the New York Times]
Vincent Canby reviews Michael Cimino's "The Deer Hunter" for The New York Times, December 15, 1978
Gangs of New York: America of Scorsese
Gangs of New York (2002) di M. Scorsese. Contributi critici di F. La Polla, F. Cattaneo, E. Morreale, A.G. Mancino e A. Piccardi. Cineforum…
Il Pianista (2002) | Recensioni DI Emanuela Martini E Francesco Cattaneo
Contributi critici di Emanuela Martini e Francesco Cattaneo. In "Cineforum" 421, gennaio 2003
Il Signore Degli Anelli – Le Due Torri | Recensione DI Emanuela Martini
Nella Terra di Mezzo, il Male sta dilagando; le sue schiere si rafforzano e si infittiscono, mentre il minuscolo esercito del Bene è disperso…
L’anno Del Dragone: Recensione DI ‘Segno Cinema’
Cimino fa sollevare le comunità cinesi d’America per la sua ritrattistica di una mafia gialla che tesaurizza tutta l’iconografia hollywoodiana in materia, da Fu…
Arancia Meccanica (Riedizione, 1998) – Recensioni Italiane
Raccolta di recensioni italiane pubblicate in occasione della riedizione del film di Stanley Kubrick 'Arancia meccanica' nel 1998
The Shining: Review by Robert Hatch for “the Nation”
I am not certain what it means to call Stanley Kubrick's The Shining "the first epic horror film," as the ads are quoting Jack…
Full Metal Jacket: Review by Terrence Rafferty for “the Nation”
Full Metal Jacket certainly isn’t what we expect a Vietnam movie to be. Then again, it’s only secondarily a movie about the war. First…
Eyes Wide Shut: L’ultima Luccicanza DI Kubrick
Recensioni di 'Eyes Wide Shut' pubblicate sulla rivista Duel, n.74, Ottobre 1999. Contributi critici di Ezio Alberone, Gianni Canova e Mario Sesti
Pauline Kael on ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
Pauline Kael’s infamous review of '2001: A Space Odyssey', where she referred to the movie as “trash masquerading as art” and “monumentally unimaginative.”
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) – Review by Pauline Kael
How do you make a good movie in this country without being jumped on? Bonnie and Clyde is the most excitingly American American movie…
Full Metal Jacket: L’ossessione Senza Fine Della Guerra in Vietnam
Forse l'America ha trovato il sistema per esorcizzare una guerra dolorosamente perduta: basta continuare a combatterla al cinema, all'infinito.
Full Metal Jacket: Kubrick E I ‘Ministri DI Morte’
Tullio Kezich recensisce il nuovo film di Stanley Kubrick "Full Metal Jacket". Pubblicato su La Repubblica, 10 ottobre 1987
Effetto “Shining”: Tecnica Ed Espressione Dell’ultimo Kubrick – DI Paolo Cherchi Usai [Segnocinema]
The Shining, saggio di Paolo Cherchi Usai. Pubblicato in Segnocinema, n. 1, 1981
The Shining (1980) – Review by Janet Maslin [the New York Times]
Stanley Kubrick, once again leaves his audiences asking a familiar question: How can anyone make a film so fastidiously beautiful and still leave so…
The Shining: Review by Janet Maslin [the New York Times]
The Shining, Stanley Kubrick's spellbinding foray into the realm of the horror film, is at its most gloriously diabolical as Jack and Wendy Torrance…
Eyes Wide Shut: Kubrick Se Ne Va Lasciandoci L’enigma
Porteremo a lungo nella memoria l’enigma di questo film, che è come una dolce e vaga serata d’addio di un nostro misterioso amico settantunenne,…
2001: A Philosophical Odyssey – By Kevin L. Stoehr
In 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) we are invited by director Stanley Kubrick to experience a mesmerizing yet also alienating form of sensory liberation,…
Blade Runner: Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
Uno dei più clamorosi film di fantascienza che si siano visti negli ultimi anni, una delle più sgomentevoli profezie sull'imminente medioevo, uno dei frutti…
C’era Una Volta in America: Leone E La Memoria – Recensione DI Piera Detassis
L'operazione dei distributori americani di tagliare e rimontare cronologicamente il film di Sergio Leone, C’era una volta in America, è un atto di violenza…
Blade Runner (1982) | Review by Pauline Kael
Blade Runner doesn’t engage you directly; it forces passivity on you. It sets you down in this lopsided maze of a city, with its…
Apocalypse Now (1979) – Review by Vincent Canby [the New York Times]
Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now lives up to its grand title, disclosing not only the various faces of war but also the contradictions between excitement…
Apocalypse Now (1979) | Review by Veronica Geng
Viewed as a conventional updating of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now looks like not much more than a cannibalization.
Deserto Rosso: Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
È il male del secolo, tutti ne siamo affetti. Matti incurabili, l'unico conforto ci viene dal tenere per mano un bambino e dall'avere coscienza…
Once Upon a Time in America (1984) – Review by Rolando Caputo [Cinema Papers]
Much of the confusion about "Once Upon a Time in America" stems from a certain critical inability to understand why the film is structured…
Once Upon a Time in America: The New York Times Review
A lazily hallucinatory epic that means to encapsulate approximately 50 years of American social history into a single film
C’era Una Volta in America: Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
Recensione del film di Sergio Leone "C'era una volta in America", a cura di Giovanni Grazzini, Il Corriere della Sera, 21 maggio 1984
C’era Una Volta in America: Odioso Sublime Leone – DI Tullio Kezich
Tullio Kezich recensisce dal Festival di Cannes il film di Sergio Leone "C'era una volta in America"
2001: Odissea Nello Spazio – Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
Non siamo soli nell'universo. Per convincercene, e umiliare il nostro orgoglio, Stanley Kubrick ha scritto e diretto il più clamoroso e agghiacciante film di…
Full Metal Jacket: Cynic’s Choice
September 1987 issue of American Cinematographer, detailing the making of Stanley Kubrick's film 'Full Metal Jacket'.
Platoon: Review by Terrence Rafferty for “the Nation”
Oliver Stone’s Platoon, about a group of American infantrymen in Vietnam between 1967 and 1968, is the first Hollywood film about this country’s Southeast…
Full Metal Jacket: Remote Control
Review of Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket", by Terrence Rafferty, in Sight and Sound, Autumn 1987
Eyes Wide Shut: A Sword in Bed – By Stephen Pizzello [American Cinematographer]
Cinematographer Larry Smith helps Stanley Kubrick craft a unique look for Eyes Wide Shut, a dreamlike coda to the director’s brilliant career
A Clockwork Orange: The Old Ultra-Violence
Director Stanley Kubrick lent a learned eye to A Clockwork Orange, enlisting lighting cameraman John Alcott, BSC to help create a bleak dystopian futurescape
Gertrud (1964) – Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
Giovanni Grazzini recensisce per il Corriere della Sera il film "Gertrud" di Carl Theodor Dreyer
Kubrick and ‘the Shining’ – By P. L. Titterington [Sight & Sound]
P.L. Titterington discusses the evolution of Kubrick’s style and the language of his ideas.
2001: Odissea Nello Spazio: Recensione DI Fernaldo DI Giammatteo
Il caso di 2001: A Space Odyssey, film di enorme successo e di enorme sfortuna, è uno dei più clamorosi. Tanti furono i sofismi…
A Skeleton Key to 2001 – By Don Daniels [Sight and Sound]
The young cult for Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey now has its HolyWrit. The second 70 mm. release of the movie was accompanied…
The Shining: Resident Phantoms
Jonathan Romney looks for clues to Stanley Kubrick’s themes in The Shining’s Overlook Hotel (Sight and Sound, September 1999)
Eyes Without a Face
Eyes Wide Shut movie review by Charles Whitehouse, Sight and Sound, September 1999
‘2001’ Is up, up and Away: Kubrick’s Odyssey in Space Begins Run – Review by Renata Adler
2001: A Space Odyssey, a film in which infinite care, intelligence, patience, imagination and Cinerama have been devoted to what looks like the apotheosis…
Lolita (1962) – Review by Dilys Powell
See the film twice within the space of five days: the test is severe, especially when the original from which the piece is drawn…
Full Metak Jacket | Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
A trent'anni dal suo Orizzonti di gloria, che resta un pilastro del cinema antimilitarista, e a una ventina da Stranamore, ecco Kubrick ancora sparare…
Memory’s Orbit: Eyes Wide Shut
Mixing memoir and cultural criticism, Joseph Natoli examines Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut"
Circular Misadventures: Stanley Kubrick’s a Clockwork Orange
The title of Stanley Kubrick's latest film, "A Clockwork Orange", alludes in two different ways to something circular or spherical that is closed on…
The Passion of the Christ: The Gospel According to Mel – Review by Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens reviews for Vanity Fair Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ"
Once Upon a Time in America – Reviewed at Cannes Festival
Sergio Leone's "Once upon a time in America" reviewed at the Cannes film Festival by Todd McCarthy for "Variety"
Full Metal Jacket Review by Todd Mccarthy
Todd McCarthy reviews Stanley Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket" for Variety magazine in 1987
Eyes Wide Shut: In Dreams Begin Responsibilities
Jonathan Rosenbaum reviews Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut
2001: A Cold Descent – By Mark Crispin Miller [Sight and Sound]
Stanley Kubrick’s futuristic 1968 epic ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ still has the power to startle. Mark Crispin Miller re-examines its subversive vision of power,…
2001: A Space Odyssey | Review by Penelope Gilliatt
I think Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey is some sort of great film, and an unforgettable endeavor.
Lolita – Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
Il film "Lolita" di Stanley Kubrick recensito da Giovanni Grazzini per il Corriere della Sera nel 1962
Heaven’s Gate | Recensione DI Ermanno Comuzio
Heaven’s Gate non è solo un film. È un affair, uno scandalo, un trauma. Un fatto che trascende il mondo del cinema. Forse un…
Lolita (1962) – Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael's review of Stanley Kubrick's Lolita is one of her best—inspired, incisive, exuberant
Once Upon a Time in America (1984) – Review by Pauline Kael
Sergio Leone's Once upon a time in America reviewed by Pauline Kael
The Shining (1980) – Review by Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael's appreciative but skeptical review of Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining", The New Yorker, 1980
Shining – Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
Giovanni Grazzini recensisce per il Corriere della Sera "Shining" di Stanley Kubrick
Persona | Review by Susan Sontag
Susan Sontag reviews Ingmar Bergman's "Persona" for Sight and Sound magazine
Full Metal Jacket – Speciale “Filmcritica”
Speciale della rivista "Filmcritica" pubblicato nel 1987 in occasione dell'uscita del film di Stanley Kubrick "Full Metal Jacket"
The “Anti-Militarism” of Stanley Kubrick | by Jackson Burgess
Of Stanley Kubrick's seven feature-length films, three, including two of the best, have been explicitly concerned with militarism and war. The most recent of…
Barry Lyndon – Recensione DI Francesco Bolzoni [Rivista Del Cinematografo]
Recensione di Francesco Bolzoni a Barry Lyndon (1975) di Stanley Kubrick. La recensione è apparsa in «Rivista del Cinematografo», nel 1976
The Deer Hunter – Review by Peter Biskind
Peter Biskind reviews Michael Cimino's movie the Deer Hunter
Dr. Strangelove – Review by Robert Hatch [the Nation]
Robert Hatch reviews Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove for "The Nation"
Checkmating the General: Stanley Kubrick’s Fear and Desire
Paolo Cherchi Usai's essay on FEAR AND DESIRE, a film by Stanley Kubrick, carefully analyzes the importance of this early work by the great…
The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008) | Review by Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Hitchens’ review of the German film The Baader Meinhof Complex (2008) which portrays the terrorist group operating in West Germany known as the…
Fear and Desire: Country of the Mind
Jason Sperb analyses Fear and Desire and its relevance to Kubrick's larger body of work
The Shining – Review by Paul Mayersberg [Sight & Sound]
The Shining reminds us how far the cinema has come and how much it has stayed the same. It shines bits of an enigmatic…
Orizzonti DI Gloria (1957) – Recensione DI Guido Aristarco
Recensione del film di Stanley Kubrick "Orizzonti di Gloria", scritta da Guido Aristarco per la rivista Cinema Nuovo
Paths of Glory – Review by François Truffaut
François Truffaut reviews Stanley Kubrick's "Paths of Glory"
A Clockwork Orange: Stanley Strangelove – Review by Pauline Kael
Review of Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" written by Pauline Kael and published in The New Yorker, January 1, 1972
A Clockwork Orange: The Décor of Tomorrow’s Hell
Some movies are so inventive and powerful that they can be viewed again and again and each time yield up fresh illuminations. Stanley Kubrick's…
The Shining: Stanley Kubrick’s Horror Show – Review by Jack Kroll [Newsweek]
Review of Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining", written by Jack Kroll and published in Newsweek, June 2, 1980
Il Cacciatore – Recensione DI Ernesto G. Laura
Recensione del film di Michael Cimino "Il Cacciatore", a cura di Ernesto G. Laura, pubblicata dalla rivista "Bianco e Nero" nel 1979
Gangs of New York: Tribù Contro Tribù Così Nasce L’america
Recensione del film di Martin Scorsese "Gangs of New York" a cura di Gianni Canova. Pubblicata sulla rivista Letture nel Marzo 2003
The Shining (1980) – Review by Richard Combs
The Shining is an iceberg that may in time prove to be one of the great Kubricks (with Paths of Glory, Lolita and Barry…
Eyes Wide Shut – Recensione DI Sandro Bernardi
Recensione di Eyes Wide Shut a cura di Sandro Bernardi. Pubblicata sulla rivista Drammaturgia, Luglio 2000
2001: A Space Odyssey – Kubrick’s Cosmos
Stanley Kubrick's potentially majestic myth about man’s first encounter with a higher life form than his own dwindles into a whimsical space operetta, then…
C’era Una Volta in America: Tutti a Sognare Lo Stesso Sogno – DI Marcello Garofalo [Segnocinema]
Saggio di Marcello Garofalo sull'ultimo film di Sergio Leone, C'era una volta in America. Pubblicato su SegnoCinema, n. 38, maggio 1989.
2001: Odissea Nello Spazio – Recensione DI Alberto Moravia
2001: Odissea nello Spazio - Recensione di Alberto Moravia pubblicata sulla rivista italiana l'Espresso del 29 Dicembre 1968
Il Dottor Stranamore – Recensione DI Giovanni Grazzini
Recensione di Giovanni Grazzini del film Il Dottor Stranamore di Stanley Kubrick, pubblicata sul Corriere della Sera il 04 Aprile 1964
Barry Lyndon: Pretty as a Picture – Review by Derek Malcolm
I doubt if there could be a grander looking film than Stanley Kubrick's eagerly awaited three hour adaptation of Thackeray's Barry Lyndon. Stop it…
The Deer Hunter – Review by Gordon Gow for Films and Filming Magazine
Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) review by Gordon Gow for Films and Filming magazine, March 1979
Il Bacio Dell’assassino [Killer’s Kiss] – Recensione DI Tullio Masoni [Cineforum]
Recensione del film di Stanley Kubrick "Il Bacio dell'assassino", di Tullio Masoni. Pubblicato in Cineforum n. 347, Settembre 1995
Barry Lyndon (1975) – Review by Pauline Kael
Review of Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon, written by Pauline Kael and published in The New Yorker, December 29, 1975
Il Cacciatore: E Il Carnefice Si Veste Da Vittima – Recensione DI Aggeo Savioli
Recensione del film di Michael Cimino "Il Cacciatore", pubblicata sul quotidiano l’Unita’ il 28/02/1979
The Deer Hunter (1978): The God-Bless-America Symphony – Review by Pauline Kael
Review of Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter, written by Pauline Kael and published in The New Yorker, December 18, 1978
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) | Recensioni
Raccolta di recensioni italiane dell'ultimo film di Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
Barry Lyndon – Review by Penelope Houston [Sight & Sound]
Barry Lyndon (1976) movie review by Penelope Houston, Sight and Sound, Spring 1976
The Fifth Seal (Az Ötödik Pecsét, 1976) by Zoltán Fábri
The film is set in Budapest towards the end of the Second World War. Four middle-aged men, conspicuously ordinary and everyday, meet up to…
Lolita (1962): Humbert Humdrum and Lullita
Wind up the Lolita doll and it goes to Hollywood and commits nymphanticide. Director Stanley Kubrick and Novelist-turned-Scriptwriter Vladimir Nabokov shadow the plot of…
Stephen King Reviews ‘the Evil Dead’
Why haven’t you seen it yet… and why you ought to WHILE ON THE SCENE AT CANNES, THE AUTHOR STUMBLED UPON—WELL, NOT GOLD, EXACTLY,…
Paths of Glory – Review by Gavin Lambert [Sight and Sound]
Review of Stanley Kubrick's movie "Paths of Glory", published by Sight and Sound in 1957