BATMAN (1989) – Review by Pauline Kael
09/10/2017
Pauline Kael reviews Tim Burton’s Batman. Publishe in The New Yorker, July 10, 1989
Menu
Movie reviews
An American Tail (1986) | Reviews
27/09/2017
The following is a collection of reviews for “An American Tail, “the 1986 animated film directed by Don Bluth and written by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss.
The Maltese Falcon (1941) | Reviews
25/09/2017
Sam Spade, a private detective, gets involved in a murderous hunt for a valuable statuette.
BLUE VELVET (1986) – Review by Tracy Biga [Film Quarterly]
17/09/2017
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 vision, appear weird, but still oddly familiar.
THE GODFATHER (1972) – Review by Janet Maslin [Boston After Dark]
17/09/2017
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
16/09/2017
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 – Review by Pauline Kael
16/09/2017
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 from Blue Velvet for frames from any other movie. It’s an anomaly—the work of a genius naif.
STANLEY KUBRICK’S THE SHINING – Review by Flo Leibowitz and Lynn Jeffress [Film Quarterly]
16/09/2017
by Flo Leibowitz and Lynn Jeffress To all appearances, The Shining is simply a hopelessly clichéd gothic horror film. Can this be serious? A lonely
Retribution (2015) | Reviews
16/09/2017
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
14/09/2017
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. His Lolita is a film of ‘solid’ performances – high-key lighting and unstressed direction indeed – particularly in the first half, chez Charlotte Haze, where in long, placid takes the camera observes Humbert’s efforts to avoid Charlotte’s mating dance while guiltily courting Lolita.
Persona (1966) – Review by Pauline Kael
30/08/2017
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, many pieces of plays and even whole plays. In Persona, as in the very early Prison, Bergman involves us in the making of a movie.
SPARTACUS (1960) and THE GUNS OF NAVARONE (1961) – The Guardian Review
30/08/2017
EPIC FILMS ANCIENT AND MODERN A week of epics. It is true that neither Spartacus (Gaumont) nor The Guns of Navarone (Regal) conform to Bible
Le Notti di Cabiria (1957) – Review by James Kerans [Film Quarterly]
23/08/2017
Fellini here confirms his position as the greatest master now steadily producing films
UMBERTO D. (1952) – Review by Bosley Crowther
23/08/2017
by Bosley Crowther Old age has never been a topic of particular interest to makers of films for a very obvious reason: It is not
LAST TANGO IN PARIS (1972) – Review by Bosley Crowther
23/08/2017
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 it
KUBRICK’S STRANGE LOVE – Review by Gerard Fay [The Guardian]
21/08/2017
by Gerard Fay Stanley Kubrick is unusual among American film directors for a complete lack of flamboyance. He dresses without distinction, talks quietly and modestly,
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE – REVIEW BY DON DANIELS [SIGHT AND SOUND]
21/08/2017
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 case
THE WILD BUNCH: MAN AND MYTH – Time Magazine Review
19/08/2017
“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 is
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) – Review by Pauline Kael
18/08/2017
This mediocre movie seems destined to be a tidal wave of a hit. Spielberg, who was perhaps the greatest of all pure, escapist movie directors, is being acclaimed for turning into a spiritual simp.
THE GODFATHER PART III (1990) – Review by Pauline Kael
18/08/2017
by Pauline Kael At the end of The Godfather Part II (1974), the story was complete—beautifully complete. Francis Ford Coppola knew it, and for over
GOODFELLAS (1990) – Review by Pauline Kael
18/08/2017
by Pauline Kael Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas has a lift. It’s like Raging Bull, except that it’s not domineering. It’s like Raging Bull made in a