Category: Director

  • Eastern Promises (2007)

    Throughout most of his career, David Cronenberg twisted moviegoers into knots by exploring their fears of losing control, particularly when it came to one’s body. Such shenanigans spawned masterpieces of the macabre, from the exploding heads of Scanners to an even-creepier-than-usual Jeff Goldblum in The Fly, but too often, Cronenberg’s thematic obsessions overwhelmed his storytelling.…

  • Chloe (2009)

    Chloe wants to be an erotic thriller. At least, that’s what I think it aims to be. It’s difficult to know for sure, what with its eroticism steeped in so much fussy pretensions. The movie is particularly disappointing coming from Atom Egoyan, the director behind the critically acclaimed Exotica (1994) and The Sweet Hereafter (1997).…

  • Gonzo (2008)

    Print journalists don’t typically receive rock star status, but Hunter S. Thompson was far from a typical journalist. A booming, pill-popping gun nut with a wit that could cut glass, the not-so-good “doctor” practically invented gonzo journalism with subversive classics such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign…

  • Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

    The first thing you might notice about the vampires in Only Lovers Left Alive is how effortlessly cosmopolitan they are. Smart, artsy, sexy — these undead are unequivocally cool. That’s no surprise when you consider this is the work of writer-director Jim Jarmusch, a purveyor of the idiosyncratic (Dead Man, Night on Earth, Ghost Dog:…

  • Death Sentence (2007)

    As trashy vigilante fantasies go, you could do a lot worse than Death Sentence. That might sound like damning with faint praise, and perhaps it is, but director James Wan deserves credit for dressing up this Death Wish-knockoff with honest-to-goodness visual flair.  Kevin Bacon lends a welcome intensity to the role of Nick Hume, a well-heeled business…

  • The Great Debaters (2007)

    Among the many intellectual exercises connected to competitive debate is the ability to defend stances that, at first blush, might seem indefensible. I know; I debated in high school and remember many a contest assailing the evils of seatbelts and motorcycle helmets. Judging by The Great Debaters, however, you wouldn’t think that debate requires much…

  • The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)

    If it didn’t happen to be true, you might dismiss it as feel-good fantasy. But part of what makes The Greatest Game Ever Played so appealing is that this is a real-life Cinderella story tailor-made for classic drama. Based on the 2002 book by Mark Frost (who also wrote the screenplay adaptation), the film details…

  • Before Midnight (2013)

    In Before Midnight, the third and final installment of director Richard Linklater’s odes to romance, there’s a sly bit that reflects the personal baggage that fans of this trilogy brought to this film. Jesse (Ethan Hawke), the writer we’ve watched meet, fall for and settle down with Celine (Julie Delpy), tells some colleagues about a…