Category: Year

  • Nanking (2007)

    In late 1937, one of the most harrowing atrocities of the 20th century took place in China’s then-capital of Nanking. Japanese imperial forces invaded the walled city after a series of punishing air raids, only to then engage in a systematic reign of rape, torture and murder. Nanking, a documentary chronicling that horror, is a truly…

  • Killer Joe (2011)

    Brutal, pulpy and lurid. That sums up the irresistible allure of Killer Joe – provided, that is, you find deep-fried perversity to be irresistible. The second collaboration between director William Friedkin and writer Tracy Letts (their first being 2006’s Bug) serves up trailer-trash noir as savage as it is savagely funny. You will be forgiven…

  • The Iron Claw (2023)

    Indulge me a quick childhood memory. Please. Preteen Phil (that’s me) was an avid professional wrestling fan. Growing up in Oklahoma City of the late 1970s, I religiously followed Mid-South Wrestling and spent many a Friday night at the State Fairgrounds to see National Wrestling Association stalwarts such as Harley Race (the NWA heavyweight champ!),…

  • Female (1933)

    The car-manufacturing magnate at the center of Female is one tough cookie, a take-no-prisoners mogul by day and take-no-guff seductress by night. That, in a nutshell, sums up the vitals of this 1933 comic gem. The movie is funny, the dialogue whip-smart, and dependable director Michael Curtiz doesn’t outwear things, with the picture clocking in…

  • Best documentaries of 2023

    While 2023 was a banner year for narrative films, at least in my opinion, I was less enthusiastic about the year’s crop of documentaries. There were a handful of standouts, such as the thrilling Beyond Utopia (pictured below), but none of my picks for the Best of 2023 approach what I would consider a masterpiece.…

  • The best movies of 2023

    With the Academy Awards a week away (Sunday, March 10, for you sticklers), this seems like as appropriate a time as any to trot back out my picks for the Best Films of the year that was 2023. For those keeping score at home, my latest ranking has some differences from my initial take back…

  • The Lunchbox (2013)

    Sometimes you must board the wrong train to get to the right station. It’s a bit of wisdom that figures prominently in, and is offered by, The Lunchbox, a sweetly engaging Hindi-language film about two wounded souls who make an accidental but critical connection in the Indian city of Mumbai. What makes an already-appealing movie…

  • Rope (1948)

    Rope is intriguing, if not altogether successful. The picture marked a kind of paradox for Alfred Hitchcock, a master of cinematic storytelling who presented himself with a challenge that appeared almost antithetical to the possibilities of film. In adapting a 1929 play by Patrick Hamilton, the director wanted the story to be experienced in the same…