|
4/4
|
97%
|
Unforgiven (1992) |
"
This dark, melancholic film is a reminder-never more necessary than now-of what the American cinema is capable of, in the way of expressing a mature, morally complex and challenging view of the world."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Feb 20, 2013
|
|
—
|
——
|
Dirty Money () |
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
——
|
The Price of Love (1995) |
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
—
|
——
|
Water (2006) |
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 22, 2013
|
|
|
91%
|
Witness (1985) |
"
A moderately effective, highly affected thriller."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 14, 2013
|
|
|
85%
|
Scrooge (A Christmas Carol) (1951) |
"
A sturdy 1951 British mounting of the Dickens tale, with Alastair Sim contributing a definitive Scrooge."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 5, 2012
|
|
|
48%
|
The Lord of the Rings (1978) |
"
It looked terrible then and it still does: cartoon characters move differently from live actors, and the attempt to duplicate natural movement ends in stylistic incoherence."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 3, 2012
|
|
|
79%
|
The Neverending Story (1984) |
"
Despite the sophistication of the source material, the film isn't particularly successful."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Nov 26, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
The Thief of Bagdad (1940) |
"
Alexander Korda's opulent Arabian Nights fantasy suffers from pallid performances and frequently succumbs to kitsch, but it still casts its fragile spell."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Nov 26, 2012
|
|
|
81%
|
Dragonslayer (1981) |
"
The film excels as a visual exercise, as a study in adolescent psychology, and even as astute political analysis."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Nov 26, 2012
|
|
|
81%
|
The Tales of Hoffmann (1951) |
"
Hard to take, despite the clear personal commitment of director Michael Powell and the enormous amount of talent on display in the photography, set design, and choreography."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Nov 26, 2012
|
|
3/4
|
89%
|
They Live (1988) |
"
They Live is the looniest movie of the season and also one of the most engaging."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Oct 10, 2012
|
|
|
85%
|
The Omen (1976) |
"
Richard Donner directs more for speed than mood, but there are a few good shocks."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 9, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Atlantic City (1980) |
"
A shimmering success."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 7, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Les Miserables (1935) |
"
It isn't a bad example of the Hollywood prestige picture -- there is, at least, some liveliness in the performances."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 31, 2012
|
|
|
13%
|
Sparkle (1976) |
"
Hackneyed, ho-hum 1976 feature about a black girl group, clearly modeled on the Supremes."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 16, 2012
|
|
|
96%
|
Baisers Volés (Stolen Kisses) (1968) |
"
One of Truffaut's best, lyrical and resonant in a way the later films in the cycle would not be."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 8, 2012
|
|
|
93%
|
A Shot in the Dark (1964) |
"
This isn't quite up to the original, but it has its moments."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 7, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Sanjuro (Tsubaki Sanjûrô) (1962) |
"
This is fun but, compared with Kurosawa's other 60s efforts, relatively slight."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 7, 2012
|
|
|
86%
|
Tales from the Crypt (1972) |
"
This British production looks handsome enough under Freddie Francis's direction, and for those who say they'd watch Ralph Richardson in anything, well, here's your chance."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jul 10, 2012
|
|
|
60%
|
Swamp Thing (1982) |
"
The film is too lazy to provide any actual jokes with its send-up of the genre."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jul 9, 2012
|
|
|
82%
|
Bound for Glory (1976) |
"
One half of a very good movie."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 11, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Road House (1948) |
"
This lurid 1948 melodrama by Jean Negulesco has built up a considerable underground reputation."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Apr 30, 2012
|
|
|
83%
|
Ornette: Made in America (2012) |
"
[A] disappointing muddle of concert footage, unfocused interviews, dated psychedelia, and indifferently staged dramatic scenes centered on jazz great Ornette Coleman."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 27, 2012
|
|
|
65%
|
Torn Curtain (1966) |
"
Alfred Hitchcock's 1966 spy thriller has one of the lowest reputations of his late works. Coming after a masterpiece like Marnie, it almost had to be a disappointment. But Hitchcock was incapable of making an uninteresting film."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 20, 2012
|
|
|
92%
|
Murder! (1930) |
"
It remains a crucial insight into the development of one of the cinema's greatest artists, and so, essential viewing."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 20, 2012
|
|
|
83%
|
I Confess (1952) |
"
The movie is more interesting than achieved: it's the most forthright statement of the transference theme in Hitchcock's work, but it's also the least nuanced."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 20, 2012
|
|
|
80%
|
Marnie (2000) |
"
Universally despised on its first release, Marnie remains one of Alfred Hitchcock's greatest and darkest achievements."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 20, 2012
|
|
|
88%
|
The Manxman (1929) |
"
It's no masterpiece, but it's certainly something to see: Hitchcock's early work is full of surprises, dramatic and stylistic."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 20, 2012
|
|
|
45%
|
Heaven's Gate (1980) |
"
It really is a stinker."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Mar 2, 2012
|
|
|
96%
|
The King and I (1956) |
"
Typically overproduced."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 10, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
Stagecoach (1939) |
"
Its virtues remain intact."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 10, 2012
|
|
|
97%
|
La Grande illusion (Grand Illusion) (2012) |
"
It's an excellent film, with Renoir's usual looping line and deft shifts of tone, though today the balance of critical opinion has shifted in favor of the greater darkness and filigree of The Rules of the Game."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 8, 2012
|
|
|
100%
|
The Love Parade (1929) |
"
Made before the production code was inflicted, the film is rife with Lubitschian innuendo."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Feb 3, 2012
|
|
|
46%
|
Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (1955) |
"
The film is the quintessence of a certain kind of 50s schlock."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 31, 2012
|
|
|
80%
|
The Citadel (1936) |
"
Though it has Vidor's favorite theme of personal rebirth and his enduring country/city dichotomy, it lacks his usual fire."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 31, 2012
|
|
|
67%
|
Anchors Aweigh (1945) |
"
Tepid and slow."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 31, 2012
|
|
|
83%
|
One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937) |
"
Universal survived the Depression thanks to Boris Karloff and Deanna Durbin, the latter horror being a reedy-voiced child star who infected a number of late 30s musicals before creeping puberty ended her career. This is one of her more tolerable vehicles."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 31, 2012
|
|
|
56%
|
The Turning Point (1977) |
"
For a film ostensibly dedicated to physical grace, Ross's images are unforgivably clumsy."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jan 30, 2012
|
|
|
65%
|
Ironweed (1987) |
"
Watching "Ironweed" is like having a large, metal object lodged in your brain for 2 1/2 hours. It hurts."
—
Chicago Tribune
Posted Dec 19, 2011
|
|
|
98%
|
Das Boot (The Boat) (1981) |
"
The film has no qualities beyond its formal polish."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Dec 9, 2011
|
|
|
100%
|
Curse of the Demon (1958) |
"
Intelligent, delicate, and actually frightening."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 17, 2011
|
|
|
95%
|
Island of Lost Souls (The Island of Dr. Moreau) (1933) |
"
It's a grand, hokey chiller, dripping with sex and sadism and photographed in dense, Sternbergian shadows by the great cinematographer Karl Struss."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Oct 17, 2011
|
|
|
94%
|
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1999) |
"
All in all, a very creditable film."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Aug 8, 2011
|
|
|
98%
|
Forbidden Planet (1956) |
"
An engaging 1956 science fiction gloss of Shakespeare's Tempest."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jul 26, 2011
|
|
|
94%
|
To Kill A Mockingbird (1962) |
"
Harper Lee's child's-eye view of southern bigotry gains something in its translation to the screen by Robert Mulligan, who knows exactly where to place the camera to catch a child's subjective experience."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jul 25, 2011
|
|
|
100%
|
Jalsaghar (The Music Room) (1958) |
"
Ray's social insight is not dimmed by treating his subject in this distant, allegorical manner; if anything it's intensified by the closer focus he's able to train on his characters."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jul 19, 2011
|
|
|
55%
|
Dune (1984) |
"
The problem is that the imagery isn't rooted in any story impulse, and so its power dissipates quickly."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted Jul 18, 2011
|
|
|
92%
|
Pale Rider (1985) |
"
Though the metaphysical overtones of the screenplay are sometimes awkwardly handled and Eastwood's direction of actors (other than himself) is occasionally uncertain, this was one of the better American films of 1985."
—
Chicago Reader
Posted May 27, 2011
|
52%
31%
78%
96%
96%
63%
