My Film Reviews

Here are links to my series of weekly film reviews. Most of them are films that appeared during the time I was writing these reviews, but I also looked back to such classics as High Noon. The reviews are my honest response to the films, and honestly, they may come across as rather eccentric. I still do not understand the appeal of American Beauty, and I still appreciate For Love of the Game, but I also appreciate such quirky jewels as George Washington.

Although this series of film reviews is now somewhat dated, I still return to these reviews because in them, I developed a concept of "reading" a film that (for this sometime English major) turns out to be jarringly different from the way in which we read a book. I never felt during my tenure as film critic that I was in the business of labeling films as good or bad. In fact, I mainly wanted to muddy the view of the films, maybe focus on what works and what does not work. In short, I was functioning as a teacher and at the same time as a student. As a good student and teacher, I also include a list of useful online resources.

Most importantly, for all film critics, I had to take the word like out of my vocabulary. Whether a critic likes or dislikes a film (or a genre, such as westerns or war movies) does not matter any more than whether a surgeon likes or dislikes cancer.

For purposes of full disclosure, I was paid up-front for my articles, there is no advertising on any of the pages (except for the blog or the "General Reference Sites," for which, of course, I am not paid), and I do not get paid for page views now.

General Film Reference Sites

About Classic Films - Part of the About network.
Classic Movies - Host Brad Lang is a classic himself.
Internet Movie Data Base - More than an encyclopedia of all things cinematic.
Online Film Critics Society - I used to be a member.
Rotten Tomatoes - Or, what to do with too much produce.
3 Black Chicks - We can all use a little flavor!
Tim Dirks: The Greatest Films - One of the greatest film sites.

My General Film Articles

Attack of the Baby Monster and Other Movie Horrors
Back to School Videos
A Clockwork Kubrick
Getting Lost on the Way to the Dietrich Festival
Happy Birthday, Billy Wilder!
The Indiscreet Charms of Luis Buñuel
Shakespeare: The Man that Launched a Thousand Movies?
AMC: A Movie Cornucopia
A Movie Lover's Guide to the Internet
Movies About World War II
Mr. Matasschankayasky, We'll Miss You!
The Summer of Our Content
The Summer of Our Discontent
Two Dinosaurs that the Movies Mistreated

My Film Reviews: A - E

African Queen, The
Almost Famous
Along Came a Spider
American Beauty
America's Sweethearts
Analyze This
Arlington Road
Artificial Intelligence
Atlantis

Bamboozled
Bandits
Beach, The
Before Night Falls
Beautiful Mind, A
Blair Witch Project, The
Blair Witch 2: Book of Shadows
Blast From the Past
Bone Collector, The
Bridget Jones's Diary
Bringing Out the Dead
Brokedown Palace

Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Cats & Dogs
Cell, The
Chicken Run
Cider House Rules, The
Ciénaga, La
Company Man
Contender, The
Cookie's Fortune
Cousin Bette
Crazy in Alabama
Crew, The
Curse of the Jade Scorpion

Dancer in the Dark
Dinosaur
Disney's The Kid
Dogma
Down from the Mountain
Dr. Dolittle 2
Dr. T and the Women
Drowning Mona

Eight Millimeter
Emperor's New Groove, The
End of the Affair, The
Enemy at the Gates
Entrapment
Erin Brockovich
eXistenZ
Eyes of Tammy Faye, The
Eyes Wide Shut

My Film Reviews: F - N

Fifteen Minutes
Fight Club
Finding Graceland
Flawless
For Love of the Game
Frequency

Galaxy Quest
George Washington
Gladiator
Gosford Park
Green Mile, The
Grey Owl

Hannibal
Hanging Up
Haunting, The
Heartbreakers
Hideous Kinky
High Fidelity
High Noon
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Hurricane, The

Ideal Husband, An
Insider, The
Instinct
Isn't She Great

Jurassic Park III

Kandahar
Knight's Tale, A
K-PAX

Last Castle, The
Legend of Bagger Vance, The
Life Is Beautiful
Love Stinks

Magnolia
Man on the Moon
Man Who Wasn't There, The
Me, Myself, and Irene
Meet the Parents
Men of Honor
Memento
Mexican, The
Mickey Blue Eyes
Midsummer-Night's Dream, A
Mission to Mars
Monster's Ball
Monsters Inc.
Mummy, The
Mummy Returns, The
Musketeer, The
My Dog Skip

Next Best Thing, The
Nurse Betty
Nutty Professor II: The Klumps

My Film Reviews: O - X

O Brother, Where ArtThou?
October Sky
Osmosis Jones
Outside Providence

Patriot, The
Pearl Harbor
Perfect Storm, The
Planet of the Apes
Playing by Heart
Pledge, The
Plunkett & Macleane
Proof of Life
Pushing Tin

Rat Race
Remember the Titans
Requiem for A Dream
Return to Me
Rules of Engagement

Saving Grace
Score, The
Serendipity
Shanghai Noon
Shanghai Express
She's All That
Shrek
Sixth Sense, The
Small Time Crooks
Space Cowboys
State and Main
Summer of Sam
Sweet November

Tailor of Panama, The
Talented Mr. Ripley, The
Tea With Mussolini
Thin Red Line, The
3000 Miles to Graceland
Three Kings
Thirteen Days
Traffic
True Crime

U-571

Vengo

Walk on the Moon, A
What Lies Beneath
What Planet Are YouFrom?
Where the Heart Is
Where the Money Is
Wonder Boys

X-Men

The Adventures of Tintin: Belgian comic book hero comes to America

Tintin, the ageless and never sedentary reporter, hero of twenty-four "albums" by Georges Prosper Remi (1907-1983), better known by the pen name Hergé, has never been as popular in the United States as he has been in many other countries. That is about to change, with news of a trilogy of Tintin films by Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson. I'll be updating my articles on Tintin, on paper and on screen, in my blog, "Tintin in America."