The Low Road
Not everyone who breaks your heart is a monster. And not everyone who wounds you deserves to be wounded in return.
Movies
A collection of 87 issues
This Was No Accident
Forty years after Jaws, why the very first blockbuster should be considered art—and how it helped one man to survive.
Our Dino Love Will Never Die
Dinosaurs haven’t been super-popular for 65 million years—it only feels that way. Fans and experts explain our obsession with dead monsters.
Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy
Before he was America's favorite philosopher comic, he was just another comedian out on tour. And she was the journalist he wanted to meet.
The Accidental Actor
Stumbling onto a movie set in Los Angeles—and then staying there for as long as humanly possible—offers lessons in acting and reality.
My Top One Lists
Because the blinders were on last year, a 2015 resolution to become more culturally aware: to read more books, watch more movies, and listen to more albums.
Groundhog Days
In Woodstock, Ill., where “Groundhog Day” was filmed, hundreds of fans gather every year, year after year, to celebrate their favorite movie.
Do You Believe in Ghosts?
Ignore the critics: Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar” is not only a serious, complex comment on space policy, it’s a heartbreaking, philosophical look at the value of time.
To Chilling Effect
Only the truly trained can accurately describe how despair sounds without a noise filter. A sound technician finishes his horror movie script.
The Übersinner
Reddit's “Ask Me Anything” interviews—edited for the seven deadly sins—provide an Idolatry of Self so big, it produces Zen koans.
Demolish Me
The present-day lust for ruins is nothing new. In fact, it’s nearly as old as any ruins themselves. From a flattened Louvre to Percy Bysshe Shelley, a journey to the dawn of ruin porn.
The Unofficial Roger Ebert Reader on Addiction
When Roger Ebert died, America was deprived of one of its finest critics. We also lost one of our best writers on addiction.
Tale of the Transcription Tape
Sometimes a love scene calls for [WHIMPERS], sometimes it needs [YELPS], but knowing which one to use makes all the difference. The secret life of a professional closed captioner.
Giving Up the Cat
After seeing “Inside Llewyn Davis” I just had one question: Where was that cat supposed to pee?
That’s All Folks
Every generation gets the fictional doomsday it desires. What we learned during our dystopian, end-of-the-world summer vacation at the movies.
Heartplunger
A childhood ban on toy guns didn’t erase the specter of death from a neighborhood.
It’s the End of the World as We've Known It
Good old Earth was nearly destroyed, almost extinguished, and threatened with slaughter every hour in cinemas this summer. And yet, here we are. Our film critics pinpoint the collapse of the apocalypse genre.
With Great Power
There’s a new Spider-Man movie in the works, but it’s not the one you're expecting. Thanks to the magic of crowd-funding, it could be the summer blockbuster nobody sees.
Here's the Thing About Silver Linings
The Oscars are consistently irrational, but we wanted more for David O. Russell's fantastic Silver Linings Playbook. Film critics David Haglund, Pasha Malla, and Michelle Orange discuss why the movie so divided critical opinion, and became such a hit with audiences.
Fly Girl
Even if you grow up crushing on the jets in Top Gun—and not Tom Cruise—it can be tough to preserve a dream of defending your country from a plane. But some girls do.
The Petition Response Strikes Back
The White House recently turned down a petition to build a Death Star. More responses from the official rejection pile.
Attica Locke
Our man in Boston talks to screenwriter and novelist Attica Locke about writing in Hollywood, the origins of her second novel, and where exactly British prisoners locate the moral heart of The Wire.
The Master and Moviemaking
Once again, we convene our film scholars, plus critic Michelle Orange, to discuss a major movie: “The Master,” by Paul Thomas Anderson—a masterpiece of craftsmanship, or merely an exercise of cinema and violence with no story in the center?
Secret Horror
Yes, yes, “The Exorcist” and “Night of the Living Dead” are reliably traumatizing, but at this point they’re comfort food, and there’s plenty more to discover in the world of horror cinema.
Here There Be Monsters
A professor teaches his students skepticism by instructing them to create hoaxes with the web as their laboratory.
Soldier’s Heart
A post-World War II documentary, banned by the military in 1946 but lately released online, is one of the earliest depictions of psychotherapy. But it says even more about contemporary Americans’ interest in the veterans they love to praise.
Coming to a Theater Near You
With blockbusters like “Snow White and the Huntsman,” “Zombie Overkill,” and “Yahtzee: Alien Invasion,” it’s already a smash hit for summer movies. But film buffs know Summer 2013 will be even better—and we’re not just talking about Jerry Bruckheimer’s live-action “Hungry Hungry Hippo Apocalypse.”
Uncanny Kingdom
Our film scholars and Wes Anderson watchers, along with movie critic Michelle Orange, evaluate the filmmaker’s latest release, “Moonrise Kingdom,” where people get struck by lightning as a matter of course.
Burn All the Liars
An unfinished autobiography and a 1980s biopic turned Frances Farmer, one of the great golden-era stars, into a lobotomized zombie. The main trouble: Frances Farmer wasn’t lobotomized. An investigation to set one of Hollywood’s most convoluted stories straight.
As Time Goes By
In the past 20 years, movies and the quotes they’ve sprinkled across American pop culture have occupied a shrinking proportion of our social mindshare. It’s time to mark and celebrate the death of the movie catchphrase.
The Places You’ll Go
For those of us who are single and looking, the world is full of opportunities and just as full of all sorts of regrets. Reviews of three places with three men.
Cosa Nostalgia
How Hyman Roth's quip in The Godfather: Part II picks up on a cinematic pastime, and exposits layer upon layer of information about his character.
Calypso Now
With the U.S. military engaged in multiple battles around the world, it’s time to revisit that haunting classic of war and steel-drum cinema, “Apocalypso Now.”
Tallahassle
Florida is America’s most-abused state, and Tallahassee its biggest target for bi-coastal writers who pick low-hanging fruit—rednecks, old people—and wouldn’t know an alligator from their elbow. The slander has gone far enough. On behalf of every Tallahussey and T-Town man, let the corrections begin
The Sex Trade in Northwest Wisconsin
In a small town with a withering economy, rebellion is choosing college over your job at the X-rated drive-in.
The Age of Mechanical Reproduction
When it comes to in-vitro fertilization, nothing is normal. Your world is upside-down. Your doctor compliments your wife on her monkeys. Then, when every dollar and exertion has gone toward a single hour of hope, it begins to snow.
Animated Films for Grown-Ups
Anyone who's seen Princess Mononoke knows animated films can hold their own with their live-action counterparts. For those who still think cartoons are for kids, here are 15 reasons why you're wrong.
She Ordered Sausage
After his job is jeopardized by unwanted advances toward a co-worker, a writer revises a porn script while undergoing harassment-prevention training.
A Nature Documentary: The Post-Screening Q&A
The film lays bare all the raw intensity of the subject matter, holding back nothing. But some may wonder: What’s the lion’s motivation?
First Scary Movies
You can sleep with the closet light on, you can crawl into your parents' bed, but you can never forget your first truly frightening horror movie. Our staff and readers agree.
A Taste for Flesh
America has a problem with death; zombies have a problem with life. The difference, explained by more than 60 zombie movies.
Favorite Worst Movies
Summer movies tend to crush box-office records, dumbfound critics, and be terrible. Our staff and readers tell us about the movies they know they shouldn't love.
My Brief Wondrous Life
On Sunday night, Hollywood’s finest will clasp the man of their dreams to their chests. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Oscar.
Mindfuck Movies
Some movies inform. Some movies entertain. And some pry open your skull and punch you in the brain.
Big B Gets a Bellyache
In Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan is a big deal. When his tummy has troubles, so do Indian cinema and all of its star-crazed fans.
***Spoilers*** ***Spoilers*** ***Spoilers***
Spoilers online and IRL are plentiful, rendering those who wish to remain unaware on high alert at all times. A look at the many ways spoilers spoil everything (spoilers ahead).
Movies for What Ails You
It's winter, and chances are you're sick or you're about to be. Even though you may feel like you'd rather curl up and die, we recommend curling up with a good movie instead--and the writers' answer to most ailments is Jimmy Stewart.
Once More, With Feeling
Some call Wes Anderson’s new movie, “The Darjeeling Limited,” mounting evidence of the filmmaker’s racism—others, of his inability to make a decent film.
The Talented Dr. Rosnick
At the New York State Psychiatric Institute, a darkened room of psychologists gaze upon Matt Damon—trying to decide when a bust is really a penis. Watching the analysis unfold.
Longing for the Sad Bastards
When did our angst-driven movie men get all tangled up in their apron strings? A screen history of damaged males.
I Would Die 4 U
Hazing makes for hot courtship, and how better to love your woman than by hitting her in the face? Lessons learned from rewatching “Purple Rain.”
Mel Gibson's Project Redlight
Given his recent legal troubles, Mel Gibson may want to put some of the upcoming projects from Icon Pictures, his film production company, on hold. Some of the movies we'll have to wait a bit longer to see.
Panning the Gold
Just because a film wins awards doesn't mean the critics liked it. In fact, they frequently said it was trash—before the statue arrived. From 2006, highlights of scorn levied at eight years of Oscar winners.
Les Perles de la Couronne
As charming as it is inaccurate, Les Perles de la Couronne makes a mockery of European history in three languages. The film has a literary playfulness found in the best early cinema and the humor manages to be mean and light hearted at the same time. Though the story is
Be Not Afraid
Between rescuing Joaquin Phoenix from a car wreck and dodging bullets during an interview, German director Werner Herzog leads a dramatic life. According to his private diaries, we shouldn't be surprised.
The New World
Terrence Malick’s The New World isn’t for everyone, but if you liked The Thin Red Line or, for that matter, Koyaanisqatsi, you’ll appreciate this very strange, very beautiful film. Newcomer Q’orianka Kilcher is beguiling and breathtaking as Pocahontas-cum-Rebecca, and Colin Farrell, as John Smith, turns in
Mondovino
Mondovino comes with a caveat: it's endless, meandering, filmed with herky-jerky handling (to the point of making me nauseated), obsessed with industry celebrities, and at times so confusing (including the horribly designed subtitles) you double-check your remote in case there's an "Appendix" button. But
Ashes of Time
As more of his contemporaries have become practiced in making international wuxia blockbusters such as Hero, the uniqueness of Wong Kar Wai's poetic and enigmatic Ashes of Time, released in the mid-'90s, becomes clearer. Artful without heightened, action-filled pageantry, Ashes is a non-linear meditation on memory
Serenity
Joss Whedon's Serenity, just released on DVD, was easily one of the best movies of the year. Unlike most sci-fi flicks, this space western relies more on smart writing than CGI to engage your imagination. The film's intergalactic smugglers speak a cowboy English peppered with Chinese
Preview of What Is It?
I have now watched the Quicktime preview to Crispin Glover's self-made, low-budget movie What Is It? at least a dozen times. Crispin is dressed like a chorus member from a high school musical version of Lord of the Rings, there are more naked women in masks than you&
Grizzly Man
The amount of epic symbolism and ironic tragedy overflowing Grizzly Man, a documentary about a man who wants to live amongst grizzlies, makes it almost too perfect to be believed. Herzog made a similarly themed man-vs.nature mocumentary last year, the protagonist looks like Klaus Kinski's lost brother,
The Staircase
The Staircase is a French documentary mini-series about the murder trial of American novelist Michael Peterson, accused in 2001 of murdering his wife in their home. The defense gave the filmmakers incredible access to strategy sessions, and every episode has a thrilling twist or revelation that would be considered improbable
Mantle
Narrated by Bob Costas, Mantle, HBO's documentary on Yankee great Mickey Mantle, has terrific old footage and interviews everybody--teammates, celebrities, the wife, AND the mistress. It's appropriately reverent of Mickey's abilities but doesn't flinch when discussing his faults. The scene in which
Hot Summer
You and your strapping Caucasian friends are looking forward to a pleasant vacation on the shore, perhaps hooking up with equally comely and tall teenagers, and then romping on a farm collective--that's right, it's one Hot Summer! Part Grease, part unintentional stoner epic, this utterly unstoppable
You Only Act Once: The Lesser Bonds
Many actors have attempted to wear the mantle of 007—and many have had their licenses to kill revoked, and not just because of suspicious accents. Here are the reasons why they lost the coveted role, with grievances aired by cast and crew.
Darth Vader Made Me Cry
From the first moment you see Darth Vader choke that rebel fighter, you know he's evil. The helmet, the cape, the breathing? Evil, evil, evil.
For Spring 2005
The stuff we're into right now--including what we're reading, hearing, watching, finding, eating, using, installing, applying, and, yes, even scratching this season.
Here’s the Pitch
Space: the final frontier…of delicious cooking! Our writers have an exciting new idea for a cookbook that has “out of this world” recipes that are “universally appealing.” Get ready, because it’s T-minus 10 to tasty!
For Fall 2004
Books, movies, shows, albums, artists, clothing, writing instruments, online "services," ways to cook, things to eat, and more things to digest.
Trailers for Everyday Life
Ever wonder why your life’s not more like Mel Gibson’s? Ever think maybe it’s because he gets better narration? Pasha Malla and Mike Baker bring us a batch of movie trailers scripted for real-life scenarios.
For Summer 2004
Of interest lately are special books, catchy songs, lovely clothes, and a slew of other wonderful items we've collectively enjoyed the last few weeks, and now wish to pass along for your very own summer pleasure.
The Passion of the Christ: Blooper Reel
No film set exists without its share of gags and accidents, even the filming of Mel Gibson's crucifixion epic. A transcript of scenes that may never make it onto the DVD edition.
Great Oscar Gaffes
Every year we watch the nominations unfold, the awards change hands, and the speeches drag on. But we miss all the inappropriate jokes, drunk punches, and other such un-televisables. Here’s the moments Oscar wished he’d never seen.
Die Softly
Action movies may seem old hat these days, but they had to start somewhere. We go back to the pre-Schwarzenegger years, when a movie audience thirsty for speed and thrills could only turn to “My Dinner With André.”
Bright Nights, Big Mountains
The Sundance Film Festival may have a hard time maintaining its indie credibility, but as a magnet for celebrities there is little doubt about its powers. After a few days of film in Park City,our writer looks back.
French Film, French Film
A New York filled with memories. A New York filled with Mallomars. Mallomars filled with, er, you get the picture.
Dear Hollywood
Hollywood. Is it worth the trouble? A letter to the big “H” to ask why it’s been acting like this.
Crowning the Action
Mel Gibson's forthcoming movie, The Passion, has come under a great deal of fire, especially for something that nobody's even seen yet.
Freddy and Jason and Reese and Julia
Ahh, movie sequels: the perpetual bliss of knowing what happens next. But what if Hollywood runs out of old films for remakes, prequels, and crossovers? A plan that will save the movie industry.
Copyrights and Wrongs
Despite its grumblings (and litigation) to the contrary, the entertainment industry benefits from copyright expiration: Take, for instance, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Unloading on The Matrix Reloaded
The first Matrix was cool, but this new one needed a bit more work before they let it out of the gate. An open letter to the Wachowski brothers.
Mess With the Bull, You'll Get the Horns
The hazing at Glenbrook North High School and that other story about disregard for journalistic propriety can find judgment in the college classroom.
An Extremely Incomplete Taxonomy of Cinematic New Yorks
New York has faced the apocalypse many times. Unfortunately, it's usually Bruce Willis who saves us. A report on the many versions of the five boroughs produced in film, and why Nora Ephron lives alone.
To the Teen Beat of His Own Drummer
Maybe you only know him as "the other one" from Weird Science, but Ilan Mitchell-Smith is a former actor turned real human being (and Ph.D. candidate, no less).
“Broadway: The Movie”
Experts answer what they know. The Non-Expert answers anything. This week we work over the inner workings of the movie industry, where art always prevails over profit.
This Is the [Best]...Article...of the Summer!
Ever been suspect of the reviews that accompany movie ad posters? You probably have good reason. A look at the true origins of those reviews.
The Minority Report Trailer
Big-budget movies require big-budget marketing, and you can bet every second of the trailer is accounted for, in impact. We get the inside scoop on Spielberg’s new flop.