One of the most memorable theatrical experiences I've ever had was the second time I saw Titanic. As the film dissolves from Gloria Stuart in her cabin to the submerged ship, then a whiteout signals the transition to Titanic heaven, the projector shut. Cue two hundred teary-eyed middle-aged women and teenage girls about to lose their minds. When the manager explained that it would take time to fix the problem and offered free passes to see a future screening, I…

Something I caught this time: near the beginning, when Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Céline (Julie Delpy) are still on the train, Jesse tells a story about being a child and seeing his grandmother in a rainbow after she'd passed, concluding that, even in death, nothing is certain. But once they're off the train, there are repated instances, like their encounters with the fortune teller and the impromptu poet, where Jesse is very skeptical, cynically assuming that each is a hustler.…

One of my fondest moviegoing memories is the collective groan a frustrated opening weekend audience let out as Stanley Kubrick's elusive final film cut to black. It's a fair response, as Eyes Wide Shut deliberately upends our expectations; it's a movie that was sold on the promise of raunchy sex scenes featuring its then-married leads, but while there's plenty of skin throughout the film, the sex is as cold and alien as Crash (the Ballard book/Cronenberg film). I've heard a…