I came upon a lovely digital restoration of this post-war, post-Brief Encounter David Lean film version of an HG Wells novel about a romantic triangle centered in the (gorgeously filmed) Swiss Alps. Lean's inimitable skills as a director anchor the production, particularly in the use of nested flashbacks to bring the viewer into the long taut history of the characters. Unfortunately the story does not rise above the cliched misogynistic narrative requirements of a woman who cuckolds - in deed…

Counter to the opinion of most, I thought this movie was daring and absurd and funny when I first saw it, and was curious to see it again after David O'Russell took another step away from his "Hollywood pariah" label with the success of Silver Linings Playbook. Perhaps it requires a (likely uncommon) co-appreciation of existential philosophy and hell-bent intellectual humor, but I liked it even more on second viewing. Mark Wahlberg's firefighter is hysterical in his brutally earnest anti-petrol…

What title better describes a film? This British-Spanish heist stunner is irresistible and dangerously determined. Even after my third viewing, I still feel like the story is forever two steps ahead and jaw-droppingly unforgiving. Kingsley said he based his mesmerizingly sociopathic character on his grandmother ("a vile and extremely unpleasant woman"), and it's a miracle the picture got an R rating with literally hundreds of "fucks" and "cunts" being uttered; maybe because the accents are as inscrutable to yanks as…

This film was panned by non-high critics who don't appreciate the brilliance of a fantasy film centered around a "fuckening" (which will induce the birth of a dragon!) and featuring lines like "First of all, you obviously don't know shit about the prophecy!" David Gordon Green is a great director - from his breakout indie film George Washington and the unforgettable drama Snow Angels to the bong-action comedy Pineapple Express and the irrepressible Eastbound & Down -- and I love his…