I liked the film better on rewatch. About rival street gangs in a pre-internet New York (even inspiring real gangs to form and a 2005 video game).
Based on a book by Sol Yurick and Frank Modell from 1965, I doubt the story would be the same if told today because someone would probably have filmed the events at the gathering on their phone. There’s something reassuring about gang members defending the group and as this film showed New York…

Setting a film in a Thai prison is not a new idea. A couple of examples are Brokedown Palace (1999) and the mini-series Bangkok Hilton (1989). A Prayer Before Dawn is arguably the most brutal and certainly the loudest of them. A ton of yelling from the guards and prisoners. If that’s how it really is then I guess that’s what is required to take you into that world. For the viewer an immersive and jarring watch. Based on a…

Watchable, second-tier Woody Allen. A time capsule movie of 1930s Hollywood and NY, very bright and glamorous. At least on the surface. Kristen Stewart and Jesse Eisenberg have easy, likeable chemistry. Eisenberg channels a younger Woody Allen in the way he delivers the lines. The big age difference in the movie felt forced yet not entirely unrealistic. You can’t forget who made the film because Allen pops up in voice-over segments. Allen is known for his love of jazz and…

Could be David Cronenberg's most important, visionary, and ambitious work. A cult film that is disturbing and visually grotesque, so not for the faint of heart.
Thought-provoking, not least because the film is a window into the future: Freely available information, avatar names, the limits of satisfaction and entertainment, the effects on your surroundings and on the mind of watching violence, sex or torture, and whether entertainment is at the expense of something more worthwhile. Does viewing kill our brain…