Payback
February 5, 1999 | In Payback, Brian Helgeland's unstable mixture of hard-boiled posing, heavy-duty violence and jet-black comedy, Mel Gibson plays a bad guy who runs afoul of worse guys while…
Panic Room
March 29, 2002 | The premise is simple enough to be encapsulated in a TV Guide program listing: “A mother and her teen-age daughter seek refuge in a specially-reinforced ‘panic…
Out of Sight
July 13, 1998 | Sometimes the advertising guys can do a movie a disservice by selling it as something it's not. If you look at the trailers for Out of Sight, you…
Othello
January 18, 1996 | Very much in the tradition of Franco Zeffirelli's 1991 film of Hamlet, in which Mel Gibson did himself proud as Shakespeare's melancholy Dane, Oliver Parker's new version…
Orlando
July 30, 1993 | Sally Potter’s film of Virginia Woolf's Orlando is a bountiful feast for the eyes and mind, a witty respite for moviegoers weary of summertime kiss-kiss, bang-bang. And…
Office Space
February 19, 1999 | You don't have to be a white-collar wage slave to enjoy the uproarious funny business of Office Space. But the movie is even more satisfying if you can…
Olivier, Olivier
May 28, 1993 | By turns darkly comical, unsettlingly spooky and provocatively puzzling -- and, sometimes, all three at once -- Olivier, Olivier is a dysfunctional fairy tale about extraordinary events…
Ocean’s 11
December 7, 2001 | When you really think about it, remaking Ocean’s Eleven makes about as much sense as remaking Clambake, Spinout or Paradise, Hawaiian Style. Just as the latter three…
Nobody’s Fool
January 13, 1995 | What is Nobody’s Fool all about? Nothing in particular and everything that matters. How is Paul Newman in the lead role? He doesn’t appear to do anything…
Nixon
December 21, 1995 | Near the very end of Nixon, Oliver Stone's surprisingly evenhanded examination of this century's most notorious U.S. president, there is a scene that has Richard M. Nixon…