The Grey Zone
November 15, 2002 | On a drearily overcast Sunday afternoon 12 years ago, I visited Auschwitz. And for reasons I didn't entirely understand at first, I felt compelled to touch everything…
Happy, Texas
October 1, 1999 | Happy, Texas is a comedy about two escaped convicts who pretend to be gay — and romantically involved — while posing as beauty-pageant producers for the…
Candyman
October 16, 1992 | Candyman is unique among recent mad-slasher monster melodramas, in that it has a brain in its head as well as blood on its hands. There’s enough…
Lily Topples the World
August 25, 2021 | If we could all agree on a working definition of the term “nice” — one that implies bemused appreciation more than condescending disparagement — it could…
Shallow Grave
February 24, 1995 | You may hate yourself the morning after you see it — in fact, you may not like yourself too much even while you’re watching it —…
Joe Versus The Volcano
March 9, 1990 | If, as the poet noted, most men lead lives of quiet desperation, then Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) truly is an exceptional fellow: His desperately unhappy life…
Chameleon Street
January 3, 1992 | Sometimes the magic works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Two years ago this month, Wendell B. Harris Jr. copped the top prize at the Sundance Film Festival…
Field of Dreams
April 21, 1989 | It’s difficult, even more difficult than hitting a high, hard one into the stands at the Astrodome. And yet, somehow, the people who made a wonderful…
In Another Country
March 2, 2013 | French actress Isabelle Huppert isn’t only the star of In Another Country, she’s also the center of gravity for this playfully wispy yet oddly captivating doodle by…
Manhunter
August 15, 1986 | These days, Michael Mann is best known as the executive producer of Miami Vice, the sleek and stylish TV series that places a high premium on…