The Best Movie Dialogue of 2009
This post is for anyone who sat through the Transformers sequel and concluded that film writing is dead. I was privileged enough to see...
“Whip It” Good
Just finished watching the new-on-DVD-and-download flick ”Whip It” – Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut – and I loved it. This one has loads of hip-checking...
“A Dirty Shame” Redux
The Sundance Channel has screened John Waters’ underappreciated 2004 comedy “A Dirty Shame” several times over the past month. (Another showing is scheduled January...
Is the Right Wing Right About ‘Avatar’?
The latest dispatch from the culture wars is the right wing’s attack column forming against Avatar. The Weekly Standard's John Podhoretz and John Nolte...
The Talented Miss Highsmith
Joan Schenkar’s “The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highmith,” reviewed on this week’s ”Books” page, could’ve been a...
The Best Filmmaking Debuts of 2009
Part of the fun of this job is scoping out new talent, so here’s my favorite films of 2009 directed by first-time feature filmmakers....
Bruce Wood Film in Fest
Longtime readers probably remember Weekly dance critic Leonard Eureka’s raves about Bruce Wood Dance Company, a Fort Worth-based Modern troupe founded in 1995 by...
The Best Movies Directed by Women of 2009
The New York Times recently found that only about 10 percent of the films they reviewed in 2009 were directed by women. Of course,...
The Best Sports Films of 2009
I was trying to figure out whether I had enough material to do this list, and then Bill Simmons beat me to the punch....
The Best Horror Films of 2009
Why horror? I just happened to notice a bunch of interesting films in the genre this year. (That will be a theme in my...
