"It's like some cheap melodrama," the teen says to the girl he loves, who may or may not be his long-lost sister. It's teen melodrama all right, but hardly cheap. "From Up On Poppy Hill" is another handsome and touching film from Japan's Studio Ghibli, factory of animated masterpieces. Hayao Miyazaki, the director of "Princess Mononoke," … [Read more...]
Red-hot ‘Orange Is the New Black’
Addiction can land you in prison. Addiction to a TV series can keep you there. Netflix's new "Orange Is the New Black" looks like a hit, and for good reason. It's perhaps the best new TV show of the year, coming here in the swelter of mid-July. Created by the woman who made "Weeds," this prison dramedy stars Taylor Schilling as a trendy … [Read more...]
Fritz Lang’s ‘Ministry of Fear’
Funny thing about the wrong man: He never, ever did it. This lack of mystery never held back the thriller subgenre, in large part because of Alfred Hitchcock's fondness for tales of the unjustly accused on the run. The German director Fritz Lang also worked cases of mistaken identity, notably in "Fury" (1936) and "Ministry of Fear" … [Read more...]
‘Ripper Street’: Victorian evil at large
The shadow of wicked olde Jack hangs heavy over "Ripper Street." Is this a specter, or a warning of the Ripper's return? The creators of this terrific BBC One series wisely keep Jack the Ripper sidelined, at least in the first season, which just wrapped season 1 on BBC America. Good move. We didn't need another Ripper procedural. Think of it … [Read more...]
Pasolini’s ‘Trilogy of Life’
In retrospect, "Trilogy of Life" seems an odd and ironic title for any work credited to Pier Paolo Pasolini. The director's grisly murder in 1975 still haunts Italians. Pasolini's notorious work "Salò" is a study in death and depravity -- a sick work of art, but an essential work of art nonetheless. His was dubbed "the cinema of despair." In … [Read more...]
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