“‘Benny’s Video’ implicates us, the audience, for watching. Haneke chides the spectators, removed from the action by a screen, for their inability — or perhaps their unwillingness — to stop the violence.”
“The vomit moment in ‘Dead Bang’ is unfailingly human.”
“‘Hounds of Love’ makes an intriguing case for suggestion in place of an all-out, sensationalized show.”
“Jean-Pierre Melville’s ‘Le Samourai’ is the definition of cinematic precision. Each shot, each cut, each movement is a slice of redolent, provocative and sometimes even banal accuracy.”
“While Lang never fully embraced socialist principles over the course of his career, he always seemed to have a violent distaste for the men who stood on the shoulders of those who were less fortunate, knowing full well that social class does not correlate a strong moral conscious.”
“The film has an unusually conservative vibe for a noir, maintaining that the status quo may be boring but criminality has nothing to offer — not even carnal thrills.”
“‘American Gigolo’ doesn’t necessarily work as a neo-noir, but it still has enough romance and intrigue to be well worth watching.”
“As Bridget Gregory in ‘The Last Seduction,’ Linda Fiorentino is like the shock of hearing a gunshot in the dead of night. She embodies, more than any other character, the ethos of the modern femme fatale.”
“Of all Sam Peckinpah’s films, the violence in ‘The Getaway’ often strikes me as the most senseless.”
“If you have an ounce of capitalist discomfort, ‘La cérémonie’ will surely begin to boil your blood, and that’s where things get interesting.”
“Youth is central to ‘Violette,’ and Isabelle Huppert’s petite frame and almost childlike features lend the film a skewed point of view that is colored neither by experience or shame.”
“‘The Bride Wore Black’ has a rather deft sense of humor that raises it above many of the other brightly-lit neo-noirs of the 1960s.”
“A feeling of powerlessness is no doubt at the heart of Moreau’s possessed performance in ‘Elevator to the Gallows.'”
“A sex comedy rooted in inequality, ‘Diary of a Chambermaid’ trades in traditional ideas about power dynamics for a twisted take on the absurdity of desire.”
“Joaquin Phoenix delivers yet another iconic performance in ‘Inherent Vice’ and has now become one the most charismatic actors of the last 20 years.”
“‘Big Eyes’ could have become an Oscar contender with more focus on Adams in the final act, rather than a shift towards the public bravado of Waltz’s Walter Keane.”
“Matti shows no fear by destroying genre cliches in ‘On the Job,’ and his wandering camera opens up the world of Metro Manila while expressing how utterly disposable humans can be under corrupt leadership.”