Breaking Away (1979)

There is scarcely a cliché of the 1990s Hollywood thriller that is not to be found in Switchback, written and directed by Jeb Stuart. By now, the figure of the serial killer — so rare in nature, so common in the movies — has become such a familiar one that a filmmaker like Stuart will…

A rediscovery of the romance of the normal is not such a big deal, but it is something to be encouraged.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but just in case you’ve been living in Borneo for the last 80 years you might not know that the class-ridden British army in World War One was staffed by senior officers who were idiots and junior officers who were amateurish, upper-class twits, while the ranks were…

What? You didn’t know that Nixon was assassinated? You must not have been paying attention to the Hollywood fantasy-factory

Down to Earth, Chris Rock’s remake (directed by Chris and Paul Weitz) of Heaven Can Wait (1978)—itself a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)—is a disappointment. Though there are some very funny things in it, its glib message about being oneself turns out to be a cover for being self-indulgent, in the style (I’m…

If the administration really wants to suppress the latest adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel, it can hardly be because of its closeness to reality. Perhaps it is just good taste.