Spinal Tap II: The End Continues

40 years after directing a seminal rockumentary, director Marty DiBergi (Rob Reiner) finds out whatever happened to the former members of Spinal Tap. I had my doubts, but this is…

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

As Alice Johnson’s (Lisa Wilcox) boyfriend (Danny Hassel) is killed by Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), she learns that she’s pregnant. This fifth film in the series has Freddy planning to…

Late Shift

The original title may be a bit obvious, but there’s no doubt that the film is a thoroughly convincing and frustrating look into the overwhelming situation for understaffed healthcare workers,…

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

After leaving the psychiatric hospital where they battled Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund), Kristen Parker (Tuesday Knight) and her friends are back in school, but Freddy is resurrected. More or less…

Being Maria

What Maria Schneider went through while making Last Tango in Paris (1972) becomes a revealing illustration of the need for preventing movie sets from becoming a boys club in the…

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

Teenager Kristen Parker (Patricia Arquette), who’s considered to be suicidal, is admitted to a psychiatric hospital where she and a group of other teens battle the actual enemy: Freddy Krueger…

Boyfriends and Girlfriends

Blanche (Emmanuelle Chaulet) is interested in Alexandre (François-Éric Gendron), whom she meets at a public bathhouse together with a new acquaintance, Léa (Sophie Renoir); however, Léa’s boyfriend Fabien (Éric Viellard)…

Queen Christina: Angst on the Silver Throne

Greta Garbo. Photo: MGM In January 1934, Greta Garbo’s latest picture had not yet opened in her native country. Queen Christina depicted a Swedish 17th-century queen who abdicated the throne,…

One Battle After Another: Anderson’s Anora

Leonardo DiCaprio. Photo: Warner Leonardo DiCaprio once said that turning down Boogie Nights (1997) was the greatest regret of his career. Paul Thomas Anderson, who was just starting out, had…

Being Bo Widerberg

He was a filmmaker who thought Ingmar Bergman’s movies showed a false image of Sweden abroad; his view was defined by the working class. Ironically, Bo Widerberg came to resemble…