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2008:
Heroes for Sale: Hellboy II, Hancock, Savage Grace
Herzog, Pixar, and Assorted Bucketheads
Day of the Trifles: The Happening, Stuck, The Incredible Hulk
The Aesthete's Inferno, the Clown's Utopia
"Legends, Betime Stories": Indiana Jones, Sex and the City
Floating Metaphors: Flight of the Red Balloon, Redbelt, Mr. Lonely
Need for Speed: Speed Racer, Iron Man, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
Heartbreak Wong-Style, Heartbreak Apatow-Style
Brand X: Stop-Loss, Street Kings, Smart People
Beasts of Burden: Shine a Light, Snow Angels, Leatherheads, 21
Alexandra, The Band's Visit and Other Elegies
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Sk8er Boi: Paranoid Park, Married Life, 10,000 B.C.
Fast-Forward! Fast-Forward! Be Kind, Rewind; The Other Boleyn Girl, Charlie Bartlett
Youtube Apocalypse: Diary of the Dead, Redacted
Shmashmortion Blues: 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, In Bruges
Catching Up: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Cassandra's Dream, Persepolis
Anderson, Day-Lewis, and the Blood of a Poet
2007: Screening the Year
2007:
Blood Diamond: Sweeney Todd, Charlie Wilson's War, Walk Hard
One From the Heart, Two From the Factory
Out, Cold: Margot at the Wedding, The Golden Compass
Stuck Inside of a Movie Theater with the Indie Blues Again
Go to Bed, Old Men: Dead Perfection Vs. Messy Aliveness
Infernal Affairs: Lumet's Ferocious Twilight, Redford's Sallow Pamphlet
Portraits: American Gangster, Jimmy Carter Man from Plains
Rendition's Predictable Shallowness, Affleck's Unpredictable Complexity
Horror Express: The Darjeeling Limited, We Own the Night
Just a Tease: Lust, Caution and Michael Clayton
The Assassination of a Great Yarn by Windbags Who Dig Really Long Titles
Into the Wild, Away From Intelligence
Anna and the Wolves, Plus the New Haggisography
I Spit on Your Movies: The Brave One, 3:10 to Yuma, The Hunting Party
Season of the Witches: Zombie, Johansson, Delpy, Pacino
"Stuff Happens": Superbad, No End in Sight, The Invasion
The Bourne Migraine & Doomsday Family Time
"Not That There's Anything Wrong with That..."
Come for the Wizards and Robots, Stay for the Zombie Lambs
Rats in the Kitchen, Rats in the System
Drama Queens: A Mighty Heart, La Vie en Rose
"This town... Is a Losin' Town": Petulance as Cool in Ocean's Thirteen
Pant, Blow, Push! Knocked Up Labors, Bug Creeps, Angel-A Swoons
Okeley-Dokeley, Bruno: Suffering Through Flanders
Grim, Fey: Hal Hartley Goes Global
Arachnophobia, Francophilia, and Other Pretensions
Bleached Pubes, Unknown Depths: Verhoeven's Black Book
Grindhouse -- Half Smirk, Half Transcendence
Quotidian Poetry: Killer of Sheep, The Namesake, The Lookout
Loach's Mighty Wind, Rock & Sandler's Personality Disorders
Black Snake Moan's Faux Provocation, 300's Faux Cinema
Moonless Nights, Killer Frustration: Zodiac
Poor Little Factory Girl; Plus Spies Like Us & Bourgie Fantasies
Weekend Roundup: Smokin' Aces, Venus, Because I Said So
Inland Empire: "Dark... and Inescapable"
Changes in Angle -- Letters from Iwo Jima, The Good German
Children of the Future, Children of the Past
Celluloid Dreams in 2006
2006:
Girl-Watchers: Dreamgirls, Volver
Zhang's Defiant Beauty, Smith's Maudlin Happyness
Questioned Apocalypto; Leo in the Sierra with Diamond
Unwelcome Guest: For Your Condescension
A Folly, Two Misses, One Huge Loss
James Bond, McShitties, and Other Consumer Goods
Babel is Babble, Borat Looks for Comedy in the American World
The Wild Blue Yonder: Aliens in Our Backyard
Masculine-Feminine: Eastwood's Grunts, Coppola's Queen
Everybody Cum! Good Sex in Shortbus, Bad Africa in Last King
Dearly Departed, 49 Up, Weird Science
The Politics of Tedium: All the King's Men, Jackass Number Two
The Black Dahlia: "Just Another Lost Angel... City of Night"
What Price Hollywoodland? Cynicism, Drab Visuals, and Ben Affleck
Neo-Colonialism in the Sun; Half Asleep; The Snicker Man
Rappers With Dirty Faces, Plus a Cosmic Hourglass
Nothing Up Their Sleeves: Illusionist, Bridesmaid and Muthafuckin' Snakes
Claustrophobia Extremis: World Trade Center, The Descent
Not Your Usual TV Remake: The Glow of Miami Vice
Shyamalan's Fair Lady, Smith's Sequel a Regressive Romp
Drawn Together: A Scanner Darkly, The War Tapes
Pirates a Salty Dog, Gabrielle and Sedaris Delectable Poison
Myths Rebuilt, Myths Shattered
Point and Click; Vengeance a Dish Served Frozen
Ready to Rumble? Nacho Man Vs. Lake Chick-Flick
On the Air: Le Petit Théâtre de Robert Altman
Gore on the Range, Gore at the Podium, and Vaughniston: The Movie
The Devil Made 'Em Do It: The Da Vinci Code, X-Men: The Last Stand
Poseidon -- Glub, Glub; Princess Raccoon -- Yé-Yé
Confidentially Sour, Broken Promise, See Tommy Run
Too Soon? Caught in the Flow of History with United 93 and Three Times
Intolerably Mild -- Bettie Page, Dreams, Kink
Growing Up: L'Enfant, Brick
With Friends Like These, Who Needs Slevin
Spike Goes Hack, Kids Go Quack, Indie Goes Splat
Knock, Knock, Knocking on America's Door
V for Vapid, V for Vacuous, V for Vidiot, etc.
Craven Remake Aims for the Eyes, Plus Skanky Depp
16 Blocks, Block Party, Block Head
Three Shades of Fiasco: Solemn, Foreign, Poppy
Ticking Clocks, But Forever Young
Doodles
Genre-Exhuming: Go West, Dead Man
Candid Cameras, or: Looking for Meaning in the Modern World
American Splendor: The New World
2005: A Look Back in Film
Nihilism, Anyone? Knocking on Woody for Match
Modern Horrors, Haunted Views: Munich, Wolf Creek
2005:
Geisha's Soulless Kimono, Pluto's Compassionate Orbit
Queer Oppression for the Straight Guy; Plus, Monkey Doo-Doo
Syriana an Oil Slick, Narnia a Stolid Sunday-School Epic
Murder, Musicals, Dirty Jokes--'Tis the Season
Reverent Karaoke, Hanging With Bombers... Oh Yeah, and Harry Potter
Sheridan Shortchanged by 50 Cents. Plus, Wink Wink Nudge Nudge
Ready, Aim, Loaf: Jarhead Gulfs Around, Shopgirl is Dully Delicate
Nine Lives, Zero Truth. Plus, Whimsy & Agony in New York
Where the Truth Lies? Not with Theron and Hoffman
Good Night, and Bad Muck: Dangerous Minds, Soothing Fuzzies
Please, Sir... Less Taste, More Trauma
Coffee, Pie and Violence with Cronenberg
Death Becomes Them: Corpse Bride & Co.
Family Affairs, Plus the Japanese Man Who Wasn't There
Virgin-Pretty-Perfect -- Comic Interludes
Fantasies, Honest and Dishonest
In the Mood for Sublimity
Explorers, or: Jarmusch, Herzog, and Bears, Oh My
The Blue Edition: 9 Songs, The Aristocrats, The Skeleton Key
Just Another Pimpin', Yee-Hawin', Tiger-Morphin' Week
Van Sant's Voluptuous Inertia, Linklater's Potty-Mouthed Bustle
Saraband: Save the Last Dance
Chocolatey Goodness, With a Creepy Center
Leaky Horror, Toback Remake, Indie Transcendence
Close Encounters -- How We Live, by Spielberg and Potter
Furious George: This Land Is Our Land
Holy Impersonal Blockbuster! Batman Begins, but Miyazaki Wins
'Til Tabloids Do Us Part; Gallic Gorefest Included
Cinderella Labors For Oscar Gold, Turns Into Pumpkins
Sam the Lion, Restored; Plus, Not-Bad Education
Sith Happens, a Darth Is Born, Yoda, Yoda, Yoda
Revenge of the Nerd, Part IV: Palindromes
Holy War, Holy Girl, and Things Done in God's Name
Kung Fu Hustle: Martial-Arts Silly Symphonies
U.N. New Millennium, Iraq Year Zero
Extremes: Oldboy, Look at Me
I Believe It's Pronounced... "Menage a Trois"
Screen as Comix Panel: The Burden of Sin
Oh... Melinda!! Half Tragedy, Half Farce, All Wet
Hope and Glory, Post-Apartheid
Heroes and Slackers, Locked in the Xbox
Uncool, Uncool, Uncool
Deep Throat and America's Moral Gag Reflex
Nobody Knows: I Was Abandoned, But...
Head-On Into the Messiness of Love
Cinema, History and the Sound of Musique
Holding Down the Fort, Sticking It to the Man
January Gloom With Tricky Dick and the Bard
One, Two, Three Times a Dud
Clint Weeps! Million Dollar Baby's Body and Soul
2004: The Year in Film
2004:
Anderson & Jeunet's Formalism, Inc.
Marty in the Sky, or: Only Devils Have Wings
The Dangerous Lives of Altar Trannies
Breaking Bones and Hearts: Zhang is in da House
Thieves, Vampires, Time-Travelers
Closer, The Machinist -- Freak Shows
Oliver's Folly: Alexander the So-So
Cataloging Sex & Clapping for Fairies
The Polar Express, The Incredibles and the Reigning Pixel
Spill the Wine, Dig That Girl
Jamie & Ray & Annette & Julia
Vera Drake: Tea and Syringes
The Hades and Nirvana of Narcissism
Attack of the Well-Meaning Bores
Goin' Sexin' With John Waters
Faux-Images, Faux-Cinema
Cock-Sucking Blues: Blowing for Gallo's Art
Mann Enough: Collateral
Shyamalan Patronizes, Kitano Slashes
Doing the Wrong Thing
Remaking Movies or Rethinking History?
Of Wolves and Men: Towards the Light
American Limbo: The Terminal
Fahrenheit 9/11: Bush-Whacked
Sokurov's From Russia With Man-Love
Moments Timed in Heartbeats
Oy, Robot: The Stepford Wives
Smartass, Baadasssss! -- Fathers and Sons
Skip the Armageddon, Grab a Brew
Goodbye Innocence, Goodbye
Kill Bill: From Flesh to Spirit
Summer and Smoke
Pro & Anti: The Alamo, Dogville
A Few Trips to the Multiplex
Southern Discomfort in Coensville, MS
Crimson Gold's Lacerating Decency
America as Chopping Mall
Queer Laughs for the Straight Guy
All Agony and No Ecstasy in Mel's Passion
How to Smear a Culture and Get Praised For It
Drunk on Marx and Coca-Cola
Thoughts and Rants on 2003
True Lies in Burton's Fish Tale
Woo Writes Off a Blank Paycheck
2003:
Arrested Development, Italian Style
Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?
Crawling Skin, Joyous School
Elephant: Gliding Through Columbine
The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of a Fabulist
Too Much Taste Removes This Stain
Campionizing Manhattan
The Slashing Grandeur of Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Anguish and Morality in Eastwood's Boston
In the Midnight Hour
Elia Kazan: 1909-2003
Stale Laughter and Lurid Cyberthrills
Cinematic Genius? Nazi Shill? Both?
"Cool" Redeemed by Melville
LaBute Back in Form, Alas
Too Much Gross-Out, Not Enough Comedy
Let Us Now Praise Manny Farber
Transcendental Absurdity: The Naked Kiss
Confessions of a Schizophrenic Mind
Digital Video and Style Phobia
Spooks in Cotton Candy
Why the Oscars Don't Matter
Terence Davies and the Musicality of Emotion
The Battle-Scarred Screen
The Movie That Changed My Life
All-Singing, All-Dancing, All Over Again
American Film in the '90s: Some Notes on a Decade
Noir Festival Offers a Batch of Dark Jewels
Remembering a Romantic Master
Cinema is Alive and Well
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