Class of 1987: ‘Dragnet’
“Dragnet” is pokey next to its peers. Then again, like many prototypes, it’s a merely sufficient expression of possibility without refinement of later versions.
Class of 1997: ‘Breakdown’
In the “Class of …” series, Nick Rogers takes a monthly look back at films celebrating either their 20th or 30th anniversary of initial release this year — six from 1997 and seven from 1987 (the extra in a forthcoming double-feature column). The rules: No Oscar nominees and no films that were among either year’s top-10 box-office […]
Class of 1997: ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’
Tackling time's ravages with rambunctious tones, 1997’s “Grosse Pointe Blank” wraps emotional entropy & existential rumination into a clever, conceptual comedy.
Class of 1997: Private Parts
The Howard Stern biopic expertly straggles hagiography and hogwash while hinting at why the controversial media titan remains fascinating.
Class of 1987: ‘Amazon Women on the Moon’
This sketch-comedy film's creators couldn't presage how we (and our messages) self-destruct in 10 seconds or 140 characters. Still, this raucous amalgam works.
Fist Fight
Charlie Day's irritated-chipmunk reveries were bound to one day meet a movie so irredeemably terrible they couldn't possibly prop it up. Well, here it is.
Toni Erdmann
This German marvel earns its epic seriocomic sprawl by celebrating meaning in moments that may not, on their face, seem to matter all that much.
John Wick: Chapter 2
"John Wick: Chapter 2" is enjoyably tacky & distinguished, indulging literary allusions & bodacious lacerations like someone chasing 10-year scotch with PBR.