Where the Truth Lies (2005)

American movies have violence down pat, and each year some enterprising filmmaker figures out a way to push the envelope, exploring new and more intense ways to inject celluloid carnage. This year's Sin City is the latest, and in many circles it's already hailed as a classic. read more...

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• Carnality ▶ Strong animal desire, hunger or desperation

Bitter Moon (1992)

Bitter Moon (1992) is one of director Roman Polanski's most underrated pictures, and a bit atypical, since it deals with the psychological balance between four people instead of just one. Normal British couple Hugh Grant and Kristin Scott Thomas are enjoying a quiet sea cruise together when American writer Peter Coyote begins worming in on their lives, telling Grant the story of his topsy-turvy relationship with the gorgeous French waitress Emmanuelle Seigner. It begins sweetly, but turns dark and violent and manipulative. Polanski tempers his tale by filtering it through Grant, who receives it with a combination of disgust and fascination. The film was not released in American theaters until 1994. read more...

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• Carnality ▶ Strong animal desire, hunger or desperation

Irrational Man (2015)

Thirty-eight years ago, Woody Allen made Annie Hall (1977), a much-loved Oscar winner starring himself and Diane Keaton, whom some might argue was his all-time best leading lady. A year later, he made Interiors (1978), his first "serious" effort, also starring Keaton. It received some polite acclaim, but today it's probably not on anyone's list of favorite Allen pictures. Last year, Allen made the comedy Magic in the Moonlight, starring Emma Stone, and in my review, I compared her to Keaton; she's the first in a long line of leading ladies that has Keaton's spunk. Now, as if repeating history, Allen has cast her a second time, and in one of his "serious" movies, Irrational Man. I'd say the effect is probably the same; it's well made and worthy of polite applause, but probably won't be watched too many more times. read more...

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• Moralistic ▶ Yes please

A Kind of Murder (2016)

Often, Patricia Highsmith's novels are adapted into high-class, blue-ribbon affairs, but this thriller feels refreshingly small-time and pulpy, getting closer to the story's raw emotions and impulses. Director Andy Goddard, a veteran of TV shows like Doctor Who, Downton Abbey, Daredevil, and Luke Cage, brings a small screen economy to the movie, stripping it to its essentials, but still providing plenty of style and rich, 1960s-style atmosphere. read more...

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To Die For (1995)

Gus Van Sant directed this sharp black comedy about our obsession with television and celebrity culture. Nicole Kidman stars in perhaps her first great role as a wannabe small-time weather anchorwoman who kills her husband, Larry (Matt Dillon), and gets away with it because of her awesome television presence. She seduces teen Jimmy (Joaquin Phoenix) and pulls in his friends (Casey Affleck and Alison Folland) to be her accomplices. read more...

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• Carnality ▶ Strong animal desire, hunger or desperation