“Despite being one of the most violent movies ever made, the predominant feeling is that of joy. The swirling camera works as a dance partner to these absurdly charismatic performers and the nimble grace with which they glide through the destruction. You find yourself laughing aloud, not derisively, but in gratitude because you can’t believe what you’re seeing.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 01/22/2026

“Suffused with a gentle, trickster spirit, the picture’s rose-tinted, Depression era Americana and idealized notions of honor among thieves are even bigger cons than the one pulled off by the protagonists. But we in the audience are willing marks. The Sting is both a grift and a great escape. It makes you nostalgic for something that never was.” – Crooked Marquee, 01/16/2026

“It’s not just that he’s missing the mustache, he’s also got none of the trademark, smirky joie de vivre. Reynolds moves a couple of beats behind everyone else in the picture, accepting these increasingly absurd situations with a forlorn smile. Even his toupee looks less robust than usual. It’s affecting work, vulnerable in ways we’re not used to seeing the star.” – Crooked Marquee, 01/09/2026

“Redford spends a not inconsiderable amount of All The President’s Men on the phone, silently reacting to an offscreen voice, a big ask for any performer and not the easiest thing to make compelling on camera. But he was always so great at that kind of acting. Redford projected such an easy intelligence that you loved to watch him thinking things through.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 12/16/2025

“Cruise was at the height of his movie star powers, yet we’ve never seen him as diminished as he is in Eyes Wide Shut. He’s never looked so short or ill at ease, with Kubrick’s endless re-takes deliberately sanding all the natural charm off his line readings. Kidman towers over him not just physically, but also transforms into an abruptly unattainable object of mystery.” – Crooked Marquee, 12/12/2025

“Mystery Train is playful that way, using the overlapping incidents in the three stories not to make one of those grandiose ‘everyone is connected’ statements that became an easy way to get invited to the Oscars in the early 2000s, but rather to reflect how differently we all experience the same things. In other words, some people prefer Carl Perkins.” – Crooked Marquee, 12/05/2025

“In whatever form you may find it, Kill Bill remains perhaps the purest distillation of its auteur’s fetishes and fixations, mixing and matching spaghetti westerns, samurai sagas, blaxploitation, kung fu epics and grindhouse rape-revenge pictures into a lavishly produced, cinematically sophisticated smorgasbord of low culture and high style.” – WBUR’s Arts & Culture, 12/04/2025

“Lancaster’s crisp elocution was never put to more satisfyingly sinister ends, portraying the writer as a tightly-wound, sexless automaton. Hunsecker’s dead-eyed stare came from the actor smearing Vaseline on his glasses so he couldn’t focus on anyone in front of him. It’s how he seems to be looking through everybody. He certainly sees through Sidney.” – Crooked Marquee, 11/21/2025

“A four-seater plane transporting Mitchum to the movie’s Bridgeport location lost its brakes and crashed through a fence into an outhouse. The actor climbed out of the wreck and hitchhiked to set. The panicked production team had just heard news of the crash and were scrambling for details when a scuffed Mitchum sauntered up and asked if anybody had any weed.” – Crooked Marquee, 11/07/2025

“Keaton is incandescent in the film, an instant icon in her wide-brimmed hats and men’s ties. Alvy jokes about her black soap and adult education classes, but we can see Annie is an explorer. The gift of Keaton’s performance – which is even more remarkable given the non-chronological structure – is how she allows us to observe Annie growing into herself.” – Crooked Marquee, 10/24/2025