Email Author Ellliott Stein

2010 Stories by Ellliott Stein

• The Brothers

  published March 9, 2010

  Dir. Jorn Faurschou (2005). Our three favorite Swedish detectives—Wallander, his daughter Linda and her boyfriend Stefan—need to find... More >>

• Grass: A Nation’s Battle for Life

  published March 9, 2010

  Dir. Ernest Schoedsack & Merian Cooper (1925). A pure salient moment in the history of documentary cinema, this epic account of the massive annual... More >>

• Man Bites Dog

  published March 9, 2010

  Dir. Remy Belvaux & Andre Bonzel (1991). This controversial black and white Belgian mock documentary is concerned with Ben (Benoit Poelvoorde), a... More >>

• Mama's Affair

  published March 9, 2010

  Dir. Victor Fleming (1921). Although largely forgotten today, her films rarely revived, Constance Talmadge, a glamorous blonde beauty who... More >>

• Nathalie Granger

  published March 9, 2010

  Dir. Marguerite Duras (1973). A meditative study somewhere between a literary text and a filmic narrative, this early Duras feature gains a good... More >>

• The Village Idiot

  published March 2, 2010

  Dir. Jorn Faurschou (2005). The second installment of this fine series based on the popular Swedish novels starts off with a bang with an... More >>

• Madame Bovary

  published March 2, 2010

  Dir. Vincente Minnelli (1949). There have been three film incarnations of Gustave Flaubert's novel. Against all odds, both French versions turned... More >>

• The Mollycoddle

  published March 2, 2010

  Dir. Victor Fleming (1920). In this charming and imaginative silent comedy Douglas Fairbanks burlesques the effete European playboy in an... More >>

• Peter Pan

  published March 2, 2010

  Dir. Herbert Brenon (1924). Brenon's adaptation of J.M. Barrie's classic story about the boy who wouldn't grow up is one of the glories of... More >>

• Secret Beyond the Door

  published March 2, 2010

  Dir. Fritz Lang (1948). A remarkable film, much better than its rep, and a stylish example of Hollywood's infatuation with Freud during the 1940s,... More >>

• Persecution

  published February 23, 2010

  Dir. Patrice Chereau (2009). An intimate portrait of a man who has difficulty with relationships, Chereau's most recent examination of sexual... More >>

• Before the Frost

  published February 23, 2010

  Dir. Kjell-ake Andersson (2005) If you've seen any of the decent BBC adaptations based on the international best-selling novels of Henning Mankell... More >>

• The Big Parade

  published February 23, 2010

  Dir. King Vidor (1925). Vidor's great silent film, although it has comedy relief and a moving love story, gives a fairly realistic account of an... More >>

• Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

  published February 23, 2010

  Dir. Mel Stuart (1971). A boy wins a tour of a mysterious chocolate factory and finds himself in the power of a magician in this good-looking... More >>

• Band of Outsiders

  published February 23, 2010

  Dir. Jean-Luc Godard (1964). One of Godard's most playful movies, a fresh handling of serie noire material, this is a crime caper treated as a... More >>

• Point Break

  published February 23, 2010

  Dir. Kathryn Bigelow (1991). This often eye-poppingly entertaining actioner in which maverick undercover FBI agent Keanu Reeves hotly pursues... More >>

• A Town Called Panic

  published February 23, 2010

  Dir. Stephane Aubier and Vincent Patar (2009). The Alliance kicks off its eclectic month-long Belgian series with this surreal flick, the first... More >>

• Five Easy Pieces

  published February 23, 2010

  Dir. Bob Rafelson (1970). Rafelson's best film is one of the key American movies of its era. In his first star turn after gaining notoriety in... More >>

• Coffy

  published February 23, 2010

  Dir. Jack Hill (1973), This fast-moving thriller was Pam Grier's first starring role and launched her career as the queen of 1970s blaxploitation... More >>

• The Host

  published February 23, 2010

  Dir. Bong Joon-ho (2007). Not just another fright flick, this monster saga is a fine piece of filmmaking which scores as a legitimate... More >>

• Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas

  published February 16, 2010

  Dir. Henry Selick (1993). This imaginative and more than slightly nutty stop-motion animation feature centers on the decision of the inhabitants... More >>

• Touchez pas au Grisbi

  published February 16, 2010

  Dir. Jacques Becker (1954). This terrific movie set the standard for French gangster flicks for a generation. Jean Gabin brings all the authority... More >>

• Kung-fu Master!

  published February 16, 2010

  Dir. Agnes Varda (1989). Varda's disturbing flick is the account of a brief, doomed love affair between a 15-year-old boy and a divorced... More >>

• Paris Is Burning

  published February 16, 2010

  Dir. Jennie Livingston (1990). Livingston's intriguing doc concerns the fashion-obsessed New York underground scene that invented "voguing" and... More >>

• Domestic Violence

  published February 16, 2010

  Dir. Frederick Wiseman (2001). Wiseman's excellent 32nd film, a harrowing look at wife-battering and related matters, was mostly shot at group... More >>