J.B. Spins

Actuarially speaking, Santos is a marvel.  Despite his dangerous line of work, it will be the sicknesses of old age that kill him.  This...

An unlikely character to build a film around, she is based on Belgium’s Susan Smith.  Following the story of a woman who killed her chil...

The Sanno Yakuza clan has practically become Japan Inc through the shrewd investment strategies of turncoat underboss Ishihara.  His ris...

Torres Vedras was not exactly Waterloo, but don’t tell the Portuguese that.  It was there Gen. Wellington and the combined British and P...

It turns out you can go home again, but you’re likely to get antsy after awhile.  A grown daughter and her aging but still vital parents...

Don Celso Barra is one of those film noir paper-pushers.  Waxing nostalgic, he is fully aware of his approaching retirement, in every se...

Japan is a part of Asia, an obvious but convenient fact for Abbas Kiarostami.  After the elegant Tuscan setting of Certified Copy , it ...

In the Deep South, there is not much to do except have graphic sex and commit senseless acts of violence.  At least, that is the portr...

Centuries ago, magicians tactfully called themselves jugglers.  Both talents require dexterity, but the latter was less likely to get pr...

The demarcation between unconventional online commentary and outright crackpottery is thin and porous.  Five enthusiastic experts on Sta...

Here in America, we have the Library of Congress, MoMA, and Martin Scorsese, amongst others, all working on behalf of film preservation....

In 3D, New Age platitudes look like they are coming straight at you.  At least Taiwanese auteur Ang Lee makes them stunning to behold.  ...

Alina is either tragically codependent or possessed by the Devil.  Radically different measures would be required depending on the diagn...

America represents the land of opportunity, but the Islamic world remains a very real danger.  It is the late Sixteenth Century or perha...

They collaborated on some of the least romantic films ever (see Hour of the Wolf, for instance).  Yet, Ingmar Bergman and Liv Ullmann be...

Intimacy is based on trust, so is it ever really possible in police state like Soviet-era East Germany?  Obviously, that is not the Stas...

It is the classic Hollywood story.  Everyman meets everywoman, with everycomplication ensuing.  One-upping Chuck Workman , György Pálfi ...