Reinventing a cinematic icon is a daunting task. Ask George Lucas, who has been struggling to rehabilitate one of the silver screen’s greatest villains for over thirty years. Or ask Stan Lee, whose Marvel characters are subjected to ill-conceived “reboots” on a nearly annual basis. Just don’t ask Sylvain Chomet, the insane genius behind The Triplets of Belleville, whose recent animated feature, The Illusionist (L’illusionniste), makes it abundantly clear that reinvention is not only possible, but worth the effort. Based on a... Read more

Mr. Harley: Your impatience is quite understandable. Klaatu: I’m impatient with stupidity. My people have learned to live without it. Mr. Harley: I’m afraid my people haven’t. I’m very sorry… I wish it were otherwise. It’s easy to see why writers and directors are attracted to remakes. While studios like them for the built-in audiences, low risk factor, and negligible pre-production, the “creatives” are often motivated by less economic considerations. They like the chance to introduce new generations of moviegoers... Read more

To misquote the old Aesopian saw, familiarity breeds complacency—a truth nowhere more painfully illustrated than in the classic Ealing Studios film, The Man in the White Suit. Set in the textile mills and factories of early 20th-century England, the film tells the story of Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness), an eccentric, secretive young scientist obsessed with creating the perfect artificial fiber: a synthetic polymer that will never wear out or deteriorate, rendering all other textiles obsolete. His brilliance is unquestioned; as he... Read more

It has been said that there is no such thing as a private sin—that the relationship humans share as members of the Body of Christ makes such a distinction impossible. While the theology may be a bit fuzzy, the notion that transgressions committed in secret send ripples throughout all of humanity is borne out by experience; when one falls, all are brought low. Get Low, a Southern fable told through the life of an idiosyncratic Tennessee recluse, reminds us that... Read more

Jean Renoir, son of the famous impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, must have been a remarkable child. Growing up in a world overshadowed by such fame and artistic ability as that wielded by his beloved father, one wonders if he ever felt driven to pursue a career outside of the arts, where he’d have a better chance of escaping the inexorable, unflattering comparisons to his famous père. Rather than shrinking from the pressures of his father’s fame, however, young Renoir pursued his... Read more