Over the Rainbow: ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ (1999)

Six days after handing in Eyes Wide Shut to Warner Bros., Stanley Kubrick died, as if…

The Dream Is Over: ‘The Swimmer’ (1968)

I’m not gonna sit here and say The Swimmer could never be made today, because as we should…

Sins of the Son: ‘The Godfather, Part II’ (1974)

Beneath the Surface: ‘All That Heaven Allows’ (1955)

Licking the 3-Cent Stamp: ‘Fargo’ (1996)

The world of Fargo is suffused with legend. Is it any coincidence that the town of…

Of Gimmickry and Gadgets: ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou’ (2004)

Notes from Underground: ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976)

Taxi Driver has always worked for me primarily as a mood piece, a noirish nocturne…

Say Goodbye to the Bad Guy: ‘Scarface’ (1983)

Scarface has been so much more than a movie for so long. In the 1980s the…

Into the Vortex: ‘Vertigo’ (1958)

Being a film about obsession, it’s only appropriate that Vertigo would elicit so much obsession from…

And Then There Were Four: ‘Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice’ (1969)