The idea of people pushed to their limits serves as the bedrock for countless works of art, from revenge tragedies to superhero blockbusters. But the idea that someone can learn the most about themselves in extreme circumstances is itself pushed to the limits in two films celebrating their 40th...

Tim Burton's 1994 biopic Ed Wood introduces its title character during his days operating on the fringes of the Los Angeles theater scene in the late 1940s. As the film opens, Ed's directing a performance of his own World War II-themed play, The Casual Company, at an obscure little playhouse with a...

In Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, Sharon Tate gleefully catches a showing of her biggest movie yet — The Wrecking Crew. It’s a great scene. Too many people are talking about that already. So let’s talk about The Wrecking Crew and the proto-Austin Powers franchise it...

We’re the scarecrow people, have we got lots in common with you. And if you don’t start living, well, you’re all going to wind up scarecrow people, too. — XTC, “Scarecrow People” In the past few decades, killer scarecrows have become such a common horror staple that Drew Goddard and...

Being a teenager is tough, but it’s also thrilling, and the best teen movies capture the angst and the exuberance of adolescence in equal measure. Released 40 years ago this month, Allan Arkush’s Rock ’n’ Roll High School may have started out as a cynical, trend-chasing cash-in from...

(Editor’s Corner is where Eric talks about overlooked gems, film history, or whatever else he wants to talk about because he’s the boss and no one can stop him.) It didn't take long for eager young filmmakers to imitate the success of Halloween (1978) by producing cheap, bloody slasher movies...

I don't always remember specific experiences I had watching movies in the theater, but I distinctly remember seeing Open Water at a multiplex in the suburbs of Chicago in August 2004. Shot on digital video on a budget of only $120,000 and featuring no recognizable actors, the movie had nevertheless...

Road trips have long been a fixture of the comedy genre. From the Frank Capra masterwork It Happened One Night (1934) to arthouse fare like Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip (2015), the formula continues to be an effective way to string together a series of comic set pieces. Perhaps no...

There’s scarcely a review of Midsommar that doesn’t include a mention of The Wicker Man — and with good reason. (Ours is no exception.) Robin Hardy’s 1973 cult classic is the pre-eminent folk-horror film and a clear influence on Ari Aster’s modern cult-film-in-the-making, but it’s...

Human beings have a natural fear of animal attacks, a fear that horror movies have exploited since cinema began. At first they tended to be extinct or exaggerated animals (think King Kong); then the Atomic Age introduced the idea of real animals made huge by radiation. It was Steven Spielberg’s...

If there’s a normal path that most bands take between record companies and Hollywood, odds are it looks nothing like the one traveled by Sue Saad and the Next. Consider that until three years ago, the band had only a single album to their name; then consider that their music has featured  —...

1999 is considered one of the strongest years of cinema in living memory. There will no doubt be countless articles in 2019 marking the 20th anniversaries of that year’s greatest hits and examining their impact and legacy. But this column isn’t about those movies. This column is about the...

There are a lot of reasons to go after Forrest Gump (1994). It’s a long, unfocused movie about a passive character who nevertheless shapes the course of human history in about 30 different ways. It’s a film without much on its mind, so pleased with its premise that it doesn’t bother to...

(Editor’s Corner is where Eric talks about overlooked gems, film history, or whatever else he wants to talk about because he’s the boss and no one can stop him.) I started covering the Sundance Film Festival for real in 2000, but the year before that I reviewed two movies on assignment for the...

(Editor's Corner is where Eric talks about overlooked gems, film history, or whatever he wants to talk about because he's the boss and no one can stop him.) In terms of lasting, positive impact, 1964 was a watershed year. The Civil Rights Act was passed, officially (if not yet literally) ending...