pauline kael bot
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i lost it at the movies
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1948)
Orson Welles' lead performance undermines his writing and directing in this glittering film noir; his features lapse into a hard-guy pout and he spouts an unbelievable brogue as an idealized tough Irishman.
Orson Welles' lead performance undermines his writing and directing in this glittering film noir; his features lapse into a hard-guy pout and he spouts an unbelievable brogue as an idealized tough Irishman.
November 27, 2025 at 1:51 AM
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1948)
Orson Welles' lead performance undermines his writing and directing in this glittering film noir; his features lapse into a hard-guy pout and he spouts an unbelievable brogue as an idealized tough Irishman.
Orson Welles' lead performance undermines his writing and directing in this glittering film noir; his features lapse into a hard-guy pout and he spouts an unbelievable brogue as an idealized tough Irishman.
I know that I wasn’t exactly the innocent party: people who don’t like my writing find it both Olympian and smart-alecky. I guess at some level it is. But it was hellish to have actors with hurt feelings come gunning for me. (1994)
November 26, 2025 at 11:44 PM
I know that I wasn’t exactly the innocent party: people who don’t like my writing find it both Olympian and smart-alecky. I guess at some level it is. But it was hellish to have actors with hurt feelings come gunning for me. (1994)
[CARLITO'S WAY] Sean Penn gives one of his sneakily witty performances, and De Palma himself knows how to set up certain kinds of scenes better than practically anybody else ever has. (1994)
November 26, 2025 at 9:44 PM
[CARLITO'S WAY] Sean Penn gives one of his sneakily witty performances, and De Palma himself knows how to set up certain kinds of scenes better than practically anybody else ever has. (1994)
[DIRTY DANCING] Swayze gives the film a masculine dance strength. (Baby’s like a soft child holding on to big, virile Daddy; the picture seems subconsciously shaped to the reveries of teen-age girls.) (1987)
November 26, 2025 at 7:38 PM
[DIRTY DANCING] Swayze gives the film a masculine dance strength. (Baby’s like a soft child holding on to big, virile Daddy; the picture seems subconsciously shaped to the reveries of teen-age girls.) (1987)
Michael Mann has set THIEF in Chicago and designed it like a choo-choo train to the box office. He seems determined to outdo THE FRENCH CONNECTION and MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, but in his own classier, more ascetic way, and with Ideas. (1981)
November 26, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Michael Mann has set THIEF in Chicago and designed it like a choo-choo train to the box office. He seems determined to outdo THE FRENCH CONNECTION and MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, but in his own classier, more ascetic way, and with Ideas. (1981)
MY UNCLE ANTOINE (1971)
Claude Jutra, who made this plangent, simple masterpiece, plays the role of Fernand, the store clerk, who dallies with the uncle's wife (Olivette Thibault) and loves the townspeople, without illusions, for what they are.
Claude Jutra, who made this plangent, simple masterpiece, plays the role of Fernand, the store clerk, who dallies with the uncle's wife (Olivette Thibault) and loves the townspeople, without illusions, for what they are.
November 26, 2025 at 3:45 AM
MY UNCLE ANTOINE (1971)
Claude Jutra, who made this plangent, simple masterpiece, plays the role of Fernand, the store clerk, who dallies with the uncle's wife (Olivette Thibault) and loves the townspeople, without illusions, for what they are.
Claude Jutra, who made this plangent, simple masterpiece, plays the role of Fernand, the store clerk, who dallies with the uncle's wife (Olivette Thibault) and loves the townspeople, without illusions, for what they are.
If YELLOW SUBMARINE were not so good-natured and — despite all the "artistic" effects — unpretentious, one would be embarrassed; its chic style can't support much more than the message of "love." (1968)
November 26, 2025 at 1:51 AM
If YELLOW SUBMARINE were not so good-natured and — despite all the "artistic" effects — unpretentious, one would be embarrassed; its chic style can't support much more than the message of "love." (1968)
I don't want to push this so far as to say Marcel Marceau is to comedians I like as Antonioni's BLOW-UP is to movies I like, but the comparison may be suggestive. (1967)
November 25, 2025 at 11:44 PM
I don't want to push this so far as to say Marcel Marceau is to comedians I like as Antonioni's BLOW-UP is to movies I like, but the comparison may be suggestive. (1967)
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
It would be fun to be able to dismiss this as undoubtedly the best movie ever made in Pittsburgh, but it also happens to be one of the most gruesomely terrifying movies ever made.
It would be fun to be able to dismiss this as undoubtedly the best movie ever made in Pittsburgh, but it also happens to be one of the most gruesomely terrifying movies ever made.
November 25, 2025 at 9:44 PM
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
It would be fun to be able to dismiss this as undoubtedly the best movie ever made in Pittsburgh, but it also happens to be one of the most gruesomely terrifying movies ever made.
It would be fun to be able to dismiss this as undoubtedly the best movie ever made in Pittsburgh, but it also happens to be one of the most gruesomely terrifying movies ever made.
[FATAL ATTRACTION] It’s about men seeing feminists as witches, and, the way the facts are presented here, the woman is a witch. She terrorizes the lawyer and explains his fear of her by calling him a faggot. (1987)
November 25, 2025 at 8:42 PM
[FATAL ATTRACTION] It’s about men seeing feminists as witches, and, the way the facts are presented here, the woman is a witch. She terrorizes the lawyer and explains his fear of her by calling him a faggot. (1987)
Sydney Pollack's been coasting for so long that if by now he's afraid to trust any shot to hold our attention for more than six seconds he's right to be scared. (1977)
November 25, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Sydney Pollack's been coasting for so long that if by now he's afraid to trust any shot to hold our attention for more than six seconds he's right to be scared. (1977)
I've been referred to in print as a "cunt" by people I'd praised. The first time was by John Huston. We'd been friends and I'd defended him for years. But I wrote that NIGHT OF THE IGUANA was a lousy movie. So he called me a "cunt" to an interviewer. (1989)
November 25, 2025 at 5:34 PM
I've been referred to in print as a "cunt" by people I'd praised. The first time was by John Huston. We'd been friends and I'd defended him for years. But I wrote that NIGHT OF THE IGUANA was a lousy movie. So he called me a "cunt" to an interviewer. (1989)
The movie of THE FIXER flogs you—not because you're watching a man being beaten and tormented but because you're seeing an incompetent movie about a man being beaten and tormented. (1968)
November 25, 2025 at 3:36 PM
The movie of THE FIXER flogs you—not because you're watching a man being beaten and tormented but because you're seeing an incompetent movie about a man being beaten and tormented. (1968)
CHRONICLE OF A SUMMER (1960)
A pioneer work of cinéma vérité...A Negro student, a factory worker, a girl survivor of the concentration camps, and others are interviewed; later they discuss whether they "acted."
A pioneer work of cinéma vérité...A Negro student, a factory worker, a girl survivor of the concentration camps, and others are interviewed; later they discuss whether they "acted."
November 25, 2025 at 3:45 AM
CHRONICLE OF A SUMMER (1960)
A pioneer work of cinéma vérité...A Negro student, a factory worker, a girl survivor of the concentration camps, and others are interviewed; later they discuss whether they "acted."
A pioneer work of cinéma vérité...A Negro student, a factory worker, a girl survivor of the concentration camps, and others are interviewed; later they discuss whether they "acted."
The only distinction of THE ANDERSON TAPES is the amount of time spent on a gimmick—everybody's conversations are being recorded—which turns out to be totally irrelevant to the plot. Some may be willing to call this irony. (1971)
November 25, 2025 at 1:51 AM
The only distinction of THE ANDERSON TAPES is the amount of time spent on a gimmick—everybody's conversations are being recorded—which turns out to be totally irrelevant to the plot. Some may be willing to call this irony. (1971)
[CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND] Truffaut suggests efficiency plus innate refinement; his forehead is noble, his features are modeled in a seraphic smile, and he’s small. (1977)
November 24, 2025 at 11:44 PM
[CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND] Truffaut suggests efficiency plus innate refinement; his forehead is noble, his features are modeled in a seraphic smile, and he’s small. (1977)
But Scorsese is also the most carnal of directors—movement is ecstatic for him. (1976)
November 24, 2025 at 9:44 PM
But Scorsese is also the most carnal of directors—movement is ecstatic for him. (1976)
Actors are con artists, and our entertainment is in watching them get away with things. (1990)
November 24, 2025 at 7:38 PM
Actors are con artists, and our entertainment is in watching them get away with things. (1990)
[DRESSED TO KILL] De Palma pulls you in and draws the wires taut or relaxes them; he practically controls your breathing. (1980)
November 24, 2025 at 5:30 PM
[DRESSED TO KILL] De Palma pulls you in and draws the wires taut or relaxes them; he practically controls your breathing. (1980)
MASCULINE FEMININE is that rare movie achievement: a work of grace and beauty in a contemporary setting. (1966)
November 23, 2025 at 9:44 PM
MASCULINE FEMININE is that rare movie achievement: a work of grace and beauty in a contemporary setting. (1966)
People used to say Gary Cooper was a fine actor—probably because when they looked in his face they were ready to give him their power of attorney. (1990)
November 23, 2025 at 7:38 PM
People used to say Gary Cooper was a fine actor—probably because when they looked in his face they were ready to give him their power of attorney. (1990)
[HEAVEN'S GATE] It's the work of a poseur who got caught out. This poseur does have an eye, though; he may not be able to think straight but he's a movie director. (1980)
November 23, 2025 at 5:34 PM
[HEAVEN'S GATE] It's the work of a poseur who got caught out. This poseur does have an eye, though; he may not be able to think straight but he's a movie director. (1980)
[SUMMER WISHES, WINTER DREAMS] And Woodward stays in character. God, how she stays in character. All the actors do; they stay cramped in their normal-person corsets the way actors sometimes get locked into historical characters. (1973)
November 23, 2025 at 3:36 PM
[SUMMER WISHES, WINTER DREAMS] And Woodward stays in character. God, how she stays in character. All the actors do; they stay cramped in their normal-person corsets the way actors sometimes get locked into historical characters. (1973)
MURDER BY CONTRACT (1958)
The material is thin, but it has been worked out in visual terms, and the movie is taut and exciting. Some high-contrast scenes are models of black-and-white atmospheric storytelling.
The material is thin, but it has been worked out in visual terms, and the movie is taut and exciting. Some high-contrast scenes are models of black-and-white atmospheric storytelling.
November 23, 2025 at 3:45 AM
MURDER BY CONTRACT (1958)
The material is thin, but it has been worked out in visual terms, and the movie is taut and exciting. Some high-contrast scenes are models of black-and-white atmospheric storytelling.
The material is thin, but it has been worked out in visual terms, and the movie is taut and exciting. Some high-contrast scenes are models of black-and-white atmospheric storytelling.
Richard Gere is to De Niro and Brando what the singers in Beatlemania are to the Beatles. (1978)
November 23, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Richard Gere is to De Niro and Brando what the singers in Beatlemania are to the Beatles. (1978)