Two Animated Animals Movies That Are So Not Disney
Far from the Disney path, these animated animal movies from Hungary and the Philippines revel in parody, satire, and real world-inspired violence.
Michael Barrett
Michael Barrett works in a public library. For more than 20 years, he wrote a monthly video column in the San Antonio Express News stressing classic and foreign films. His national publications include Video Watchdog, Nostalgia Digest and Retro Cinema. He's also written scripts that still await their destiny.
Satyajit Ray’s Lovely ‘Days and Nights in the Forest’ Almost Escapes the World
Satyajit Ray’s Days and Nights in the Forest deepens as you wander further into its bucolic details, where things aren’t as serene and picturesque as they seem.
Laura La Plante’s and Marion Davies’ Gender-Defying Silent Comedies
Marion Davies and Laura La Plante were two of the most delightful comedians of the silent film era, and the charm hasn’t worn off in these gender role reversals.
Sex, Violence, and Politics Soak Nagisa Ōshima’s ‘Cruel Story of Youth’
Nagisa Ōshima’s Cruel Story of Youth prefers to understand its protagonists rather than evaluate them, reserving its verdicts for the social structures that define them.
Horror and History Collide in Czech Director Jan S. Kolár’s Silent Films
Two long-forgotten Czech silent films by pioneer Jan S. Kolár are not only artifacts of a fragile history but lessons in how historical legacy will try to kill you.
Hollywood Classics Sparkle in MoMA’s Silent Film Week
MoMA’s Silent Film Week 2026 showcases Hollywood classics by major filmmakers from the museum’s collection, all restored through the museum’s efforts.
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head’s Quasi-Horror, Proto-Noir, Anti-War Message
The Man Who Reclaimed His Head belongs to its early 1930s era, when the last war and the next one were on everyone’s minds, and public rhetoric often jousted between talk of warmongers, preparedness, and pacifism.
‘Unearthly Stranger’ Warns: Beware Whom You Marry
Sci-fi movie Unearthly Stranger is wonky, but viewers will enjoy the crackerjack paranoia, terror, and chilling “something is not right” about this marriage moments.
‘House of Dreams’ and the No-Budget Hell of No-Budget Horror
House of Dreams explores the nightmare of creativity one must endure to make a no-budget horror movie.
Silent Film Star Corinne Griffith Brightens the Garden
One of silent film’s most beautiful stars, Corinne Griffith glitters across Lewis Mileston’s deceptive The Garden of Eden.
‘House of Cards’ Is a Faux-Hitchcock Thriller
House of Cards looks like a million francs in Techniscope and Technicolor and plays like a picture Hitchcock forgot to make.
Teo Hernández’s Queer Avant-Garde Films Rewire Your Brain
Watching Teo Hernández’s queer avant-garde films, the source for his ideas about cinema as sex and ritual, all culminating in ecstatic visions, becomes self-evident.