Mini-Review: Listening to despicable people drunkenly bicker for 2 hours is the only fair way to describe this movie. I recognize the quality in Taylor's performance, but that didn't make her annoying character any easier to tolerate (in fact it probably made it harder). This movie has a unique style and is well shot, but it's utterly obnoxious and relentlessly unpleasant.

Mini-Review: Michael Shannon is simply one of the best actors working today. That he wasn't nominated for an Oscar for this role is, as the trite expression goes, absolutely criminal. The film maintains a well-balanced, well-paced sense of increasing tension for its entire running time. Some of his visions were quite frightening. And boy, that ending. I'll just say this: the more I think about the ending, the less certain I am that I "got" everything about this movie. Deceptively complex. Great stuff.

Mini-Review: I'm not sure if it's the subtle dark humor, the mild irreverence, the impeccably witty script, or the sight of Alec Guinness in drag, but this movie had me grinning the entire time. Guinness is delightful in his multi-role performance and Price is a marvel. The story is compelling from start to finish, with the final fifteen minutes completely living up to the promising setup. A fabulous movie.

Mini-Review: Cronenberg puts a sexual twist on the zombie genre and pulls it off like only he could. When most other zombie films of this period focused mainly on the gore, Shivers takes it many steps further and uses the zombie as a metaphor for our baser sexual desires. The zombie has never felt more close to home, which is what makes this movie so effective. Its production values leave something to be desired, but this is a refreshingly unique creation by a talented, deep-thinking filmmaker.

Mini-Review: Often times I'm turned off by convoluted plots, but here I felt half the fun of the movie was the challenge of keeping up with the story through the quick-churning dialog. And what fantastic dialog it is. I know nobody actually talks this way in real life, but damned if it isn't incredibly fun. Bogart was born to deliver lines like this and here he does it as well as ever. His is not an especially complex character, but he fits the noir style of this film to a T.