They're both about the dark corruption that is at the heart of Los Angeles. Both involve cops (or former cops) who fall for blondes who harbor dark secrets. Both involve sexual exploitation as the metaphor for corruption. However, Chinatown actually follows through on its cynicism whereas L.A. Confidential uses it…

They're both about the dark corruption that is at the heart of Los Angeles. Both involve cops (or former cops) who fall for blondes who harbor dark secrets. Both involve sexual exploitation as the metaphor for corruption. However, Chinatown actually follows through on its cynicism whereas L.A. Confidential uses it…

I don't buy the film's conspiracy theorizing, but JFK is about as perfect a film about paranoia as has been made.

I don't buy the film's conspiracy theorizing, but JFK is about as perfect a film about paranoia as has been made.

I don't think it's terrible, but it's not nearly as good as its ardent defenders like to think it is. It is the most Tarantino-y film: the product of a video store clerk who is fairly clever but whose films, in the end, are only ironic takes on the movies he's watched as a video store clerk.

I don't think it's terrible, but it's not nearly as good as its ardent defenders like to think it is. It is the most Tarantino-y film: the product of a video store clerk who is fairly clever but whose films, in the end, are only ironic takes on the movies he's watched as a video store clerk.

L.A. Confidential is substantial…ly weaker than Chinatown, which tells more or less the same story.

L.A. Confidential is substantial…ly weaker than Chinatown, which tells more or less the same story.

Zombie's Halloween films are interesting misfires; I was intrigued by his attempt to make Myers more than a bogeyman-killing machine but disappointed by his inability to make those ideas work well even half the time. (Myers grows from a scrawny little boy into a seven foot tall professional wrestler? Really? Do…

Zombie's Halloween films are interesting misfires; I was intrigued by his attempt to make Myers more than a bogeyman-killing machine but disappointed by his inability to make those ideas work well even half the time. (Myers grows from a scrawny little boy into a seven foot tall professional wrestler? Really? Do…

I honestly thought Rob Zombie had given up on filmmaking after Halloween II. Dammit.

I honestly thought Rob Zombie had given up on filmmaking after Halloween II. Dammit.

@avclub-410987637793620466d1b0732bd7ed6d:disqus : he is. I saw him at a release party for Showtime's Masters of Horror series, and he was just wandering around, grinning widely and chatting with whoever. Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson, however, sat with her (I believe) girlfriend in a corner and refused to talk to anyone.

@avclub-410987637793620466d1b0732bd7ed6d:disqus : he is. I saw him at a release party for Showtime's Masters of Horror series, and he was just wandering around, grinning widely and chatting with whoever. Cassandra "Elvira" Peterson, however, sat with her (I believe) girlfriend in a corner and refused to talk to anyone.

I didn't mind the attempt to explain Myers's psychosis — one of the things I don't like about Halloween is how one-dimensional Michael Myers is. I did mind Zombie's atrocious dialogue during the family scenes ("Maybe I'll choke my chicken and purge my snork all over those flappy ass tits!"… "Bitch I will crawl over…

I didn't mind the attempt to explain Myers's psychosis — one of the things I don't like about Halloween is how one-dimensional Michael Myers is. I did mind Zombie's atrocious dialogue during the family scenes ("Maybe I'll choke my chicken and purge my snork all over those flappy ass tits!"… "Bitch I will crawl over…

Sorry. We'll go ahead and stop thinking about things so you can enjoy them numbly.

Sorry. We'll go ahead and stop thinking about things so you can enjoy them numbly.

This is probably the best scene in a messy — in a bad way — film. A film about a teenager learning the world doesn't revolve around him/her is fine, but so much of this film is said teenager learning that by yelling at and being yelled at by other people that I stopped caring about her journey. It might have been a…

This is probably the best scene in a messy — in a bad way — film. A film about a teenager learning the world doesn't revolve around him/her is fine, but so much of this film is said teenager learning that by yelling at and being yelled at by other people that I stopped caring about her journey. It might have been a…