Email Author Melissa Levine

2005 Stories by Melissa Levine

• Springtime for Mel

  published December 29, 2005

  In 1968 it was a movie. In 2001 it became a musical. Now it's a movie again? Yep, and there's actually pretty good reason to return The... More >>

• Heath in Heat

  published December 29, 2005

  For your Heath Ledger holiday-movie options, you have a) a cowboy in love with another man, and b) history's most infamous womanizer. Since the... More >>

• Spent

  published November 24, 2005

  Ever since its Broadway debut in 1996, Rent has generated a loyal, almost cultlike following. Showered with praise, the Pulitzer... More >>

• Spell It Out

  published November 17, 2005

  Richard Gere? That's the first thought that came to mind upon learning that Mr. Salt-and-Pepper-Sexy-Buddhist-Wasp had been cast as Saul Naumann... More >>

• Wild, Then Crazy

  published October 27, 2005

  Does Steve Martin have multiple personality disorder -- or is he just brilliantly in tune with some things and wildly out of touch with others?... More >>

• Moore's the Pity

  published October 20, 2005

  It's always hard to pan an earnest film, especially one by a first-time director. And The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, a plucky striver... More >>

• Say Cheese

  published October 6, 2005

  Ah, Wallace and Gromit. Who doesn't get a little lift at the sound of those names? Who doesn't feel the edges of her mouth begin to tickle toward... More >>

• Something Missing

  published September 29, 2005

  In 2001, Jonathan Safran Foer made an astounding literary debut. "A Very Rigid Search," published by The New Yorker, was his hilarious,... More >>

• Proof Positive

  published September 22, 2005

  In the tradition of A Beautiful Mind and Good Will Hunting comes Proof, a psychological drama about a math genius and the... More >>

• Low Yield

  published September 1, 2005

  At the opening of The Constant Gardener, Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles' adaptation of the novel by John le Carr, we hear a... More >>

• A Tale of Two Bastards

  published August 4, 2005

  Toward the end of Saraband, the uneven new film from legendary director Ingmar Bergman, a character sits down with his daughter, a taut... More >>

• Miracle on Ice

  published July 7, 2005

  If you're short on reasons to be grateful these days, look no further than March of the Penguins, the astonishing if imperfect nature... More >>

• Chinese Box

  published June 30, 2005

  You're a talented young resident at a New York hospital, first-generation Chinese, and you happen to be gay. In fact, you're dating a new and... More >>

• Girls Interrupted

  published June 23, 2005

  Not many people saw Lost and Delirious, the 2001 boarding-school drama about two girls in obsessive love, and that was probably for the... More >>

• Club Life

  published June 16, 2005

  It won't ruin anyone's experience of 3-Iron, the new film by Korean writer/director Kim Ki-duk, to reveal that it closes with a single... More >>

• Love, African Style

  published June 9, 2005

  It's always difficult to pan a movie that features good actors, important issues, and noble intentions. But In My Country, a romantic drama... More >>

• One for the Girls

  published June 2, 2005

  The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a flawed movie born of a flawed novel, but let this be clear: Girls will eat it up with a spoon.... More >>

• All the Right Moves

  published June 2, 2005

  Ten is a magical age, when kids are old enough to make articulate statements about their experience and young enough to express their feelings... More >>

• Bad Daddy

  published May 26, 2005

  If it's been a while since you've seen a great work of art, perhaps you've forgotten what it feels like: It feels euphoric. At least, that's the... More >>

• A Lot Like Good

  published April 21, 2005

  Amanda Peet. Ashton Kutcher. Romantic comedy. Who'd have thought it could work? And yet A Lot Like Love is an entertainment success, a... More >>

• Woody and Woody . . .

  published March 31, 2005

  Does the world really need a new film from Woody Allen every single year? Yes, he is one of America's great auteurs. Yes, he's responsible for... More >>

• The Camera's Weeping Eye

  published March 10, 2005

  Toward the end of Born Into Brothels, a superb and piercing documentary by directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, a 12-year-old child... More >>

• Searching for Shylock

  published March 10, 2005

  When was the last time you lost yourself in a Shakespeare film? It's a testament to the success of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of... More >>

• Pooch Kicks

  published February 17, 2005

  It's hard to know what to expect from Wayne Wang. The Hong Kong-raised director has made one gorgeous mood movie (Chinese Box) and two... More >>

• Death Becomes Him

  published February 17, 2005

  The Sea Inside, the new right-to-die drama from Spanish director Alejandro Amenábar (The Others), is a flawed film worth... More >>