Email Author Jim Ridley

Awards

• 2006 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published March 24, 2005

  "Blown Opportunity"

• 2006 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published May 19, 2005

  "Lost in the Stars"

• 2006 - AAN AltWeekly Awards, published September 1, 2005

  "Pulling Punch Lines"

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2007 Stories by Jim Ridley

• Lock Up the Kids

  published December 26, 2007

  Having a child destroys your immunity to horror, real or imagined. Before the blessed event, you could laugh off The Exorcist, The Omen,... More >>

• Hit List

  published December 26, 2007

  It's that time of year again. Our six critics don't always (or often) agree, but we've combined their top 10 lists (allowing for ties) to... More >>

• Missed Opportunities

  published December 26, 2007

  How tough is it for a movie to find its audience, above the din of blockbuster marketing and beyond the clogged distribution pipeline? Tsai... More >>

• Counter-Strike

  published December 26, 2007

  The year: 2505. Your viewing choices tonight: an oldie but a goodie — a picture called Ass, a feature-length screensaver of butt... More >>

• Hock the Line

  published December 19, 2007

  As an actor, John C. Reilly is the opposite of Mr. Cellophane. He doesn't disappear into a role, roles disappear onto him — the... More >>

• With Relatives Like These ...

  published November 21, 2007

  There are comedies of discomfort, and then there's Margot at the Wedding, Noah Baumbach's scalding follow-up to The Squid and the... More >>

• New DVDs: The Princess Bride, Killer of Sheep, Innocence, La Vie en Rose

  published November 14, 2007

  The Princess Bride: 20th Anniversary Edition (MGM) As far as anniversary-edition DVDs go, The Princess... More >>

• Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten Offers Hope for Old Punks

  published November 7, 2007

  Punk died, the Silver Jews sang, the first time a kid shouted, "Punk's not dead!" The words are never uttered in Julien Temple's Joe... More >>

• The Boys Are Back

  published October 24, 2007

  Directors Series: Stanley Kubrick (Warner Bros.) Most of the old Kubrick DVDs were crap: full-screen editions with... More >>

• Genuine Fake Robots

  published October 17, 2007

  Transformers (DreamWorks) No doubt, Michael Bay's slam-bang action-figure commercial doesn't play nearly as well... More >>

• Beantown Boys Make Good

  published October 17, 2007

  "Down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid," Raymond Chandler wrote in 1950's "The... More >>

• You'll Laugh Dying

  published October 10, 2007

  You Kill Me (Genius) Funny thing seeing Philip Baker Hall in You Kill Me, as he's already played the... More >>

• Fist Things First

  published October 3, 2007

  Caligula: Imperial Edition (Penthouse) (Spoiler alert: Fisting!) One day back in the swingin' '70s, somebody mentioned... More >>

• Rocket Men

  published September 19, 2007

  Four decades ago, the American space program was synonymous with the pinnacle of human achievement. Thirty-eight years later, the program that... More >>

• Keeping the Meter Running

  published August 15, 2007

  Taxi Driver: Collector's Edition (Sony) "Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads: Here is a man who would not take it anymore."... More >>

• After Sunrise

  published August 8, 2007

  Back in 1995, Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise gave flesh to a Yank's fantasy of worldly European womanhood: Julie Delpy's Celine, a... More >>

• Maybe Another Teen Movie

  published August 8, 2007

  It seems fitting that a movie about debate competition should produce ambivalent feelings. As a master debater says early on in Jeffrey Blitz's... More >>

• Chow Time Again

  published July 25, 2007

  Hard Boiled: Two-Disc Ultimate Edition (Weinstein) The Criterion version of John Woo's masterpiece, about two cops... More >>

• Our top DVD picks scheduled for release this week:

  published July 25, 2007

  Avant-Garde 2: Experimental Cinema 1928-1954 (Kino) Cashback (Magnolia) The Contract (First Look) Crazy... More >>

• Celebrity Justice

  published July 18, 2007

  Steve Buscemi the director is nothing like the art-damaged auteur Buscemi the actor played in 1995's Living in Oblivion. No dry ice and... More >>

• When He Was Small

  published July 4, 2007

  Chancer: Series 1 (Acorn) Available solely in the U.K. for years, this is a small-time release featuring a modestly big-time... More >>

• Crackers & Cheese

  published June 27, 2007

  Black Snake Moan (Paramount) The best place to see Craig Brewer's mash-up of blood-boiling exploitation elements would be a... More >>

• Maybe too Hard

  published June 20, 2007

  Die Hard Collection (Fox) You don't need to watch the included preview of Live Free or Die Hard to know it's going to... More >>

• Sagebrush & Spaghetti

  published June 6, 2007

  The Sergio Leone Anthology (MGM) Sergio Leone made westerns like Wagner made ditties. This essential boxed set -- four films... More >>

• What Garry Didn't Know

  published April 18, 2007

  Not Just the Best of the Larry Sanders Show (Sony) The greatest boxed set ever -- not so much for the made-up irritainment as for... More >>