Charlotte-based documentary filmmaker Fritz Mitchell says in the intro to his latest work, “Like fishermen, gamblers are known for stretching the truth.” That’s a provocative statement, especially considering that the film’s subject matter — and narrator of sorts — is the late gambling icon Jimmy “the Greek” Snyder.... Read more

A few years ago, you wouldn’t have gone to the Vermont International Film Festival expecting to see Troll 2, a hilariously inept “horror” film from 1990, and a documentary exploring its status as the Best Worst Movie. Or The House of the Devil, a campy-looking satanic scarefest.... Read more

Most children’s movies combine dumbed-down versions of adult plots with kid-friendly pacing, loud noises and bright visuals. Spike Jonze’s riff on Maurice Sendak’s classic picture book Where the Wild Things Are does the exact opposite.... Read more

ESPN. Great filmmaking. Not exactly synonymous. At least, not until now. A couple of years ago the sports network’s Bill Simmons had a brainstorm. “I was watching an old HBO Sports documentary,” the columnist recalled recently,” and got mad that HBO had this monopoly ...... Read more

Toward the end of his relatively short life, Vermonter John M. Bissell was largely homebound due to illness. To pass the hours, he watched countless movies at his Hyde Park home. The films proved therapeutic, and Bissell developed a deep respect for the art form that transported him from his suffering.... Read more

Would the world be a better place if people always told the truth? Back in 1666, French playwright Molière answered this question in his scathing comedy The Misanthrope, drawing fire from critics as illustrious as Jean-Jacques Rousseau. But no one has made a true spiritual sequel to The Misanthrope … until now.... Read more

I find it impossible to fathom the critical savaging this film has received. Its Rotten Tomatoes rating barely exceeds Vince Vaughn’s shoe size, and yet, by my count, Couples Retreat delivers on all of its promises. It’s the funniest movie about mating since Knocked Up.... Read more

Once a young man dying in a foreign country wrote to a friend about the fiancée he had left at home: “My dear Brown, I should have had her when I was in health, and I should have remained well. I cannot bear to die — I cannot bear to leave her. Oh God! God! God! Every thing I have ... that reminds me of her goes through me like a spear.”... Read more

Imagine you’re a frumpy French house cleaner who stays up all night conjuring hallucinatory paintings of fruits and flowers because your guardian angel instructed you to do so. And that, seemingly by divine intervention, your work is discovered by a prominent art critic who promises to make you rich and famous. Then imagine how betrayed you’d feel if both your patron and your heavenly advisor appeared to have misled you. No Paris exhibition. No adoring crowds. No fancy automobile. It might be enough to drive you mad.... Read more

College students: There’s a film out there that has more bank heists and gunfights than Public Enemies, more stylish mayhem than Inglourious Basterds, and more nudity than both put together. Be warned, though, that it comes with a history lesson or two. You could even end up in an argument.... Read more