Andrew Lapin

Shirley Jackson's novel is "a Gothic psychodrama that eats itself from the inside." But this adaptation proves too low-key and repetitive to build suspense and succeeds only in testing patience.

Hugo's novel tops Amazon's best-seller list in France, following Monday's fire that ravaged the cathedral. The 19th century story was a campaign to get the cathedral restored.

Victor Hugo wrote Notre Dame de Paris, or The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in the 19th century to draw attention to the cathedral, which had fallen into neglect and disrepair. It worked.

Julian Schnabel's "bold, blissful and deeply sad" film about Vincent Van Gogh's final days is as textured as the artist's canvases; Willem Dafoe delivers "one of the finest performances of the year."

Director David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water) keeps the scale too small and the stakes too low in this retelling of the rebellion of Scotland's Robert the Bruce (Chris Pine).

Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, a Ghibli veteran, has made an animated film that owes a great deal to his influences yet displays skill and imagination all its own.

Critic Andrew Lapin says this documentary about the New York Times' Obituaries desk is "a touching inquiry on the nature of public legacy amid the ceaseless march of time."