Kinsey

Bill Condon more than confirms the promise of Gods and Monsters, in this kinetic and moving account of the life of Alfred Kinsey, the famed entomologist turned sex researcher, magnificently embodied by Liam Neeson. Laura Linney as his wife and Peter Saarsgard as his right hand man lead a large and impeccable cast. This biopic sometimes checks off its points in textbook style, but is never less than competent and sometimes quite riveting. The styles and mores of midcentury America are pointedly depicted, but the movie's great achievement is to assert convincingly that the only thing more exciting than sex is science. (2004.) *8*

As usual, Images Cinema is showing a very good film this week, through Thursday, January 27. I happened to catch this film by chance last month in Boston, and recommend it highly. I regretfully missed last week's film at Images, but will by no means miss Sideways when it arrives on Friday.