In 1975, Raymond Sokolov wrote in the Book Review about a first novel, ''Pride of the Bimbos,'' in which a midget named Pogo seeks ''happiness and self-fulfillment as the shortstop of a softball team that plays in drag.'' The book (''an oddly unsettling satire of American machismo,'' Sokolov concluded) was by a young man named John Sayles, who...
ONE of the great things about childhood is how easy it is to access the distinct delight of being scared out of your mind. Adults just have more trouble getting goosebumps. That's because experience is the enemy of true terror. You may shriek the first time you see ''A Nightmare on Elm Street,'' but the second or third time you might only shudder....
Although John Sayles's new film, ''Amigo,'' is set in what seems to be a remote time and place -- a hamlet called San Isidro, in the Philippines, around 1900 -- it bridges the gap in a hurry. This is not the kind of movie, and Mr. Sayles is not the type of director, to linger in the picturesque past, savoring antique details and restaging bygone...