Dir. Denis Villeneuve. Starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, Josh Brolin For a while, there was something very 1970s about Sicario. Kate (Blunt) is someone who believes in the rule of law, which makes her a throwback, which makes her obsolete. She is surrounded by people who believe in winning more than they believe in stuff like… Read More Sicario (2015)
Dir. Fred Perry. Starring Burt Lancaster, Janet Landgard, Janice Rule It’s a shame this movie doesn’t work better. If it were made in the present, I like to think that some of the more surreal photography would be amplified, although what would be much more likely is that A24 would get a hold of the… Read More The Swimmer (1968)
To see the entire list of my 100 top movies of last decade, or to find the landing page for the other years in this series, click here. To read the second half of my post on 2016, click here. Well, here it is. If not the best year of the decade, then very… Read More Top 100 Movies of the Decade (2010-2019) — 2016, Part 1
The first time I ever came across the word “overreach” in print, it was when I was reading a children’s encyclopedia. I don’t remember if the article was about France or the French Revolution (I guess it must have been the latter), but I do remember the little portrait of Robespierre and the caption beneath.… Read More Too Big to Die
Dir. William Wyler. Starring Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford I will come clean about this movie: I had not seen it until recently, and worse still, I didn’t know much more about it than what you’d need to get a question right on it at trivia (“barbra streisand oscar fanny brice funny girl my… Read More Funny Girl (1968)
Dir. Sydney Pollack. Starring Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura, Keiko Kishi Remember when you were in college and you had that one friend who studied abroad in London for a semester, and when he came back he called it “football” and not “soccer” because he had been enlightened by three months there? The Yakuza is the movie equivalent… Read More The Yakuza (1974)
To see the entire list of my 100 top movies of last decade, or to find the landing page for the other years in this series, click here. My recollections of the 2017 movie season—the first one I followed with any real interest since I was blindsided with the double abominations of The Artist… Read More Top 100 Movies of the Decade (2010-2019) — 2017
Dir. Spike Lee. Starring Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Jonathan Majors I’m on top of things! Spoilers! Golly! Watching this movie I got a feeling that reminded me of watching The Edge of Seventeen. In that movie, the teacher carts in a TV and the class starts watching Young Mr. Lincoln. It was at that moment that I… Read More Da 5 Bloods (2020)
To see the entire list of my 100 top movies of last decade, or to find the landing page for the other years in this series, click here. To read the first half of this post, click here. 71) BlacKkKlansman, directed by Spike Lee There are not many scenes that are quite as funny… Read More Top 100 Movies of the Decade (2010-2019) — 2018, Part 2
Dir. David Fincher. Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Julia Ormond There aren’t any people in this movie, and the clearest statement of how true that is in that final montage that Benjamin (Pitt) narrates over. There are plenty of bodies in the movie, and each of those bodies has had a characteristic ascribed to then.… Read More The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Seeing Things Secondhand 