Dir. Peter Weir. Starring Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Dragos Bucur The Way Back is awfully cool to the touch, which is an issue I’ve always had with Peter Weir movies. His films, so frequently conceptual and odd, sound like movies I would love but all too often devolve into these technically remarkable and emotionally empty endurance… Read More The Way Back (2010)
Dir. William Wyler. Starring Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, Fay Bainter Jezebel is a Civil War movie without a single glance at the Civil War, as its story ends sometime in 1853, but the movie still leans heavily on the Lost Cause mythology which permeates so much Hollywood filmmaking. (The article I’ve linked to does a… Read More Jezebel (1938)
Dir. Ingmar Bergman. Starring Max von Sydow, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Nils Poppe When he says the following words, the Knight (von Sydow) has just been fooled by Death (Bengt Ekerot), who was playacting as a priest at confession. Even though he has just given away an exceptional strategy in the chess game that will decide whether… Read More The Seventh Seal (1957)
Dir. Richard Linklater. Starring the entire population of Austin, Texas, but not nearly enough Butthole Surfers. Dir. Nicholas Roeg. Starring Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, David Gulpilil Do you have a favorite drip in Jackson Pollock’s Full Fathom Five? Does one of the nails he hammered into his canvas stand out? It’s much the same in Slacker, an… Read More Slacker (1990) and Walkabout (1971)
Dir. Bob Rafelson. Starring Jack Nicholson, Bruce Dern, Ellen Burstyn Jason (Dern) and David (Nicholson) are walking on the boardwalk when they come across a marching band with its color guard. Their banner states that they are from Mainland High School in Linwood, New Jersey, and they march on for a few moments, Jason coolly… Read More The King of Marvin Gardens (1972)
Dir. Stephen Frears. Starring John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer Valmont (Malkovich) emotionally withdraws from as many situations as he can, not because “emotion is weakness” or some other flaccid cliche, but because it’s silly to be emotionally involved in a situation where only one of you is in real life. Valmont is in a stage… Read More Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Dir. Bruce Beresford. Starring Jack Thompson, Edward Woodward, Bryan Brown There may not be a more difficult and potent question than, “What responsibility do I have for my actions when I am compelled to do unjust things?” Breaker Morant, wisely, does not try to convince us of the innocence of Morant (Woodward), Handcock (Brown), and Witton… Read More Breaker Morant (1980)
You can read up on the basis for this series here, and also find links to other posts in the series. Movies I’ve reviewed on this site have a link in the title which you can follow to read my full review. 5) Marie Antoinette (2006), directed by Sofia Coppola – featuring Kirsten Dunst as… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Biopics, 5-1
You can read up on the basis for this series here, and also find links to other posts in the series. Movies I’ve reviewed on this site have a link in the title which you can follow to read my full review. 10) Hacksaw Ridge (2016), directed by Mel Gibson – featuring Andrew Garfield… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Biopics, 10-6
Dir. Matt Reeves. Starring Michael Stahl-David, T.J. Miller, Odette Yustman There are so many movies which really only have forty minutes of material and which stretch on for two hours or so. (Here’s a perfectly random example: I just watched The Lion in Winter, which is 135 minutes, and I’d say forty or so were… Read More Cloverfield (2008)
Seeing Things Secondhand 