Dir. Steven Spielberg. Starring Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose Somewhere, J.J. Abrams left a movie theater, blinking a little bit behind those signature glasses of his, and he murmured to himself, “Gosh…the new West Side Story has a lot of lens flare, doesn’t it?” I suppose I should feel some gratitude to Steven Spielberg,… Read More West Side Story (2021)
Dir. Steven Spielberg. Starring Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Bob Odenkirk The camera moves a whole lot. It’s Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski; one expects that it’s going to move elegantly. For the most part that’s even the case in this movie, I would say, typically able to move us around a newsroom or the offices… Read More The Post (2017)
The following is from my series of Oscar Best Picture rankings, as well as my strongly worded suggestions for what should have won from among the nominees. For an introduction to the project, click here. For a way to vote on some Oscar-related ideas, click here. If I’ve written a review on any of the… Read More Better than the Oscars: 30-26
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) Gangs of New York (2002), directed by Martin Scorsese Ironically, the flaws… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Period, 5-1
Dir. Steven Spielberg. Starring Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes Helen (Embeth Davidtz) can’t figure it out. Her employer, the Nazi commandant Amon Goeth (Fiennes), beats her. Yet others he kills without compunction; she tells Schindler (Neeson) a story about how he went through a group of his Jewish inmates at the Plaszow camp and… Read More Schindler’s List (1993)
Dir. Steven Spielberg. Starring Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore, Edward Burns One of the cliches of Oscar history is the lament that the awards for 1998 passed over Saving Private Ryan in favor of Shakespeare in Love. “Passed over” is a little strong, seeing as Private Ryan racked up wins for Best Director, Best Cinematography, Film Editing, and swept the… Read More Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Seeing Things Secondhand 