Dir. Shaka King. Starring Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Dominique Fishback Judas and the Black Messiah is a great title. Catchy, memorable, SEO-friendly. We clearly have a sense of what’s going to happen, even if the viewer has never heard of Fred Hampton (Kaluuya), let alone Bill O’Neal (Stanfield), although, as K. Austin Collins of Rolling Stone… Read More Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
Dir. Martin Scorsese. Starring Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson I’m contractually obligated to bring up the rat crawling in front of the Massachusetts State House, one of my least favorite shots ever, but on rewatching The Departed for the zillionth time, it seems like the reason it’s in the movie at all is because the filmmakers… Read More The Departed (2006)
Dir. Don Taylor. Starring Kirk Douglas, James Farentino, Martin Sheen There’s an interesting scene in The Final Countdown. (Yes, I do mean it’s the only interesting scene. The Final Countdown is a real drag.) A yacht out on a pleasure cruise, carrying a U.S. senator, his secretary, a friend, some crew, and a mercifully invulnerable dog… Read More The Final Countdown (1980)
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: 75-71
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) Fantasia (1940), directed by (deep breath) Samuel Armstrong, James Algar, Bill Roberts, Paul… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Sprawling, 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 use to read my full review. 5) Election (1999), directed by Alexander Payne. I’ve written this a thousand times,… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Young Adult, 5-1
Dir. Terrence Malick. Starring Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Ramon Bieri Picture links back here I’m not sure I’ve ever reacted to the end of a movie before like I did with Badlands; I’ve never been given a clearer, more concrete grip on character motivation and thought it obliterated the movie’s feel. (The last movie I… Read More Badlands (1973)
The following is part of an overview of the top 100 American narrative fiction feature films, from my perspective. For an introduction to the project and an index of other entries in the series, click here. For a list of more than 800 films which I considered for the top 450 and my eligibility qualifications, click here.… Read More Better than AFI’s Top 100: 7-5
Dir. Ronald F. Maxwell. Starring Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen I can’t think of another movie made in the past quarter-century which should have seen big screens less than Gettysburg. This isn’t a statement of the film’s quality, but of its marketability, because let’s face it, this is a unicorn of a film. Longer… Read More Gettysburg (1993)
Seeing Things Secondhand 