Dir. Armando Iannucci. Starring Simon Russell Beale, Steve Buscemi, Jeffrey Tambor “I know about the hockey team.” This is the single funniest line in The Death of Stalin, a gravity well which sucks in comedy as easily as it sucks up horror or prestige drama. It is a perfect distillation of what works when the… Read More The Death of Stalin (2017)
For a brief introduction and a running list of movies covered in this project, click here 25) Black Narcissus (1947), directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Leonardo DiCaprio (Howard), Cate Blanchett (Kate), Jude Law (Errol), and Adam Scott (Johnny) are all sitting at a table together. Two of them are a little teed off about… Read More Better than BFI’s Top 100: 25-21
For a brief introduction and a running list of movies covered in this project, click here 30) This Sporting Life (1963), directed by Lindsay Anderson The British New Wave, for all of its depictions of angry young men, was not always good at finding actors to credibly play them. It is a line that Laurence Harvey… Read More Better than BFI’s Top 100: 30-26
For a brief introduction and a running list of movies covered in this project, click here 40) Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), directed by Nagisa Oshima A pair of character foils anchor this movie, which lacks the household recognition of Bridge on the River Kwai but which is superior in most aspects. (The music is no exception. Give me… Read More Better than BFI’s Top 100: 40-36
Dir. Terry Gilliam. Starring Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Michael Palin Brazil gives itself an awfully difficult task to pull off, requiring a faceless evil to fight against, a clear vision of the world of the future, and a protagonist who can both guide us through the future and hold our sympathy. It requires those primary… Read More Brazil (1985)
Seeing Things Secondhand 