The character: Colonel Dax The actor: Kirk Douglas The movie: Paths of Glory (1957) There are maybe three heroes on my list of heroes that I am genuinely surprised the AFI didn’t spring for, which is another way of saying that I think I have three pretty dull heroes on my own list. The winner… Read More Better than AFI’s Heroes and Villains: Hero #45
The first dead guy in this series! I’ll tell you what, it is shockingly difficult to find full lists ranking Stanley Kubrick’s filmography on the Internet, and without being more flippant, I really do think it’s because he’s been dead for years now. Many of my more reliable sites for this kind of business, like… Read More Stanley Kubrick Meta-Analysis
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: 80-76
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)
Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Starring Kirk Douglas, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready If you don’t count Fear and Desire, and from what I can tell Stanley Kubrick would really rather you didn’t, Paths of Glory is Kubrick’s third film of twelve and his first certain classic; if you don’t count Fear and Desire, it’s also Kubrick’s first film about war, a… Read More Paths of Glory (1957)
Seeing Things Secondhand 