To see my running list of the hundred greatest movie stars in American film history, click here To start this project, I began with about 750 names which I knew I’d need to pare down to 100. On my first pass, I only eliminated about 300 of those names, which is a sign of how… Read More Better than AFI’s 100 Years…100 Stars: The Near Misses
To read my introduction to this set of rankings, go here. I’ve broken the twenty-three movies from this franchise into tiers of irregular size. I still have a fairly firm ranking in my head for each of them, but I include the tiers to give a sense of what movies roughly match each other in… Read More Infinity Saga/Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies Ranking – Part 2
To read my introduction to this set of rankings, go here. I’ve broken the twenty-three movies from this franchise into tiers of irregular size. I still have a fairly firm ranking in my head for each of them, but I include the tiers to give a sense of what movies roughly match each other in… Read More Infinity Saga/Marvel Cinematic Universe Movies Ranking – Part 1
Dir. Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. Starring Josh Brolin, Zoe Saldana, Robert Downey, Jr. For about six months now I’ve been casually watching these MCU movies, typically watching a couple at a time and then leaving them alone for a couple weeks. Infinity War was part of a double feature with Thor: Ragnarok for me, a movie which I’d… Read More Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Dir. Jon Watts. Starring Tom Holland, Jacob Batalon, Michael Keaton At the time I’m writing this, I have seen seventeen MCU movies; the first half of this sentence gives me heartburn. For the most part, those movies are like going to a fast casual joint. Even if you order the wackiest cheesecake off the menu… Read More Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Dir. Shane Black. Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Paul Bettany, Guy Pearce It’s really something that what makes this Marvel movie (what’s killing cinema in my salad days) interesting and enjoyable is its closeness to ”80s and ’90s action movies (you know, what was killing cinema when I was a little kid). Shane Black, who I… Read More Iron Man 3 (2013)
Dir. Jon Favreau. Starring Robert Downey, Jr., Sam Rockwell, Mickey Rourke I’ve been workshopping this take since about halfway through this movie, and here’s what I’ve got: this is a significantly more interesting movie than Iron Man. It is not necessarily a better movie than Iron Man, because there is some real flab on this movie: the… Read More Iron Man 2 (2010)
Dir. Paul Mazursky. Starring Natalie Wood, Elliott Gould, Dyan Cannon Dir. Oliver Stone. Starring Woody Harrelson, Juliette Lewis, Robert Downey, Jr. Anything which is even vaguely critical of its time and place is all too easily labeled a “satire,” and any time an open-class word gets overused it becomes diluted. We’ve lost something important in… Read More Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) and Natural Born Killers (1994)
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. David Fincher. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey, Jr. Zodiac is a film which seems like it ought to be easily classifiable in several ways. It’s a period piece, but aside from some appropriate costume and facial hair, it’s does not flaunt its period credentials. (I forget where I originally read the following… Read More Zodiac (2007)
Seeing Things Secondhand 