30): Great Caesar’s Ghost I Still Have a Lot of These Left

Okay, two sentences each, let’s make this happen, ready, hike. Force of Evil, 1948, dir. Abraham Polonsky / America’s commitment to leftist filmmaking runs shallower than you’d find in many other countries, but that’s not Polonsky’s fault. His first feature (made not long before he was blacklisted) puts everyman John Garfield in a decent suit,… Read More Movie Diary 2023 (6/1-6/30): Great Caesar’s Ghost I Still Have a Lot of These Left

July 5, 2023 TimLeave a comment

2023 Movie Diary (2/10-2/14): Burning and Drowning and Pills, Oh My

February 10th Twins / 1988, dir. Ivan Reitman It’s not weird enough. It’s what I keep coming back to with this movie, which is daffy but not weird enough to register as something special. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito are different enough for a trailer’s worth of gags, but over the course of the movie… Read More 2023 Movie Diary (2/10-2/14): Burning and Drowning and Pills, Oh My

February 15, 2023 TimLeave a comment

Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

Dir. Sidney Lumet. Starring Al Pacino, Charles Durning, James Broderick Enter another one of those Andy Griffith Conundrums, although maybe this is more like a Daniel Kaluuya Conundrum. Like Judas and the Black Messiah, a film based on actual events which featured name-brand actors in leading roles, Dog Day Afternoon makes most of its hay… Read More Dog Day Afternoon (1975)

April 14, 2022 TimLeave a comment

12 Angry Men (1957)

Dir. Sidney Lumet. Starring Henry Fonda, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall 12 Angry Men is a magnificent fantasy. Choose your player! Juror 8 (Fonda) does enough outside research that he essentially manages to retry a case in the jury room which, if we’re honest, probably should end this movie with a mistrial as opposed to a “not… Read More 12 Angry Men (1957)

January 30, 2018 TimLeave a comment

100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Family Drama, 10-6

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. 10) Long Day’s Journey into Night (1962), directed by Sidney Lumet Picture links… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Family Drama, 10-6

October 29, 2017 Tim1 Comment

100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Location, 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 follow to read my full review. 5) The Thing (1982), directed by John Carpenter It’s worth noting that the… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Location, 5-1

July 24, 2017January 29, 2018 Tim2 Comments

Better than AFI’s Top 100: Un Certain Regard

(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. And for a way to vote on what you think the top 100 American narrative fiction feature films are, click here.… Read More Better than AFI’s Top 100: Un Certain Regard

June 18, 2017March 12, 2021 Tim2 Comments

Better than AFI’s Top 100: 35-31

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: 35-31

June 11, 2017June 24, 2017 Tim1 Comment

Network (1976)

Dir. Sidney Lumet. Starring Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch In Sunset Blvd, Joe Gillis recognizes that he has seriously damaged two women and decides to bail out back to Ohio: not because he’s running away from them, but because he sees it as a penance for his sins. (Of course, we know what happens to… Read More Network (1976)

April 17, 2017June 30, 2017 Tim2 Comments

Seeing Things Secondhand

Tag: Sidney Lumet