For a brief introduction and a running list of movies covered in this project, click here 70) The Mission (1986), directed by Roland Joffe If a movie features the most beautiful piece of music ever written for a film, does it deserve to make a list like this without question? The Mission is a very good movie on… Read More Better than BFI’s Top 100: 70-66
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: 70-66
Dir. Stephen Frears. Starring John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Michelle Pfeiffer Valmont (Malkovich) emotionally withdraws from as many situations as he can, not because “emotion is weakness” or some other flaccid cliche, but because it’s silly to be emotionally involved in a situation where only one of you is in real life. Valmont is in a stage… Read More Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Dir. Stephen Frears. Starring Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell The hoi polloi being interviewed about Diana’s death are certainly passionate, if nothing else, and in their grief they look for someone to blame. The royal family becomes the obvious target—although only an ironical Blair aide makes the case that the Windsors literally killed her—and… Read More The Queen (2006)
Dir. Stephen Frears. Starring Gordon Warnecke, Daniel Day-Lewis, Saeed Jaffrey The character structure of My Beautiful Laundrette, written by Hanif Kureishi, is about as perfect as they come in movies. Hussein (Roshan Seth), Nasser (Jaffrey), and Hussein’s son, Omar (Warnecke) are each placed in conjunction with each other; they are the sides of the prism… Read More My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)
Seeing Things Secondhand 