David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia is both the smartest epic (not a description you’d give to many in the genre actually) and the most epic of epics. Lean’s ability to capture the breathtaking locations with
It’s hard not to see Hereditary (out in 2018- a year before) in the formal construct of the horror film with a reoccurring dollhouse motif- but still- this is a unique enough effort- and undoubtedly
Another outstanding Kurosawa effort where you could write 1000 words on the cultural impact and cinematic influence. Certainly without Yojimbo- we wouldn’t have Fistful of Dollars which was the breakthrough film for both Sergio Leone
It feels strange archiving a Chuck Norris film Andrew Davis is no auteur- but he’s a solid director putting together a string of excellent films starting with this in 1985, The Package in 1989 with
Anthony Minghella parlayed the artistic and financial success of 1996 The English Patient into this large-canvas, picturesque revenge thriller A meditation of infatuation and envy To me this is sacred text- Patricia Highsmith’s work. Ripley
Not Fuller’s best (that’s Park Row or Pickup on South Street) but it is the most Sam Fuller of Sam Fuller films; low budget, overflowing with energy, bad taste, unsubtle--- full of fresh ideas, reveling
The fourth and final film in the series- the best one and the first one with Fred Astaire (probably no coincidence) Frank Morgan (from Wizard of Oz, The Shop Around the Corner and a lot
The third in the series here—they add a young talented Judy Garland (age 15, her second film) and make a bigger role for Buddy Ebsen but this one still misses the sharp wit of Jack
The one and only film directed by Brando There are so many rumors about the production—it was a little 1960’s version of Heaven’s Gate with the production issues Brando may not have known what he
Not a misprint here- came out in 1935 the year before the title- common with this series of films It stars Jack Benny, Eleanor Powell, and Robert Taylor—debut of Buddy Ebsen as a dancer- long
Kurosawa’s loose take on Hamlet (about corporate corruption in contemporary Japan) is simply one of the great master’s finest works. The first 20 minutes- the wedding reception- gives the opening reception in The Godfather a
Sam Fuller cinema- ferocious, visceral, sleazy – but clever as well Former infantry soldier and newspaperman- each Fuller film is part expose- uncovering and debunking – here it is organized crime, the vice rackets—not unlike
