Holiday Inn – 1942 Sandrich
14 songs in just over 100 minutes- similar daunting gauntlet to Berlin’s Easter ParadeFamously for the first used here- the luminous song “White Christmas”- for decades the #1 music single of all time The narrative
Bad Santa – 2003 Zwigoff
Though not a formal consistency (the opening is just a voice from god and the ending is a letter to Thurman) Billy Bob’s sardonic voice-over is so well written and performed- harkens to his work
Gravity – 2013 Cuarón
A transcendent display of cinematography (The Bordwell definition- not the Academy definition which is closer to photography)- camera movement that perfectly matches the place and story90 minutes- tight- Cuaron is just a perfectionist—last film was
The Favourite – 2018 Lanthimos
A masterpiece of auteur-driven formal and aesthetic choices, brilliant acting and one of the year’s best screenplaysIt’s entirely Lanthimos—black, absurdist, profane—but it’s impossible to watch without thinking about Mankiewicz’s All Above Eve (the power-play with
Unlawful Entry – 1992 Kaplan
There are artistic ambitions right from the get-go her with a helicopter shot going from a crime scene across town over to the house of Madeleine Stowe and Kurt Russell like Hitchcock would often as a
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – 1989 Chechik
Some hits (the entire squirrel slapstick sequence, getting stuck in the attic, any scene with Randy Quaid) and misses (the sledding scene should’ve been cut) but enough redeeming qualities to archive- especially as a “writer
The Mark of Zorro – 1920 Niblo
Largely in the archives for some nice action sequences involving Douglas Fairbanks’ acrobatics Fairbanks was really trying to break into a new mode- get away from romance films- quite a move here becoming the 20’s
Le Amiche – 1955 Antonioni
4th feature but first in the “Antonioni style”—at least fully- puts lonely, selfish characters (mostly well off and good looking) in alienation amidst gorgeous and vast landscapes and architecture-- the main picture above of a
Identification of a Woman – 1982 Antonioni
Sadly it’s Antonioni’s last film before his stroke—and although it’s not amongst his best works there’s a lot here Apparently Vincent Camby from the Times killed it so much so that it didn’t get a
Children of Men – 2006 Cuarón
the narrative is an outstanding biblical parable, there’s strong social undercurrents on pollution and immigration, but mainly- it’s a masterpiece because of the absolutely stylistic tour-de-force from Cuaron—it has become one of the textbook examples
Y Tu Mamá También – 2001 Cuarón
Cuaron’s greatest film to date in 2001 and a masterpiece It marks a visual departure of sorts for Cuaron- it’s more naturalistic in the set design and lighting (frankly the entire mise-en-scene)—it’s not loaded in
Burning – 2018 Chang-dong Lee
1.0 viewing Dec 2018 There are three brilliant scenes in the 148 minute film— leaving the theater I thought it was a recommend but those scenes are lingering with me which leads me to believe