Made by the former cartoonist Frank Tashlin who directed many comedies (Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis vehicles) during the 1950s and 1960s. He was admired by the French New Wave—specifically Godard. Color by DeLuxe, nice use of the CinemaScope wider frame. But the color influence on Godard isn’t Tashlin (like many misappropriate)- it is Nicolas Ray. The story is about celebrity, lampooning Hollywood, the media, and especially the television generation and the advertising industry as a whole. Indeed, a softer critique of the post-WWII so-called American Dream than say The Sweet Smell of Success (also 1957). It opens

The Last Detail is a feather in the cap for the writing/acting team of real life buddies Robert Towne and Jack Nicholson. Nicholson could do no wrong at this time in the early 1970s (he even turned down The Sting to make this). You feel privileged watching him here- his level of confidence in 1973 surprises. I mean he really came on the scene in 1969 with Easy Rider- so for him to have the ability to just take over here, just a few years later... quite a feat. Robert Towne is one of those writers talked about often,

After a twenty-year hiatus, cinema’s J.D. Salinger, Terrence Malick, made his glorious return. It is easier to do now after the fact, but the expectations and anticipation for his return had to be palpable among cinephiles in 1998. With that long of a stretch after Days of Heaven, what does Malick open with? He opens on a crocodile slipping into the water with Hans Zimmer’s score (along with The Lion King this is his best to date in 1998, and the one that changed his style) welcoming us back. Malick is fascinated by the dichotomy--the beauty of nature- and

It takes a truly innovative mind to still be coming up with creative revenge films in the 21st century. Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance is a key film (and Chan-wook an important auteur- “audacious" may be the most commonly used word to describe him) in the Korean New Wave movement. This is part of the 2002-2005 “Vengeance Trilogy” with Oldboy coming in 2003 and Lady Vengeance in 2005. It opens with Shin Ha-kyun as Ryu with his green hair (a crucial color for the film). Ryu is deaf, his blood type does not match his sisters (who needs a kidney

Laugh, Clown, Laugh is another worthy Lon Chaney vehicle from the silent era (this here at the very end of the silent era- The Jazz Singer is 1927). Chaney plays a clown that finds and adopts a young girl who will grow up (sort of) to become Loretta Young. If people know of this film, it is either because of Chaney’s work, or Young’s shocking age at the time of the release (fifteen). Chaney’s character adopts her, and then falls in love with her ...rough.  Young does not look fifteen- which I suppose is part of the point, but

Undoubtedly, many more cinephiles know the famous “You’re out of order!” Al Pacino line than the movie itself. Norman Jewison is at the helm here and he had directed some very fine films over the course of his career. He directed Denzel a few times (including The Hurricane in 1999), Moonstruck with Cher is perhaps his most popular (1987) but his best work was in the 1960s (The Cincinnati Kid, In the Heat of the Night, and The Thomas Crown Affair were all 1965-1968). Jewison probably takes third place here though in terms of credit for And Justice For

There are more than enough redeeming moments here that make it worthy of the archives Adam Driver continues his great work- both in the trilogy and outside of it. Certainly 2019 will be remembered for Marriage Story far more than this effort. The best scenes in Rise of Skywalker usually involve him and Daisy Ridley (man, is she good here, too). The scene with Driver and Harrison Ford is worthy of praise, too (strong imagery of them across from each other on the ship in a long shot). A strong shot from Abrams at the 38-minute

Beautiful Boy is a painful story of drug addiction. Steve Carell plays the father, David Sheff, a writer, with his son Nic (Timothée Chalamet). The narrative structure here is an interview style with Carell’s David talking to Timothy Hutton’s character and then infusing the flashbacks (“one year earlier”). Young Nic (Jack Dylan Grazer) is a spot on younger-looking Chalamet- great casting. They could have done without the Hutton character altogether though. Between this and The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012) it seems that Felix van Groeningen has certainly carved out a little subgenre here with gut-wrenching tales of family strife.

Badlands hinted at the brilliance of Terrence Malick (and for almost every other filmmaker in history it would easily be their finest hour), but Days of Heaven feels like the full realization of a master in complete command of his craft, in only his sophomore effort. The high watermark for the term “magic hour” photography and perhaps cinematic photography (exteriors especially) in general. Malick would purposefully shoot almost the entire film at dusk- the best moment for photography. This had to be painstaking to achieve in natural lighting. But the consistency shows—if you collect and look at the individual

The Phantom Carriage is both a tour de force technical achievement and a groundbreaking film for narrative form. It is the story of David Holm- again played by Victor Sjöström himself- a powerful story of reform. It borrows from Charles Dickens, but also certainly influences 1946’s It’s a Wonderful Life. We need a Bordwell study on the flashback within a flashback nesting doll strands. There’s the slow unveiling of Holm’s character-- often the different time flashback threads unfurl at the same time to quite an effect. The shot of death at the 18-minute mark- scythe and cloak. Fritz Lang’s

Victor Sjöström stars in his own The Outlaw and His Wife- a tale of “ill fate” told over seven chapters. It is set in 19th century Iceland— and based on a true story about a man (played by Sjöström) who can’t escape his past. Benefits from a 2015 restoration Unlike A Man There Was (1917) there are just pages and pages of dialogue here— Sjöström does not need this crutch. Sjöström is certainly capable as a director and could tell these sections of the dialogue in pictures. Also, he is also skilled enough actor, as is Edith Erastoff, who

A Man There Was- or Terje Vigen (Victor Sjöström’s character’s name in the film) is the earliest film from the silent Swedish master I could lay my hands on. But at this point, Sjöström (best known as the lead actor in Bergman’s Wild Strawberries (1957) or as the director of The Wind (1928)) had already been directing for a handful of years It is a short work, an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen (19th century Scandinavian playwright—known as the “father of realism”) broken into four acts Sjöström uses color shading brilliantly- and orange hue for the sunny exteriors, blue for