Category: Film

FilmLeave a comment

Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Seventeen

Dan Seeger

#17 — The Palm Beach Story (Preston Sturges, 1942) By all evidence, Preston Sturges despised being confined, either by studio meddling or expectations. His distinctive comic voice, as bold as any ever committed to cinema, didn’t fit cleanly into the polished, reticent refinements of his era, when every last movie had to run through a clumsy, inconsistent official approval process. The filmmaker’s embedded cynicism was challenge enough to the dainty norms, but his rambunctious playfulness with the rigors of narrative structure could set his work teetering on the precipice of blissful mayhem. The Palm Beach Story exemplifies that clownishly caustic dynamic. Sturges … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Seventeen

Film2 Comments

How do you know you’ll recognize me? I’m not too clear, but I’m easy to see

Dan Seeger

I’m not often able to assert the following right after seeing a new movie: I have a clear favorite scene in Mistress America. Tracy (Lola Kirke), a young woman in her first semester of college, has just been charged by her new friend and anticipated step-sister, Brooke (Greta Gerwig), with picking up some pasta for dinner. Alone in the grocery store, Tracy is flummoxed by the array of options before her, both in trying to determine which brand is fancy enough to impress her older, more worldly companion and simply which damn shape she should opt for. Maybe the ones that … Continue reading How do you know you’ll recognize me? I’m not too clear, but I’m easy to see

FilmLeave a comment

Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Eighteen

Dan Seeger

#18 — The Reckless Moment (Max Ophüls, 1949) Energized as I might be to see obvious artistry that endures throughout the years when I survey old films, I don’t view the material in a void. As best as I can, I contextualize the work agains the time in which it was released. Often that’s to the favor of a film, with so much that now seems mundane instead looking revolutionary when stripping away the intervening years that may have transformed the novel into a trope. I suppose my mental maneuvering around The Reckless Moment has a similar effect of elevating its stature, … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Eighteen

FilmLeave a comment

From the Archive: Rudy

Dan Seeger

It’s college football season now, right? So I suppose it’s time to dust this one off. Given the timing of the film’s release (late 1993), this would have been written as a “Reel Thing Report,” the two-minute segments that were aired a couple times a day after my colleague and I decided to retire the weekly show. I didn’t recall we’d kept them going as long into the fall that year, but here’s the proof we did. One of the unfortunate things about many sports movies is the way filmmakers drain all of the natural excitement out of the individual … Continue reading From the Archive: Rudy

FilmLeave a comment

Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Nineteen

Dan Seeger

#19 — Gaslight (George Cukor, 1944) To describe something as a “revelation” is entirely overused in criticism. I get that. I try to avoid the term (though I’ll admit that a quick search of the content of this very page attests that it shows up plenty). There are instances, though, in which it is the most fitting descriptor for my reaction. For me, Ingrid Bergman’s performance in Gaslight is revelatory. Before viewing it, I had plenty of respect for Bergman’s abilities as an actress, though I likely wouldn’t have held her up as someone who demonstrated the remarkable level of range a … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Nineteen

Film9 Comments

Greatish Performances #21

Dan Seeger

#21 — Jeff Bridges as Jack Lucas in The Fisher King (Terry Gilliam, 1991) Legacy is a tricky thing for actors. When the time comes to start assessing which films stand as their seminal works, a reckoning that often comes after an obituary has been penned and published, the list of necessary titles might be shaped by factors that stand outside the performances themselves. A film that is considered a classic but might not contain the performer’s finest work takes primacy over a compromised or forgotten outing that ultimately holds within it better or more representative acting. I have a feeling … Continue reading Greatish Performances #21

FilmLeave a comment

Now I’ve got goons on my landing, thieves on my trail, Nazis on my telephone, willing me to fail

Dan Seeger

As is often the case with the most significant media innovations, the introduction of the the sort of pervasive punditry that absolutely infests broadcast new a few decades later came about as a sort of desperate accident. ABC was mired in last place, trailing well behind competitors CBS and NBC, when it came time to cover the presidential nominating conventions of the Republicans and the Democrats. The other networks opted for their usual gavel-to-gavel coverage, something ABC couldn’t afford. (It’s worth noting that this was at a time when the conventions were far more likely to be newsworthy events, as opposed to … Continue reading Now I’ve got goons on my landing, thieves on my trail, Nazis on my telephone, willing me to fail

FilmLeave a comment

From the Archive: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

Dan Seeger

This week’s review is dug out of the archive thanks to the recent (and fabulous) Key & Peele sketch. I and my movie reviewing cohort saw Gremlins 2: The New Batch together during the summer of 1990, while we were formulating the idea of launching a movie review show in the fall. It’s very possible this was the movie that sparked the idea of launching a movie review show in the fall. Though the show wasn’t up and running when this was released, we found ways to cover Joe Dante’s spirited sequel a couple of times, including this review upon its … Continue reading From the Archive: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

FilmLeave a comment

Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty

Dan Seeger

#20 — Drunken Angel (Akira Kurosawa, 1948) One of film history’s most amazing partnerships between director and actor begins here. Akira Kurosawa cast Toshiro Mifune sixteen times over a span of fewer than twenty years, making the actor feel like the great director’s manifestation of self on screen, in much the same way that Martin Scorsese once admitted he cast Robert De Niro repeatedly in the parts he himself would like to play (presumably Leonardo DiCaprio has fulfilled much the same role in recent years). It could, however, be even simpler than that. Drunken Angel so fully takes advantage of … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 40s — Number Twenty

FilmLeave a comment

By the time I get to Phoenix she’ll be risin’

Dan Seeger

Phoenix takes place in Germany shortly after the end of World War II. The city of Berlin is reeling, much of it still in ruins, and the portion of its Jewish population that somehow survived the concentration camps is returning, warily ready to restart their lives but still understandably burdened by spiritual wounds that will likely never heal. One of those returning is Nelly (Nina Hoss), whose face was badly damaged by a bullet wound. The doctor charged with reconstructive surgery asks her about the appearance she’d like him to provide. Nelly insists she wants to look like herself, a choice … Continue reading By the time I get to Phoenix she’ll be risin’