#7 — North By Northwest (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959) It’s probably impossible to pinpoint the first Alfred Hitchcock-designed image I was exposed to, but I know the single shot that stands as the first I really saw. It’s arguably his most … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Seven
While the City Sleeps (Fritz Lang, 1956). This noirish drama from director Fritz Lang takes aim at the seediness of the newspapers and the cutthroat competitiveness of those in the media, tiltimng at both with equal vigor. When the newspaper owner’s son (Vincent Price) takes control upon his father’s death, he uses the recent emergence of a serial murdered dubbed “the lipstick killer” to pitch his various reporters and editors against each other in an effort to preserve their jobs or even claim one of the plum new positions available. Lang’s curiosity about the darker instincts that drive people gives … Continue reading Abrahamson, Ford, Lang, Moodysson, Saulnier
This wasn’t the first writing I did for my college’s student newspaper, The Pointer, but I do believe it was the first full-length review I turned in. It’s not that much longer than the most robust pieces written for our radio show, right in the middle of its three-year run when this was published, but I presume I was feeling a little more pressure about the word count, evidenced by me essentially make the same point repeatedly in the last three paragraphs. As is often the case with newspapers, I take no credit nor blame for the headline, which I … Continue reading From the Archive: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
#18 — Kurt Russell as R.J. MacReady in The Thing (John Carpenter, 1982) Kurt Russell’s best performances are usually in characters that skew towards the everyman. Though I think some overly celebrate his self-consciously cool, tough guy roles in films … Continue reading Greatish Performances #18
#8 — Tokyo Story (Yasujirō Ozu, 1953) There are few films in the canon of necessary classics as quiet, tender, and elegiac as Yasujirō Ozu’s Tokyo Story. Accurate as that description may be, emphasizing the fulsome quiet of the film … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Eight
I’m genuinely excited to see the art house sensation of the moment: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Still, as someone who believes in the primacy of the director in shaping cinema, I simultaneously keep reminding myself that the … Continue reading From the Archive: Babel
Someday when the sins of our modern age are tallied up, the culture will provide ample evidence that the worst infractions committed in our name weren’t done so in secrecy. Given what it depicts, Camp X-Ray should play like an … Continue reading She could only do so much in these crazy days
#9 — All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950) Margo Channing, played by Bette Davis, is responding to a direct question. The tension in the room is stirred and the temperature is rising. She’s asked if the darts she’s already been hurling represent the end or the beginning of her charged activity for the evening. She throws back her cocktail, strides purposefully away from her group, pausing one step up the stairwell to turn back and advise, curdled smile on her lips, “Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.” It is the sort of perfect line … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 50s — Number Nine
The Sacrament (Ti West, 2014). Following a couple elegant, artful horror features, West finally goes where all modern directors with a propensity to scare must. The Sacrament is a “found footage” that relies on the conceit of a couple Vice News reporters who tag along when a fashion photographer acquaintance goes looking for his sister, who has become a resident with a cult-like commune that has recently relocated to a remote area in South America. The plot draws heavily on the 1978 Jonestown Massacre, right down to the notorious beverage of choice when it comes time to draw the experiment … Continue reading Donahue, Hitchcock, Lang, Scorsese and Tedeschi, West
This is one of those films from the old reviewing days that I remember only vaguely. Clearly I liked it fairly well. In fact, this review kind of makes me want to watch it again. I guess that means, for all the writing weaknesses I see throughout — led by opening and closing sentences that both make me wince a little — the review does its job. When he’s really cooking, Robert De Niro is an actor that can instantly electrify the screen. The latest film to boast the talents of De Niro is “Night and the City,” and, as … Continue reading From the Archive: Night and the City
Coffee for Two 