#8 — Toy Story (John Lasseter, 1995) It can be taken as an indicator of the faultiness of my prognostication skills that I thought Toy Story would never work. I’d seen a couple of the Pixar studio shorts previously, and, while … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Eight
Today is a day I have the pleasure of directing you elsewhere. Continue reading I’m walking a line—just barely enough to be living
Separate Lies (Julian Fellowes, 2005). Following his Oscar win for scripting Robert Altman’s exemplary Gosford Park, Julian Fellowes made his directorial debut with an adaptation of an an old novel by Nigel Balchin. The film focuses of a busy, distracted solicitor whose marriage begins to fray, a situation compounded when the death of a local man in a hit-and-run car accident brings secrets to light and sets everyone reeling into a series of moral compromises. The stuff of high drama is certainly present in abundance in the story, and with Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson and Rupert Everett at the head … Continue reading Almodóvar, Argott, Butterworth, Fellowes, Scorsese
Never Let Me Go is built upon some fairly commonplace themes. Unrequited love, the pains of growing up, the burden carried by the underclass all get an airing in the film. At times it feels very conventional, very plain. It … Continue reading Your footprints still they are in the sand, everything else washed away
#9 — The Crying Game (Neil Jordan, 1992) How long does a gag order on movie secrets last? Years before the term “spoiler alert” was coined and became part of the shared vernacular of moviegoing, Miramax was able to parlay the … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Nine
Today, kind friend, I will direct you elsewhere for an example of my word putting together skills. Continue reading Though to say we got much hope, if I am lost it’s only for a little while
Lolita (Stanley Kubrick, 1962). Vladimir Nabokov’s novel was less than ten years old when Stanley Kubrick took a swing at it, so he was working with a best-selling sensation instead of a revered part of the canon. That–combined with the significant detail that he was Stanley Kubrick and he plainly did want he wanted–gives the director great latitude in his adaptation. Nabokov himself is the credited screenwriter, but much of that material was jettisoned by Kubrick on the way to making his own distinct, darkly comic work. James Mason is marvelous as Professor Humbert Humbert, the man who becomes smitten … Continue reading Altman, Clements and Musker, Gordon (and others), Kubrick, Weir
#10 — Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins, 1995) When a filmmaker is active politically outside of their chosen profession, it can disrupt the balance of their art. That’s especially true when the work in question is itself political in nature. … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Ten
Today is a good day to look elsewhere for my flowery words. Continue reading Boxing’s been good to me, Howard
My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979). It’s always fun to watch Judy Davis lead with her chin, and sharp, distinctive onscreen personality was basically in place from the beginning. She plays a young Australian woman in the late 19th century who is certain that greatness awaits her out in the big, bad world. Her headstrong nature is continually put to the test, and part of the pleasure of the movie is watching Davis emotionally endure the various indignities and challenges laid in her character’s path. Armstrong balances the storytelling nicely, evoking the period without letting the film become needlessly smothered … Continue reading Armstrong, Brooks, Hodges, Laven, Lester
