#17 — Searching for Bobby Fischer (Steven Zaillian, 1993) There are so many things that movies do wonderfully well, arguably better than any other medium, and those naturally tend to be the elements that grab the attention more forcefully and … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Seventeen
I have a very busy day at work today (what’s holiday weekend of which you speak), but at least as I abandon the other member of the household, I can take solace in the fact that one of our movie channels has programming an offering seemingly just for her. Continue reading “There’s tentacles between our worlds,” he said, “so I believe”
#18 — The English Patient (Anthony Minghella, 1996) Almost every movie has a love story, but surprisingly few of them get love right. They have couplings by convenience, characters drawn together to fulfill the requirements of the plot, and to … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Eighteen
Black Dynamite (Scott Sanders, 2009). An inspired spoof of nineteen-seventies Blaxploitation films, Black Dynamite stars Michael Jai White as the title character, who dispenses justice on the mean streets while searching for his brother’s killer. Sanders gets the tone exactly right, mocking the conventions of the subgenre without lapsing into condescension. There’s a clear affection here, a conviction that no matter what else the original films may have been, they were also fun. How many movies can have claim major climactic sequences taking place on Kung Fu Island? Clever as it is, it’s a hard conceit to sustain over the … Continue reading Aldrich, Huston, Kore-Eda, Lee, Sanders
#19 — Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998) During the first part of his career, Steven Spielberg made the sort of movies he could have dreamed up as a kid. Like may good artist finding his way, he was making … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Nineteen
Kevorkian (Matthew Galkin, 2010). This documentary is about the Michigan physician who gained notoriety and, in some quarters, infamy by advocating for the right of terminally ill patients to end their lives on their own terms and providing the mechanized means to do so in the most humane fashion possible. The relative lack of voices arguing against the very premise of Kevorkian’s actions makes it fairly clear where Galkin’s sympathies lie, but the film is no hagiography. He gives a full airing to the combativeness, unpleasantness and self-defeating egotism of the man, leaving a strong impression that Kevorkian may be … Continue reading Bier, Brooks, Galkin, Jarmusch, Karlson
#20 — Smoke (Wayne Wang, 1996) Smoke is about the power and pleasure of stories. The film is enamored with the very act of spinning a tale, whether it be complete concoctions, embellishments on personal histories, or even the fictions people create about themselves as buffers against the sadness of the world. The mere craft of it is admirable enough, and there’s perhaps no better indicator of its value than the smile that irresistibly rises to the visage of a teller who has completed their task particularly well. The film is centered around a Brooklyn cigar shop, the perfect setting … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Twenty
#4 — Kirsten Dunst as Mary in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Michel Gondry, 2004) Michel Gondry’s heady collaboration with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman doesn’t lack for praise. It was a critical favorite from the moment it was released, got … Continue reading Greatish Performances #4
The Last Emperor (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1987). Bertolucci’s masterwork probably won its Best Picture Oscar due to its effortless embrace of the epic, but its the acute realization of the most intimate portions of its story that makes it a great film. It follows the life of the last emperor of China from his coronation while still a toddler to his later years toiling as an anonymous gardener after his royal role had disappeared. The sweep of history is what the film moves through, but Bertolucci and his co-screenwriter Mark Peploe rightly realize that the intricacies of the different personality entanglements … Continue reading Bertolucci, Boden and Fleck, Bozzo, Coffin and Renaud, Levinson
#21 — Quiz Show (Robert Redford, 1994) At the time of Quiz Show‘s initial release, director Robert Redford talked often and openly about his views regarding the topic of his film, the scandal at the dawn of television’s influence on the … Continue reading Top Fifty Films of the 90s — Number Twenty-One
