In late January, I revisited Raiders of the Lost Ark, and discovered that it didn't really belong in my A+ List of all-time greats. Thursday night, I revisited that series' second sequel, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It has been my favorite in the series since I saw it in first run. With a … Continue reading A+ List: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Category: A+ List
Taking Raiders of the Lost Ark off my A+ List
Tuesday night, I revisited Raiders of the Lost Ark, with the intention of writing it up for my A+ list of all-time favorite classic films. But as I watched it again for the umpteenth time, I couldn't help feeling that I didn't quite like it as much as I used to. Which isn't to say that … Continue reading Taking Raiders of the Lost Ark off my A+ List
A+ List: Do the Right Thing
For a 27-year-old film, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing feels very much like the here and now. The only obvious difference is that when cops kill an unarmed black man, no one records it on their cellphone. By focusing on a few blocks of Brooklyn's Bed Stuy neighborhood over the course of one very … Continue reading A+ List: Do the Right Thing
A+ List: Singin’ in the Rain
You will not learn anything by watching Singin' in the Rain. It will not make you a better person or help you understand the human condition. But for 103 exhilarating minutes, this movie will entertain you like no other. Singin' in the Rain contains several of the best dance routines in film history. And when … Continue reading A+ List: Singin’ in the Rain
A+ List: North by Northwest
A glib advertising man with two ex-wives and a drinking problem becomes the victim of mistaken identity. Foreign spies want to kill him, and the police want to arrest him for the murder of a man killed by the spies. Clever witticisms won't help him this time. Alfred Hitchcock made thrillers more frightening and thoughtful … Continue reading A+ List: North by Northwest
A+ List: The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
Has there ever been an ingénue with a more perfectly comical name than Trudy Kockenlocker? Or a code-era Hollywood movie that so deftly outwitted the censors of its time? There are funnier movies than The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, but not many, and none this funny that flew in the face of traditional morality with … Continue reading A+ List: The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
A+ List: The world ends with a bang, a whimper, and a lot of laughs in Criterion’s Blu-ray of Dr. Strangelove
Stanley Kubrick's only out-and-out comedy, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, manages to terrify the audience, hold them in suspense, and trick them into rooting for people about to cause Armageddon, all the while generating side-splitting laughter. As the darkest of dark comedies, Dr. Strangelove earns its place … Continue reading A+ List: The world ends with a bang, a whimper, and a lot of laughs in Criterion’s Blu-ray of Dr. Strangelove
A+ List: The Last Waltz
Talk about the musical stars aligning perfectly. The Band decides to break up. Bill Graham produces their farewell concert--a Thanksgiving extravaganza filled with some of the greatest names in rock and roll. Then Martin Scorsese, fresh from Taxi Driver, brings together some of Hollywood's brightest to record the event. The Last Waltz captures one of … Continue reading A+ List: The Last Waltz
A+ List: The Last Picture Show
Making the transition from teenager to adult is hard enough anywhere. But when college isn't an option and your home town is turning into a ghost town, your life just might feel like a dead end. Peter Bogdanovich's masterpiece, The Last Picture Show, just may be the bleakest coming-of-age movie ever made. The two young … Continue reading A+ List: The Last Picture Show
A+ list: McCabe and Mrs. Miller
I visited the Castro Sunday afternoon to see my all-time favorite Robert Altman film, McCabe and Mrs. Miller. (It was on a double bill with the Woody Guthrie biopic, Bound for Glory, which I saw long ago and didn't care for. I skipped it this time.) For its daring rethinking of the western genre, it's … Continue reading A+ list: McCabe and Mrs. Miller
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