I feel a little uncomfortable praising a Civil War comedy that asks us to root for the Confederates. After all, the South's rebellion was an act of treason committed in defense of slavery. After all, I've been very critical of Gone with the Wind and The Birth of a Nation. And yet, here I am, discussing the genius … Continue reading The A+ List: The General
Category: Great Films
The A+ List: The Third Man and its new restoration
I missed the new restoration of the greatest film noir of them all, The Third Man, when it played in my local theaters. But last week I visited family in New York City, and I caught it at the Film Forum. What a great film! It easily belongs on my A+ list of films that … Continue reading The A+ List: The Third Man and its new restoration
The A+ List: Five Easy Pieces
Bob Dupea (Jack Nicholson) doesn't play well with others. A blue-collar worker on an oil rig near Los Angeles (such things existed then), he's moody and difficult. He treats Rayette, his live-in waitress girlfriend (Karen Black) horribly. He has one good friend, but he lashes out at him, as well. As we discover reasonably early … Continue reading The A+ List: Five Easy Pieces
Yet another great American film list–and like the others, mostly about white people
We've got yet another all-time greatest films list. So what's different about this one? It's a list of American films, but it's not an American list. It comes from the BBC, and was created through a survey of film critics from around the world (and yes, Yankee critics were allowed to submit their opinions). Of … Continue reading Yet another great American film list–and like the others, mostly about white people
The A+ List: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance at the Pacific Film Archive
Sunday night, I attended a screening at the Pacific Film Archive of one of my favorite western's, John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--another film on my A+ list [URL changed 12/14/2015] of movies that I've loved dearly for decades. The PFA screened it as part of the series Cinema According to Víctor Erice. In … Continue reading The A+ List: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance at the Pacific Film Archive
The A+ List: 8½
Federico Fellini's surreal, autobiographical, self-referential comedy (of a sort) captures the dread of writer's block, the pressures on a filmmaker, and the male mid-life crisis better than any other film I've seen (Barton Fink may equal it in terms of writer's block). Fellini takes us deep into the worries, dreams, and memories of a successful … Continue reading The A+ List: 8½
The A+ List: The Last Laugh
If the clothes make the man, what happens to the man when his clothes are taken away? Does he loses his self-esteem? Or the love and respect of his friends and family? That's what happens in the 1924 German masterpiece, The Last Laugh, written by Carl Mayer and directed by F.W. Murnau. An aging hotel … Continue reading The A+ List: The Last Laugh
The A+ List: Citizen Kane
And now we return to my list of all-time favorite films--those that I've awarded the rare A+ grade. For a film to earn that grade, it must be the perfect embodiment of its genre or, better yet, stand beyond genre. It must be at least 20 years old (so I know that it’s stood the test … Continue reading The A+ List: Citizen Kane
The A+ List and The Adventures of Robin Hood
I'm embarking on a journey through my all-time favorite films--the ones that I've awarded an A+. For a film to earn that grade, it must be the perfect embodiment of its genre or, better yet, stand beyond genre. It must be at least 20 years old (so I know that it's stood the test of … Continue reading The A+ List and The Adventures of Robin Hood
Hoop Dreams (my Blu-ray review)
I'd be hard put to name another documentary that feels so much like a narrative feature. Not that Steve James' Hoop Dreams looks like a fiction film; it most certainly does not. The hand-held cameras, extreme lenses, and low video resolution makes it look like the cinéma vérité documentary that it is. But James and … Continue reading Hoop Dreams (my Blu-ray review)
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