In this week's Ask Mick LaSalle column, the SF Chronicle reviewer answered a reader who asked if he could "you name any American movie from the last 20 years that might be for the ages?" His answer was, for the most part, intelligent, but not entirely. And the problems started at the top, when Mick … Continue reading Technology, Classic Films, and Mick LaSalle
Category: Great Films
Comic Perfection: My Blu-ray Review of City Lights
A great comedy seamlessly mixes a good story, an intelligent observation on the human condition, and a lot of laughs. Everything works together, and only on the third or fourth viewing do you become aware of how the filmmakers balanced all these ingredients, so that the gags and the emotional reality compliment each other instead … Continue reading Comic Perfection: My Blu-ray Review of City Lights
Book vs. Movie: Jaws
The cliché tells us that the book is always better than the movie. Except when it isn't. I know. I just read Jaws. Most people associate that title with the blockbuster hit that put Steven Spielberg on the map. But before Spielberg got his hands on it, Peter Benchley's novel was a blockbuster in its … Continue reading Book vs. Movie: Jaws
Thoughts on Lawrence of Arabia
The best motion pictures span genres and overcome their limits. They open a window into the mind and soul of fully developed, complex, imperfect human beings. They push the artistic and technical limits of the medium. And they do it all while entertaining an audience. Lawrence of Arabia is one of the greatest motion pictures … Continue reading Thoughts on Lawrence of Arabia
Wait 20 Years, and Then You Can Call a Groundhog Day a Classic
It's Groundhog Day! I repeat: It's Groundhog Day! The movie Groundhog Day first played to paying audiences 20 years ago today. I saw it soon after the release, and fell instantly in love with it. But only now, 20 years later, am I willing to give it my highest rating: A+. I don't give that … Continue reading Wait 20 Years, and Then You Can Call a Groundhog Day a Classic
The Digital Lawrence of Arabia Experience
I spent yesterday afternoon at the Castro, watching one of my all-time favorite films, Lawrence of Arabia. I've seen it many times, and over the last few years, always at the Castro. But this time was different. Sony digitally restored the epic this year, and this new version was played off a DCP instead of … Continue reading The Digital Lawrence of Arabia Experience
Blu-ray Review: Children of Paradise
The one great black and white sound epic, Marcel Carné's and Jacques Prévert's love letter to France and to the theater, draws you in like a miracle. And why not? The movie's very existence is a miracle. How could they shoot a grand story on such a lavish scale during the last months of the … Continue reading Blu-ray Review: Children of Paradise
Sight and Sound’s Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time
As you probably know, the British Film Institute and its magazine, Sight and Sound, recently published its once-a-decade list of the The Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time, based on a survey of 846 critics, programmers, academics and distributors. And for the first time in 50 years, Citizen Kane didn't lead the pack. It's … Continue reading Sight and Sound’s Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time
A Case for Silverado as a Great Western
Before he became the auteur of mediocre drameties like Darling Companion, Lawrence Kasdan wrote or co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. For his third directorial effort, Kasdan created another action entertainment gem--although an unfairly overlooked one: the neo-classic western Silverado. Shot against beautiful New Mexico scenery, … Continue reading A Case for Silverado as a Great Western
Casablanca: The Accidental Masterpiece
I've already told you about watching Casablanca at a big multiplex. Now I can talk about the movie itself. To my mind, Casablanca is Hollywood's accidental masterpiece. The handful of equally beloved films from the studio era--Citizen Kane, Stagecoach, The Wizard of Oz, It's a Wonderful Life--were unique from their inceptions. They were either independent … Continue reading Casablanca: The Accidental Masterpiece
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