Directed by Billy Wilder Sunset Boulevard satirizes Hollywood, much as other movies about movies do.  It's a story about the filmmaking process, about the sets and the crew and the actors and producers who make movies.  It strips the magic out of the process, showing why movies get made, for reasons that are less majestic … Continue reading Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Directed by Oliver Stone Born on the Fourth of July is a true anti-war film.  The story is based on a book written by Ron Kovic, the character played by Tom Cruise.  As detailed in the film, Kovic was eighteen years old and extremely gung ho about fighting for his country in the Vietnam War … Continue reading Born on the Fourth of July (1989)

Directed by Mike Mills Thumbsucker is Mike Mills' feature film debut.  Like his subsequent films (Beginners and 20th Century Women), the story deals with the relationship between son and parent.  Thumbsucker sets up the dynamic that is further explored in those later films.  The common theme seems to be that the son is distant from the … Continue reading Thumbsucker (2005)

Directed by Kenneth Branagh Kenneth Branagh directs and stars in this remake of a 1974 film by the same name.  Like Sidney Lumet's original, Murder on the Orient Express is big and broad, its characters almost silly in how big they are, and the film mines some of that for comedy... at least at first. It's … Continue reading Murder on the Orient Express (2017)

Directed by Akira Kurosawa "Laugh at us, we're young and stupid... it's our fate," says our protagonist, Sanshiro Sugata before a climactic yet completely unnecessary fight to the death, thus completing his spiritual character journey.  In the beginning of Sanshiro Sugata, the titular character is a stubborn, reckless and ambitious judo fighter.  He takes care of … Continue reading Sanshiro Sugata (1943)

Directed by Kogonada Columbus is a poem of a movie, not unlike Jim Jarmusch's Paterson (2016).  Both films follow meditative characters in a small, cozy town as they simply sit and observe the art of everyday life.  In Columbus we'll here lines of dialogue such as "...not a crisis of attention but of interest... are we losing interest … Continue reading Columbus (2017)

Directed by Martin Scorsese When people refer to the greatness of Martin Scorsese, they most often refer to Taxi Driver.  It's a highly-influential film (think of 2011's Drive or 2014's Nightcrawler, for example) and one of many collaborations between Scorsese and De Niro as well as between Scorsese and New York City.  Scorsese's After Hours (1985) and Bringing Out the … Continue reading Taxi Driver (1976)

Directed by Todd Solondz The ends of the two stories that make up Storytelling as well as that of Solondz' most recent film, Wiener-Dog, have a running theme of art taking from life.  In all three cases, someone suffers to produce art that is passable at best, and the joke at the center of the films involves … Continue reading Storytelling (2001)

Directed by Werner Herzog Grizzly Man tells the story of Timothy Treadwell, a self-assigned protector of the bears in the Alaskan wilderness.  In 2003 he and his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard were killed by a brown bear. Using Treadwell's own home video footage, Werner Herzog studies the man's life and his passion for wildlife preservation as … Continue reading Grizzly Man (2005)

Directed by Mike Mills Mike Mills' previous film (2010's Beginners) is one of my all time favorites, and I think 20th Century Women might be even better.  Like his last film this one is deeply personal and deeply lathered in a sense of time and space.  Using some unconventional storytelling techniques, multiple breaks of the fourth wall, … Continue reading 20th Century Women (2016)