Directed by Elia Kazan Elia Kazan's East of Eden has a lot of powerful people behind it.  The film is the first one following Kazan's Best Picture-winning On the Waterfront, and it is based on a novel written three years prior by famed writer John Steinbeck.  The film is Kazan's first in color, and it was filmed … Continue reading East of Eden (1955)

Directed by Guillermo del Toro The Shape of Water is about the relationship between a mute woman and an amphibious creature.  Set during the Cold War of the 1960s, the film is a story about characters who are rejected because they're different and, thus, less than.  Of the main characters, the only straight white man … Continue reading The Shape of Water (2017)

Directed by Terrence Malick Every director has a passion project, and when you're working for forty years, there's a point at which you'll get to make it.  The Tree of Life is Malick's passion project.  It basically takes the more abstract parts of his previous films, the contemplative moments between plot points, and makes that the … Continue reading The Tree of Life (2011)

Directed by Tobe Hooper The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a counterculture film, not too unlike Easy Rider.  It's a horror film adaptation of Hansel & Gretel that created so many of the horror cliches (the final girl, young people on a road trip to a remote location, etc.) that are still around today and were satirized … Continue reading The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Directed by Guillermo Del Toro Pan's Labyrinth is a violent fairytale, like those old stories ostensibly made for children but which you now see as incredibly creepy and haunting.  The fairytale land to which Ofelia runs off for periods of time is less The Chronicles of Narnia and more... I don't know, David Lynchian?  Here are some … Continue reading Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)

Directed by Nanette Burnstein Going the Distance is just a well-made romantic comedy that toes the line between genre conventions and self-awareness.  It doesn't quite dive into all of the rom-com cliches but certainly enough of them so that it can only be looked at through the lens of us knowing all the precise beats and … Continue reading Going the Distance (2010)

Directed by Vincente Minnelli I know nothing about Fred Astaire.  I didn't even know what he looked like until watching this film.  He's kind of scrawny, like a Ned Flanders with thinning blond hair type of guy.  It's not at all what I expected, just look at this side by side with Astaire and Gene … Continue reading The Band Wagon (1953)

Directed by Martin Scorsese Martin Scorsese wanted to make Silence as far back as 1990.  It's his passion project, one that really dives into a lot of the Catholicism that colors many of his other films, all the way back to Mean Streets and more overtly in The Last Temptation of Christ. Scorsese's films are violent, full of … Continue reading Silence (2016)

Directed by Preston Sturges Sullivan's Travels is a screwball comedy with an honest message, spoken by the protagonist at the end of the film: "There's a lot to be said for making people laugh.  Did you know that's all some people have?  It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cock-eyed caravan." The … Continue reading Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

Directed by Vanessa Gould Obit. tells the story of the journalists behind the obituary section of The New York Times.  These pieces are written with more flare and attention than the typical obituary, and through interviews we learn a little about how much the authors of each piece carefully put into these often 800 words or … Continue reading Obit. (2016)