Directed by Stanley Kubrick The Killing is Stanley Kubrick's third film and, as Roger Ebert already noted that "few directors seemed so determined to make every one of his films an individual, free-standing work. Seeing it without his credit, would you guess it was by Kubrick? Would you connect 'Dr. Strangelove' with 'Barry Lyndon?' The story … Continue reading The Killing (1956)

Directed by Tamara Jenkins The Savages is a great but hard to watch film.  It's bleak but funny and eventually a little heart-warming, granted that positivity didn't quite feel in character with the rest of the film.  The story is about how messy death can be.  This is about death as a real concern, mainly … Continue reading The Savages (2007)

Directed by Rob Reiner LBJ fluctuates between painfully cliche and occasionally informative, at least for someone like me who knows very little about important stuff.  Rob Reiner's biopic of the guy who succeeded Kennedy focuses on his efforts to pass the Civil Rights Act, something Kennedy had championed before his assassination.  The film paints a portrait … Continue reading LBJ (2017)

Directed by Joseph H. Lewis Gun Crazy is an old B movie that feels like a 60's French movie.  It would go on to inspire many of the French New Wave filmmakers who would in turn influence many American directors of the 1970s.  The 'American New Wave' movement is considered to have started in the … Continue reading Gun Crazy (1950)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock Much like Strangers on a Train, Dial M for Murder is about the plausibility of carrying out the 'perfect murder.'  It's a film that takes place almost entirely in a single apartment, with a first act that announces the plan for murder, followed by the attempted murder itself, before we finally watch the … Continue reading Dial M for Murder (1954)

Directed by Vincente Minnelli The Bad and the Beautiful is told in the same fashion as Citizen Kane.  It's the story of a legendary figure, in this case Hollywood producer Jonathan Shields (Kirk Douglas), as told through three flashbacks, each from the perspective of a different character.  We only ever meet Shields through these subjective accounts, … Continue reading The Bad and the Beautiful (1953)

Directed by Taika Waititi In a recent podcast interview, director Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) referred to this movie in comparison to Martin Scorsese's After Hours.  In that 1985 film, all Griffin Dunne wants to do is get home, yet the world around him conspires against this goal.  It's a … Continue reading Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Directed by Vincente Minnelli An American in Paris was constructed around a George Gershwin composition of the same name.  Producer Arthur Freed hired Gene Kelly to star in and choreograph the dance numbers, and he "thought the title alone, and the postwar sentiment it evoked, would strike box office gold. He was right. Audiences flocked to … Continue reading An American in Paris (1951)

Directed by Jonathan Demme It's hard to believe that the guy who directed Philadelphia also directed Rachel Getting Married.  They are two very different films, both in content and form.  In Philadelphia, every shot feels controlled, and in this case every shot feels incredibly loose, almost improvised.  This is a story about chaos, reveling in family turmoil but also … Continue reading Rachel Getting Married (2008)

Directed by Jonathan Demme Philadelphia was an important film.  It's one of those stories with a goal beyond just this story it's telling.  Though it's presented as a story about a single man wrongfully terminated because he has AIDS, the film is really about the way we view homosexuality and AIDS at least in 1993, … Continue reading Philadelphia (1993)