Directed by Tim Burton Big Eyes is Ed Wood-lite, another dramatization of a true story about an artist with varying degrees of success. In the former Tim Burton movie, Ed Wood was a director of unmistakably bad movies, though undeterred by each subsequent success. He remained an optimist through and through. In Big Eyes the … Continue reading Big Eyes (2014)
1950s
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Directed by Don Siegel In the first scene of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, we look inquisitively at a panic-stricken doctor, Miles (Kevin McCarthy), who claims that there have been a series of strange events. He is surrounded by those who doubt whatever story it is he’s about to tell, even as they are quite … Continue reading Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Stalag 17 (1953)
Directed by Billy Wilder [EDIT: This is a long, rambling review as I try to figure out what Stalag 17 is really about. By the end I decide it's about the postwar conditions of the 1950s, specifically the red scare. It takes me a while to get there, and I still might be completely missing the … Continue reading Stalag 17 (1953)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Directed by John Frankenheimer Birdman of Alcatraz is a little too long. That's my first thought. I can only listen to the soothing musings of Burt Lancaster for so long, and with this movie I started to tune him out at around the 100 minute mark. Lancaster plays Robert Stroud, a murderer quick to anger. … Continue reading Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
