Directed by Terrence Malick After seeing Kelly Reichardt's Meek's Cutoff (2010) I suddenly wished to see what her version of Into the Wild might've looked like. It's her stark, unromantic approach to her characters and worldview that I wanted to see layered onto other movies that I felt perhaps watered down or otherwise distorted the essence of … Continue reading A Hidden Life (2019)
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Operation Finale (2018)
Directed by Chris Weitz Operation Finale announces itself as an important movie. How does a movie do that? Well I'm note sure, but this one does. There is a long Mission Impossible-ish opening credit sequence, a pretty great cast of actors, loads of music cues, the Nazis, a fall release and all the things you typically … Continue reading Operation Finale (2018)
The Train (1964)
Directed by John Frankenheimer There's a lot of deep focus in The Train and, from what I recall, other John Frankenheimer films like The Manchurian Candidate and Seven Days in May. Let's start there... These are all political films, much more about conflicts between ideologies than between individuals. We see them in deep focus, carefully staged, so that … Continue reading The Train (1964)
The Great Dictator (1940)
Directed by Charlie Chaplin Film critic Stanley Kauffmann said of Charlie Chaplin that The Great Dictator made him the David to Hitler's Goliath. Chaplin's first talkie film, with the last (possible) incarnation of The Tramp, started off as a parody of Hitler and became an act of defiance somewhere along the way. The film was put … Continue reading The Great Dictator (1940)
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)
The Producers (1967)
Directed by Mel Brooks It helps to know the climate into which The Producers was born and released. It's a lowbrow comedy with a series of jokes both vulgar and cheap, and the utter disbelief audiences may have had could be lost on modern audiences because of the insane amount of lowbrow comedies released since. This … Continue reading The Producers (1967)
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