My Favorite Movies
My Favorite Movies 75: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra, 1939)
Frank Capra, for all his talents, is a problematic director. He has directed some of my all-time favorite films, and yet he has also some of my all-time most hated films–and often the differences between the two are shockingly minimal. Today’s film pushes his sentimental sermonizing about as far as it can go, and yet,…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 74: Steamboat Bill, Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1928)
There is a reason that Buster Keaton’s films have aged better than any of his contemporaries. I’m not saying that there is anything remotely at fault with the work of Chaplin or Lloyd–it is just that there is something uniquely modern about Keaton’s body of work. Maybe it’s the way he took such care to…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 73 – Fool’s Gold (Andy Tennant, 2008)
Today’s post started while I was sitting around recently, just letting my mind wander. My thoughts were flitting around like a barracuda in a mangrove forest until, like a Ceti Eel, the words “I’d like to watch Fool’s Gold again” wiggled their way into my head. Perhaps it was only a desire to remove the nasty…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 72 – Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
Before I get on to the business of explaining why Casablanca is one of my favorite movies, I do need to admit that I really don’t like the ending, or, for that matter, the major theme of the film: that sometimes sticking one’s neck out for others is the best thing a person can do.…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 71 – Conan the Barbarian (John Milius, 1982)
Sometimes it’s easy to justify enjoyment of certain kinds of films by simply calling them “dumb fun.” However, films like Conan the Barbarian seem to push the limits of dumb fun almost into the realm of, if not “high art,” at least respectability. I think the best summation of where Conan the Barbarian stands on this…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 70 – Man’s Favorite Sport (Howard Hawks, 1964)
Howard Hawks is known as one of the all time great Hollywood directors. And while his films from the 30s and 40s seem to get most of the attention, the man was still cranking out superlative work well into the twilight of his career. Today’s film is an excellent example of one of his brilliant late-period masterpieces.…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 69 – In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Ôshima, 1976)
It’s hard to watch the 50 Shades of Grey movie without thinking “wait, that’s it?” Aside from one scene where Mr. Grey actually tries to sort of hurt his partner, about all the movie’s constant talk of TEARING DOWN THE WALLS OF DECENCY AND OPENING THE DOORS OF OBSCENITY AND DEGRADATION boiled down to was [spoiler…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 68: The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)
The Big Sleep is archetypal noir. And, I don’t just mean that today’s film was the blueprint for all films noir to follow, I mean, the images contained within resonate so strongly that it must have been as though they were always a part of us even when the film was just released. The Big…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 67: Magic Mike (Steven Soderbergh, 2012)
While I love romantic comedies more than your average guy (or girl for that matter), I’ll be the first to admit that they are not usually cinematic masterworks–or even cinematic averageworks. In fact, most of the cliched stories of meet-cutes and 3rd act introducing misunderstandings are so artistically weak that I actually prefer the romantic…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 66: Die Hard (John McTiernan, 1988)
Last month I talked about one of the first two movies I owned on VHS as a child. I figured it was only fitting to talk about the other movie today, the action movie to end all action movies, DIE HARD. Many consider action movies merely a guilty pleasure, a cinematic genre that must be…
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