Little Fugitive

Morris Engel, Ruth Orkin and Ray Ashley, 1953, 80 minutes

Classic odyssey home, with verité scenes of Coney Island and an appealing juvenile lead.

Weddings and Babies

Morris Engel, 1958, 81 minutes

Beautifully photographed in documentary style, a wistful tale of New York.

Lovers and Lollipops

Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin, 1955, 82 minutes

Sweetness, charm and realism combine with guerrilla-type shooting in 1950s New York City to make an unusual and affecting film.

Downfall: The Case Against Boeing

Rory Kennedy, 2022, 89 minutes

Another case of corporate negligent homicide in a system that puts profits above people.

I'll Do Anything

James L. Brooks, 1994, 115 minutes

Winning performances from Nick Nolte and Whittni Wright in a gentle comedy the likes of which are not seen much today.

Andrei Tarkovsky: A Cinema Prayer

Andrei A. Tarkovsky, 102 minutes, 2019

A fascinating if somewhat repetitive examination of the Russian filmmaker and his emphasis on spirituality as the source of art.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Jacques Demy, 1964, 91 minutes

Known best, I suppose, for its colors and music, I find it a bracing affirmation of mature, non-frivolous love.

Babo 73

Robert Downey Sr., 1964, 57 minutes

Guerrilla absurdist fare, unfunny now, probably then too.

Animal House

John Landis, 1978, 109 minutes

Looking at this again, a movie that was so important during my high school years, I find the funniest characters now are the authority figures, particularly John Vernon as Dean Wormer and Mark Metcalf as Niedermeyer.

The Seventh Seal

Ingmar Bergman, 1957, 96 minutes

The masks we wear, the roles we play, the truths we seek, the end we face. 

Extract

Mike Judge, 2009, 92 minutes

Consistently funny, if not in a laugh-out-loud way.

Crime Wave

Andre DeToth, 1954, 74 minutes

Tight, brutal noir with lots of shadows, location shots, and a tough Sterling Hayden.

The Brood

David Cronenberg, 1979, 92 minutes

Near-normal devolves into super-creepy with effective pacing and reveals.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Stanley Kramer, 1963, 161 minutes

Excellent for every scene with Jonathan Winters; awful for every scene with Ethel Merman; a mixed bag in the other scenes.

Natural Born Killers

Oliver Stone, 1994, 122 minutes

It seems that every generation needs its media satire. Ace in the Hole (1951), Network (1976), this movie, then maybe Idiocracy (2006)? For pure creative content and kinetic filmmaking, Stone's is unmatched.

F for Fake

Orson Welles, 1973, 88 minutes

Entertaining film essay about art forgers and the nature of truth. Welles narrates with panache.

Written on the Wind

Douglas Sirk, 1956, 99 minutes

Soap with Robert Stack and Dorothy Malone providing the hambone fun.

Hive

Blerta Basholli, 2021, 84 minutes

A powerful story about a woman who, amid terrible personal trauma, fights to survive against Stone Age stupidity.

The Fugitive Kind

Sidney Lumet, 1960, 119 minutes

Anna Magnani and Joanne Woodward are magnificent in this adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play.

All That Heaven Allows

Douglas Sirk, 1955, 89 minutes

Praiseworthy for its use of colors and its treatment of a subject (romantic love) that is almost always presented childishly in the movies.

Four Weddings and a Funeral

Mike Newell, 1994, 117 minutes

Except for about 10 minutes, this is a concentrated example of everything that has been wrong with cinema's treatment of "love" since the silent picture days.

I Am Curious (Yellow)

Vilgot Sjöman, 1967, 122 minutes

A compelling and frank double tale (movie-within-movie) of social and sexual upheaval.

Bad Day at Black Rock

John Sturges, 1955, 81 minutes

A spiky André Previn score drives this brisk and beautifully shot tale of a town's dark secret. Spencer Tracy is at his best here.

2 or 3 Things I Know About Her

Jean-Luc Godard, 1967, 87 minutes

I've never connected with Godard's movies, and this one is no exception. Obscurantism is no substitute for wisdom, and non sequiturs do not a script make. 

The Foreigner

Martin Campbell, 2017, 114 minutes

Jackie Chan plays against type in a somewhat preposterous but entertaining IRA actioner.

Escape from New York

John Carpenter, 1981, 99 minutes

Kurt Russell does his best (i.e. worst) Clint Eastwood in this excellent dystopian actioner. With a cast that includes Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Van Cleef, and Donald Pleasance, how could it miss?

Overnight

Tony Montana and Mark Brian Smith, 2003, 82 minutes

A Hollywood documentary parable about what happens when a someone with a measure of talent (Boondock Saints writer/director Troy Duffy) gets demolished because of arrogance and ignorance.

The Boondock Saints

Troy Duffy, 1999, 108 minutes

Critics apparently fainted from a case of the vapors when this came out, but I found it fun in a comic book way. Willem Defoe is superb as the gay FBI agent.

Ali: Fear Eats the Soul

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1974, 93 minutes

The use of frozen tableaux distinguishes this visually, but it also offers insights into German society and human behavior that stand up a half-century later.

Macbeth

Gregory Doran, 2001, 132 minutes

In this filmed version of a Royal Shakespeare Company production, the two leads often play as if hopped up on speed. Some of the over-the-top scenes (the porter) are merely annoying; others (Macbeth seeing the dagger again in the final fight) are too cute by half.

11'09"01 September 11

Claude Lelouche et al., 2002, 135 minutes

Eleven short films that provide a useful international corrective to tunnel-visioned treatments of that day.

De Gaulle

Gabriel Le Bomin, 2020, 108 minutes

Plugs a gap in World War II dramas by effectively pairing De Gaulle's struggles against the French government with his family's struggles to escape occupied France. De Gaulle here seems more human and less defined by colossal hauteur.

Eyes Wide Shut

Stanley Kubrick, 1999, 159 minutes

Much better than I remember from seeing it twice on release, despite Tom Cruise's tic-laden performance. Kidman, the music, and the set design stand out; the script has taken on added depth with this repeat watching.