Sergei Bondarchuk, 1966, 100 minutes
Natasha's story is told with elegance. Beautiful costumes, colors, and cinematography.
Thursday, March 31, 2022
Seconds
John Frankenheimer, 1966, 107 minutes
Dark techno-thriller, beautifully edited for long dramatic dialogues and frenetic crowd scenes.
Wednesday, March 30, 2022
Jodorowski's Dune
Frank Pavich, 2013, 90 minutes
As well as a negative statement about a colossal missed opportunity, this doc is a radiant and affirmative declaration of Alejandro Jodorowski's artistic philosophy.
Tuesday, March 29, 2022
Runaway Train
Andrei Konchalovsky, 1985, 110 minutes
Nonstop excitement with a Nietzschean hero in Jon Voight.
Saturday, March 26, 2022
When We Were Kings
Leon Gast, 1996, 89 minutes
Norman Mailer elevates this doc on the 1974 Ali-Foreman fight in Zaire.
Friday, March 25, 2022
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Tricked
Paul Verhoeven, 2016, 89 minutes
Proof that crowdsourcing a script can work if there is a master at the helm.
Tuesday, March 22, 2022
Monday, March 21, 2022
Sunday, March 20, 2022
Saturday, March 19, 2022
Windfall
Charlie McDowell, 2022, 92 minutes
Portentious visual style and music in service of a weak script.
Period. End of Sentence
Rayka Zestabchi, 2018, 25 minutes
Stone Age ignorance vanquished by strong women in India.
Friday, March 18, 2022
Gate of Hell
Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1953, 86 minutes
A Japanese period tragedy filmed with elegance and beautiful colors.
Thursday, March 17, 2022
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Murders in the Zoo
A. Edward Sutherland, 1933, 62 minutes
The villain feeds his wife to alligators. Need I say more?
Whatever Works
Woody Allen, 2009, 92 minutes
Allen is rescued from his late-career nihilism by the misanthropic Larry David in a film that is funny and, ultimately, touching.
Monday, March 14, 2022
Over the Edge
Jonathan Kaplan, 1979, 95 minutes
Kids running wild in suburbia. Points for nostalgia and blowing things up in the big finale.
Sunday, March 13, 2022
The Element of Crime
Lars von Trier, 1984, 104 minutes
An example of how an imagination run amok can be just another form of self-indulgence.
Saturday, March 12, 2022
Thursday, March 10, 2022
Showgirls
Paul Verhoeven, 1995, 131 minutes
With a fresh look, it's not clear why this was a legendary disaster. Over-the-top and entertaining.
Tuesday, March 8, 2022
Churchill
Jonathan Teplitzky, 2017, 98 minutes
Stupendous performance from Brian Cox, far outstripping Gary Oldman's from the same year.
Monday, March 7, 2022
The Cheat
George Abbott, 1931, 74 minutes
Tallulah Bankhead as a degenerate gambler who gets into trouble with a creep played by the creepy Irving Pichel. Fast and fun.
Donkey Skin
Jacques Demy, 1970, 90 minutes
Children's fairy tale from the late 1600s transformed into a color spectacle with singing. Irresistible.
Saturday, March 5, 2022
Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts
Mouly Surya, 2017, 93 minutes
Great storytelling and music with a fixed-camera, Ozu-like approach.
Friday, March 4, 2022
Thursday, March 3, 2022
This Day and Age
Cecil B. DeMille, 1933, 86 minutes
What begins as a goofy high school kids vs. gangsters story finishes with 30 minutes of rough justice and thrilling mob scenes.
An American Tragedy
Josef von Sternberg, 1931, 96 minutes
Probably as faithful to an 800-page novel as a 96-minute film can be. Emphasis on Clyde Griffiths' trial comes at the expense of fully developing his social striving motive.
Wednesday, March 2, 2022
The House That Jack Built
Lars von Trier, 2018, 155 minutes
Outrageous, suspenseful, visually inventive.
The Power of the Dog
Jane Campion, 2021, 126 minutes
Beautifully photographed, with an effective sense of foreboding throughout, leading to a satisfying conclusion.
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