New Reviews
12 Angry Men
--Everyone has been faced at one time or another with being on the losing side of an argument. When everyone else disagrees with you, it is difficult to voice your opinions and your supporting evidence. Sidney Lumet shows us, in one of the greatest films ever made, how one man convinces eleven others how the "convincing" guilt of a man charged with murder is not convincing at all.
Rating: 9.75/10.00 or ****
Ben-Hur
--One of America's most beloved and most rewarded films comes across, to me, as a Bible lesson. To be sure, this is somewhat intentional. After all, the subtitle is: "A Tale of the Christ". Strange, since Christ is little seen (and his face is intentionally prevented from being seen). Also strange, since Ben-Hur, the title character of the film, is front-and-center throughout the film. He sees Christ first giving him a drink when he is parched as he is forced into slavery. Ben-Hur sees him again as he is marched off to his death. And what do you suppose Ben-Hur does? He offers Christ water. I said it was a Bible lesson.
Rating: 5.00/10.00 or **
Rashomon
--Kurosawa's great works may be most recognized by Rashomon, a film that defied the use of flashbacks by making them untrustworthy. Flashbacks, often used before and since as omnipotent memories of events as they actually unfolded, are told here as memories of events as humans have told them. The truth is not what we see at all, nor what we hear. Instead we hear a version of a story, which is contradicted by someone else. The flashback is no longer truth; instead, it is a visionary creation.
Rating: 8.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
Miller's Crossing
--The camera looks up at the canopy. The sky seems unreachable with trees so tall. And so many. There are many inescapable settings in Miller's Crossing. There are large rooms full of old-fashioned decor. There are apartments that look like large, empty studios. The streets are lined with bars, auditoriums, and businesses. No houses, though. And Miller's Crossing, in the wooded lands out of town, have those tall trees. Once you go into the woods, it is almost impossible to escape.
Rating: 8.50/10.00 or *** 1/2
The Birds
--There are films that gain a sort of fan momentum. Hitchcock's own Vertigo, for example, was a bomb at the box office and was critically a toss-up at the time of its initial release. Now, it is widely acclaimed as one of the best films ever made. Many films gain this momentum in generally one of two categories: the "independent" cult-like fanatics (for example, Donnie Darko) or the critical "think-twice" (for example, Star Wars). However, there is a third category, and this is the one The Birds falls under. And that is director recognition.
Rating: 5.25/10.00 or **
No Country for Old Men -- The Great Movies
Double Indemnity
--
Know why you couldn't figure this one, Keyes? I'll tell ya. 'Cause the guy you were looking for was too close. Right across the desk from ya.These are Neff's words to Keyes. Neff has just admitted to the murder of an innocent man. "For money. And for a woman." He didn't get the money. And he didn't get the woman. Neff lost everything, including the thing he probably cared about most.
Rating: 9.25/10.00 or ****
The Great Movies
No Country for Old Men
--Every action has a reaction. If I could sum up the Coen brothers' films in one sentence, this would be the one I would choose. The Coens love to look at how one action creates a whole chain of events that seem both inevitable and avoidable, if only that one action could be taken back. In Blood Simple, their first and one of their best films, a wife has an affair with another man and has a jealous husband, leading to three deaths. In Miller's Crossing, a mob boss's love for a woman results in a high body count because he refuses to give up her brother to a competing gangster's vendetta. In Fargo, a horribly planned kidnapping for ransom ends up with lives ruined or eliminated. But this film is a little different. We indeed see how a man who picks up drug money after a massacre is chased by others who claim it. But we also see how everyone reacts to something unfathomable. No Country for Old Men is a movie about how our world has become both oblivious and resigned to the true evil that roams the land.
Paths of Glory
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.There is no anti-war film like this one. Paths of Glory leaves you angry and bitter. This is a story about a war of inches, a military caste system in which the soldiers are on the bottom of the totem pole, and a debacle solved with a travesty. This is one of Stanley Kubrick's finest films, primarily because he is driven by anger and a desire to let the audience know just what war is and can be if those who drive it are behind a desk.
Upcoming Reviews
Pulp Fiction
Projected Review Date: 3/19
The Kid
Projected Review Date: 3/23
Leaving Las Vegas
Projected Review Date: 3/24
Maria Full of Grace
Projected Review Date: 3/26
Upcoming Films
The Bridge on the River Kwai
The Quiet Man
Vertigo
Goodbye Again
Rio Grande
Bully
Requests
Dial "M" for Murder
An Affair to Remember
JFK
Bottle Rocket
Lost in Translation
Movie Reviews
12 Angry Men
Rating: 9.75/10.00 or ****
21 Grams
Rating: 7.25/10.00 or ***
25th Hour
Rating: 4.50/10.00 or **
About a Boy
Rating: 5.50/10.00 or ** 1/2
About Schmidt
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
Adaptation
Rating: 6.50/10.00 or ***
After Hours
Rating: 9.25/10.00 or ****
Amelie
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
American Graffiti
Rating: 9.00/10.00 or ****
Annie Hall
Rating: 8.00/10.00 or *** 1/2
The Apartment
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Apocalypse Now
Rating: 8.50/10.00 or *** 1/2
Audition
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
The Aviator
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
Barton Fink
Rating: 8.25/10.00 or *** 1/2
Batman Begins
Rating: 6.75/10.00 or ***
Ben-Hur
Rating: 5.00/10.00 or **
The Big Kahuna
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
The Birds
Rating: 5.25/10.00 or **
Blood Diamond
Rating: 6.00/10.00 or ** 1/2
Blood Simple
Rating: 8.50/10.00 or *** 1/2
Boogie Nights
Rating: 6.50/10.00 or ***
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Rating: 6.25/10.00 or ** 1/2
Bringing Up Baby
Rating: 7.25/10.00 or ***
Brokeback Mountain
Rating: 9.00/10.00 or ****
Broken Flowers
Rating: 8.25/10.00 or *** 1/2
Carlito's Way
Rating: 5.00/10.00 or **
Casablanca
Rating: 8.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Rating: 7.25/10.00 or ***
Citizen Kane
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Rating: 8.25/10.00 or *** 1/2
The Color of Money
Rating: 6.50/10.00 or ***
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Rating: 6.75/10.00 or ***
The Conformist -- Review by Daniel Linehan
Rating: 9.75/10.00 or ****
The Core
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Rating: 8.50/10.00 or *** 1/2
Death to Smoochy
Rating: 5.00/10.00 or **
Delicatessen
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
The Departed
Rating: 9.25/10.00 or ****
Double Indemnity
Rating: 9.25/10.00 or ****
Duck Soup
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Election
Rating: 8.25/10.00 or *** 1/2
Empire of the Sun
Rating: 5.25/10.00 or **
The English Patient
Rating: 7.25/10.00 or ***
Far from Heaven
Rating: 9.00/10.00 or ****
A Fish Called Wanda
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
The French Connection
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
From Here to Eternity
Rating: 6.00/10.00 or ** 1/2
Gangs of New York
Rating: 7.25/10.00 or ***
Ghostbusters
Rating: 3.50/10.00 or * 1/2
Glengarry Glen Ross
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
The Green Mile
Rating: 5.75/10.00 or ** 1/2
Hannah and Her Sisters
Rating: 9.00/10.00 or ****
The Hours
Rating: 6.75/10.00 or ***
Igby Goes Down
Rating: 7.50/10.00 or ***
Interview with the Vampire
Rating: 2.00/10.00 or *
It Came from Outer Space
Rating: 6.50/10.00 or ***
Jackie Brown
Rating: 7.50/10.00 or ***
Key Largo
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
The Killing
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Rating: 9.50/10.00 or ****
The King and I
Rating: 5.25/10.00 or **
Kings and Queen
Rating: 7.25/10.00 or ***
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
Rating: 9.00/10.00 or ****
The Magnificent Ambersons -- Review by Rachel Greene
Rating: 5.00/10.00 or **
Magnolia
Rating: 7.50/10.00 or ***
The Man Who Knew Too Much
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Memories of Murder -- Review by Daniel Linehan
Rating: 8.50/10.00 or *** 1/2
Miller's Crossing
Rating: 8.50/10.00 or *** 1/2
New York, New York
Rating: 6.75/10.00 or ***
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Rating: 8.25/10.00 or *** 1/2
Office Space
Rating: 6.00/10.00 or ** 1/2
Once Upon a Time in America
Rating: 9.25/10.00 or ****
Once Upon a Time in the West
Rating: 8.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
Out of Sight
Rating: 8.00/10.00 or *** 1/2
The Pianist
Rating: 6.50/10.00 or ***
Platoon -- Review by Phil Mathers, Emily Hutchins, and Darin Sorensen
Rating: 7.50/10.00 or *** (Chad's Rating)
Psycho (1960)
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
The Quiet American
Rating: 7.25/10.00 or ***
Raising Arizona
Rating: 7.25/10.00 or ***
Rashomon
Rating: 8.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
Rear Window
Rating: 7.50/10.00 or ***
The Remains of the Day
Rating: 8.25/10.00 or *** 1/2
Reservoir Dogs
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Roman Holiday
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Romancing the Stone
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Ronin
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Rushmore
Rating: 7.50/10.00 or ***
Saraband
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
Scarface (1983)
Rating: 6.25/10.00 or ** 1/2
Scotland, PA
Rating: 5.00/10.00 or **
Seven
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Seven Samurai
Rating: 7.25/10.00 or ***
Shattered Glass
Rating: 8.25/10.00 or *** 1/2
The Simpsons Movie
Rating: 6.75/10.00 or ***
Singin' in the Rain
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
Sleepers
Rating: 6.75/10.00 or ***
Sleepless in Seattle
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Snatch
Rating: 8.50/10.00 or *** 1/2
Solaris (2002)
Rating: 6.75/10.00 or ***
Some Like It Hot
Rating: 8.00/10.00 or *** 1/2
Spartacus
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
Spellbound
Rating: 6.00/10.00 or ** 1/2
Spirited Away
Rating: 8.25/10.00 or *** 1/2
Splendor in the Grass
Rating: 4.75/10.00 or **
Talk to Her
Rating: 6.25/10.00 or ** 1/2
There Will Be Blood
Rating: 6.00/10.00 or ** 1/2
To Have and Have Not
Rating: 6.50/10.00 or ***
To Kill a Mockingbird
Rating: 8.00/10.00 or *** 1/2
Unforgiven
Rating: 7.25/10.00 or ***
The Unsaid
Rating: 5.75/10.00 or ** 1/2
War and Peace
Rating: 6.50/10.00 or ***
War of the Worlds
Rating: 5.50/10.00 or ** 1/2
The Way We Were
Rating: 6.50/10.00 or ***
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Rating: 7.75/10.00 or *** 1/2
Zodiac
Rating: 7.00/10.00 or ***
The Great Movies
After Hours
The Age of Innocence
American Beauty
Casablanca
City Lights
The Deer Hunter
Lawrence of Arabia
No Country for Old Men
Notorious
Once Upon a Time in America
Paths of Glory
Sweet Smell of Success
