Just before the last credit crawls on the screen at the end of REDS, the voice of one of the “witnesses” says “…grand things are ahead, worth living and worth dying for…”. The witness is referring to John “Jack” Reed, the main character of the film but one wonders if this could also refer to …
REDS (1981) A look back at Warren Beatty’s tour de force Read More »
In 92 years of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s tradition of awarding filmmakers, only 5 times has a woman been nominated for Best Director. Their names are Kathryn Bigelow(The Hurt Locker/won), Lina Wertmuller(Seven Beauties), Jane Campion(The Piano), Sofia Coppola(Lost in Translation), and Greta Gerwig(Ladybird). When the 2020 Academy Award Nominations came out …
Chris Marker’s “La Jette” is a master class in telling a story through images. I believe that the film is stronger as a story told through photos than an actual motion picture. The images I have chosen to analyze come from the first half and the middle of the film. I chose them because I …
“Fire Will Come” by director Oliver Laxe is an excellent character study that blends the struggle of a man seeking redemption and the destruction of nature into a gripping story. These two narratives run parallel for most of the film but when they collide in the final act it leaves devastating consequences for the main …
[SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers] Quentin Tarantino’s latest film “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” is at the same time a love letter to Hollywood, Los Angeles, Film and TV of the 1960’s, and a very misguided twist on the-still shocking 50 years later-Sharon Tate murders in August 1969. Although I’m not a huge …
“Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” is a classic comedy. Make no mistake about it. The story of a teenager ditching school & going on an adventure in the city of Chicago, packing more fun into a single day than most kids would need a summer vacation for is timeless. Writer/Director John Hughes was a true master …
John Hughes, Cameron, and the “Heart” of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off Read More »
The answer is yes, they can. The General(1926) and Bicycle Thieves(1948), made more than 20 years apart from each other, are 2 very different films but they surprisingly share a few similarities. The similarities exist in the narrative structure and the use of cameras, lighting, and space. The General is a silent comedy directed by …
There’s an important scene in the middle of Danny Boyle’s new film “Yesterday.” It comes when pop star Ed Sheeran challenges the film’s star Jack Malik, who is the rising star singing and writing huge hits that seem to come from nowhere, to a songwriting contest. After Sheeran performs his song, Jack sits down at …
Early on in Martin Scorsese’s new Netflix documentary “Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story” we are told that the term “Rolling Thunder” was considered by the Native Americans to mean “Speaking the Truth.” Well, after 2 hours and 22 minutes, it is the epic live concert footage that tells the truth. Not the clumsy …
The most significant character in Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece “2001: A Space Odyssey” is HAL 9000, the super computer in charge of the spaceship Discovery on its Jupiter Mission. HAL is introduced at the beginning of the Discovery sequence in a television interview aboard the ship. The words of the news anchor when describing …
How was HAL9000 portrayed as human in 2001: A Space Odyssey? Read More »
