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This film ruined Michael Powell's career, a career that even Martin Scorsese admired. It is a bit subversive and perverse, the story about a truly disturbed man who films women at the moment of their death, and worships the films and his camera in ways that are totally unnatural. I think the history behind the film is that people were incredibly uncomfortable when they were called out to being just like the killer in the film, enjoying themselves as they are shown fear and death through a video camera, but I see the film just as a dark, interesting work. I didn't quite feel the sort of sociological impact this film is said to have had, historically. But I did enjoy it.
I was pretty disappointed in this movie, because I love me some badass Eastwood. That iconic "Do you feel lucky, punk?" line really fell flat. It seems that all the parodies I have seen in my life of that line have all delivered the line with more gusto. When you really sit back and think about this film, it is really VERY simple...and Harry Callahan is a pretty lousy cop. How can he be mad at the system when HE is the one that screwed up. Vigilante justice is one thing...but I wasn't quite on board with "Dirty Harry"s methods. They weren't exciting enough to reach any kind of iconic status. 
I absolutely LOVED this film. It is movies like this that remind me of why I started this project in the first place. It is so clever, so exciting, and so well executed that even today, it rivals all other action comedies. Buster Keaton is a genius, and he plays the engineer on a Southern locomotive. When the Union spies steal it, he chases after them to retireve it, only to wind up behind enemy lines and thrust into being a hero. If you thought two trains chasing each other on one rail would get boring, think again. The things this movie comes up with just leaves a perpetual smile on your face. I enjoyed this movie so much in its whimsical simplicty, it is easily now one of my favorite films of all time!!! 
A truly inspired, technical, non-narrative film that really showed what the medium could do, even back in the 1920s. Russian filmmaker Dziga Vertov decided to film a day in a Russian city...and that took 4 years. The film consists of shots of the city working, the filmmaker shooting the city, and the filmmakers editing together their film. It is truly groundbreaking and the kinetics of the editing were so far ahead of its time, that it defies logic. There is no story to tell, but it does show us how stories will be told for decades to come. Wonderful piece of work, and truly important to the world of cinema. 
Quite an unnerving piece of work, this animation of George Orwell's classic is pretty powerful. If you held this up, visually, side-by-side with CHARLOTTE'S WEB, it would be hard to tell them apart. However, this film is by no means a children's film. With the story about farm animals rising up to take over the farm they are a part of, it is full of the "Power Corrupts" parable and is rather violent...and the communist allegory is certainly not lost. Most of my enjoyment of this film came from the shock at how grown-up and no less Orwellian it was simply being animated. You will be quite surprised too. 
A perfect marriage of Oliver Stone's controversy-filled-morality-tale style and Quentin Tarantino's shock-filled-twisted-narrative style, NATURAL BORN KILLERS is quite a unique experience. Woody Harrelson & Juliette Lewis are great as the couple on a cross-country kill spree but Robert Downy Jr. as the fame-obsessed trash-tv host and Tommy Lee Jones as the smarmy warden steal the show. At times, I found the weirdness of the constant changing cinematography and animation a bit grating, but it is a great original. I found myself easily slipping from the "this kind of media frenzy would never happen" to "this is EXACTLY what would happen"...even though the whole premise is grossy over-exaggerated. Wonderful film!! 
Quite a simple film, but thrilling in its simplicity...with a climax that absolutely kept me at the edge of my seat. I guess it is fitting that Charles Laughton, who created such a spectacular, iconic villain in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, creats yet another iconic villain with Robert Mitchum's portrayal of Reverend Harry Powell. The story is about two young children, how their father entrusted them with a secret about his bank robbery stash, and their father's cellmate who is hellbent on discovering the loot. Reverend Powell encroaches on the children's life in EVERY way. He is as relentless as the shark in Jaws, and he is so flippant while doing it. The movie is beautifully shot and I really loved Mitchum's performance. 
This film isn't really about anything. You have no idea who the 5 victims are, you have no idea who the killers are, and you have no idea what the motivation is behind such disgusting, brutal slayings. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE is just an violent, exhibitionist film that shows some really terrible, inexplicable ways to die. That all being said...there is a raw fear that is inevitable while watching it. Sure, Leatherface is a bit cheesy looking, and he runs with the chainsaw like a doofus, but when everything climaxes to that scene at the dinner table...I could feel the nightmares begin to conform inside my brain. Nothing really to this movie, but the rattle of the chainsaw will bother you much more after experiencing this film. 
I have a very specific problem with SINGIN IN THE RAIN. I thought the story was very fun (about a studio trying to make their own "talkie" in the wake of THE JAZZ SINGER) and Gene Kelly looks like he is walking on air when he starts to dance...but here is my problem. There are 3 reasons for anyone to be singing in a movie musical. They should be melodically telling a part of the story, singing about their feelings & emotions, or performing in a show within the show (a la 42nd STREET). SINGIN IN THE RAIN all too often has people dancing and singing for no reason whatsoever, and it is annoying. "Make 'em Laugh"? Absolutley no reason for that song. "Good Morning"? Who are the three leads dancing for? Us? They are characters in a movie...not performers on a stage. The title song sequence got it right, but the rest of the movie felt very awkward and choppy. No one will EVER convince me that this movie is a better musical then the likes of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, or even CHICAGO....and it has been hailed as the best movie musical ever....WRONG!!!! 
It was a pleasnt surprise to see that this film was NOT a documentary about what Aileen Wuornos did (I GREATLY enjoyed that dramatic account in the film, MONSTER) but rather a documentary about how her newly adoptive mother and lawyer seemingly pimped out her story to the highest bidder, all the while preaching forgiveness, innocence, and love. Of course, what Wuornos did was worse, but to see the british documentarians given the runaround because they haven't paid sufficiently for the Aileen Wuornos story, its pretty damn disturbing. If nothing else, the film shows how brilliant Charlize Theron was in portraying Wuornos in 2004. Solid Documentary!! 
A terribly simple movie, but manages to be very interesting and ultimately pretty sorrowful. The movie follows a man who has to explain to the adption agency investigator why he was found in another's house taking care of an infant son. It is a story of boredom, longing, and necessity for companionship. I didn't quite think Harry would be able to squeeze any sympathy out of me (since at the outset we KNOW he is a Bigamist), but he manages to. Nothing too groundbreaking, but you will want to see how things turn out. 
I can't help but feel disappointed after TAXI DRIVER. I am a huge admirer and lover of Martin Scorsese's movies, and I found yet another gem of his with this project by seeing RAGING BULL, but this movie left so much to be desired. DeNiro's performace was more reserved than I expected, even during the violent climax, and Scorsese's direction was much less dynamic. I assume the story is about isolation and feeling alone in a massive, grotesque city and one man's attempt to make a connection, no matter how violent or extreme. But it never quite kicked into the gear I would have expected. That all being said...come on now...its DeNiro and Scorsese. Even their worst movie is better than most other good movies. 
You know you have a great movie when one of your only complaints is that it is far too short. PATHS OF GLORY is early Kubrick, and it is equal parts DR. STRANGELOVE and FULL METAL JACKET. It involves a French regiment in WWI who are sent on a suicidal mission. When many soldiers fall back because of its obvious futility, 3 are arrested and charged with "Cowardice in the face of the enemy". Their Colonel (Kirk Douglas) defends them at their court martial. This movie made me verbally angry, and Kubrick's classic cynicism at humanity's possibilities really shines through. This is a wonderful movie, but at under 90 minutes long, I felt like I got shortchanged. The battle seemed truncated and the court martial seemed rushed, but overall...it is fantastic stuff. 
If TERMINATOR 2: JUDGEMENT day hadn't been a modern, Sci-Fi Masterpiece and TERMINATOR 3: RISE OF THE MACHINES hadn't been such a whiz-bang barrel of fun, the original film may have been a great movie. But the original is totally outdone, in every way, by its successors (even TERMINATOR: SLAVATION). I enjoyed Michael Biehn as Kyle Reese, but the whole film doesn't have the 80s charm...it has the 80s cheesiness. Arnold perfected the robot personna in the second movie...here....he just comes across as an Austrian with a mouth full of marbles. Action is ok, story is ok, but things get so much better later on...and not just technically. 
The films of David Lynch are infuriating. If you took 10 film experts and asked them to summarize any of his films, you'd most likely get 10 different expplanations. MULHOLLAND DRIVE was an odd bad dream...ERASERHEAD is a surrealistic nightmare. What do you say about a movie where a man carves miniature chickens that dance on the plate and bleed and the same man fathers a premature child that looks like a calf fetus and lives on top of a dresser and squeals all the time. After all this is done, he daydreams about a plaster-cheeked woman who tapdances atop wormlike creatures inside his radiator. THEN things start to get weird. If David Lynch is ever anywhere near me...I will run away screaming. 
I thought I was in for a naive, 2 hour long, milquetoast love story to Democracy when I sat down to watch this film. It has been parodied all over the place and I never actually thought I could take it seriously...but his film is anything but naive. There is an acceptance of corruption inherent in the story, but Frank Capra's and Jimmy Stewart's enthusiasm with the material, and swelling, patriotic script, is inspiring to say the least. I couldn't believe how excited I was for the filibuster finale, but I was actually on the edge of my seat. It certainly isn't a love story to Democracy...it is a an exhibition of passionate, democratic idealsand a plea for how to preserve them and allow them to prevail. Wonderful!!! 
On par with Bela Lugosi's DRACULA, and infinitely better than Boris Karloff's FRANKENSTEIN, Lon Chaney's Phantom is a truly frightening character. This silent film never fails to entertain, and the locations of the Paris opera house and the dungeons beneath, are superb. I was astonished during the masquerade ball when everything turned to technicolor...I thought it was unheard of back when this movie was made. We all know the story, and it is almost impossible to watch without expecting to hear some Andrew Lloyd Weber music...but this is a classic monster movie. 
I love British drama, and I think it has to do with the British culture where no matter how damaged or depressed a person is, they are always trying to be pleasant and make others feel comfortable...and that is very pitiful for broken people. This movie left me emotionally drained, and it is absolutely brilliant, with perfect performances all around. Timothy Spall and Brenda Blethyn shine as a brother and sister whose lives are just in turmoil...and the appearance of an illegitamate black daughter makes it get even more chaotic. I was mesmerized by the acting in this film...and even though it is very high concept with so many characters with such emotional baggage, it felt 100% realistic. Simply "bloody" wonderful. 
This film can perfectly be decribed as a combination of Ang Lee's CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON and Sam Raimi's THE EVIL DEAD. That may seem like a ridiculously odd comparison, but this is a ridiculously odd film. It is imaginative and fun, for sure, but just as I felt with Raimi's film...the charm of its amateurish feel is simultaneously a huge drawback. The music is beautiful, and the direction is quite masterful in order to keep things looking otherworldy, without special effects...but the whole thing is just so weird. hahaha. I did enjoy it though.
My second Fellini film is much more surreal and strange than the first, but it is also oddly compelling as well. The film is about a filmmaker who just doesn't know how to make his 9th film, and as he juggles his workers, his actors, and the women in his life, he often has to retreat to fantasy and dreams to keep his sanity. Often times, I found it hard pressed to know whether or not what I was seeing was real. Charlie Kaufman must have loved Federico Fellini, because when a director doesn't know what to make his movie about (Fellini) decides to make a movie about a director not knowing what to make his next movie about (8 1/2)...it is mind-bending. Fun, and I had to sleep on it to really appreciate it...but Fellini was quite a unique filmmaker.