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La Jetée (1962)
A man's obsession with an image of his past.
Filmmaker(s): Chris Marker

A man is sent back and forth and in and out of time in an experiment that attempts to unravel the fate and the solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world during the aftermath of WW3. The experiment results in him getting caught up in a perpetual reminiscence of past events that are recreated on an airport’s viewing pier.

Thirteen Monkeys wish I had seen this before "Twelve Monkeys." Except for "Fear and Loathing," Gilliam is artless (but reflexive). This is much more clever in how its manner (single images) reflects its story (how registration of images in the memory can fold time). Its a...


Published September 14, 2025
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Black Bag (2025)
It takes a spy to hunt a spy.
Filmmaker(s): Steven Soderbergh

When intelligence agent Kathryn Woodhouse is suspected of betraying the nation, her husband – also a legendary agent – faces the ultimate test of whether to be loyal to his marriage, or his country.

Section 39 am designating this as the first ‘four’ of 2025. I allow myself only two films from a year that have this recommendation. They are the films that I think either changed filmdom, or changed me and it is rare that a mainstream film...


Published July 28, 2025
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Darkest Hour (2017)
Never never never surrender
Filmmaker(s): Joe Wright

In May 1940, the fate of World War II hangs on Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler or fight on knowing that it could mean the end of the British Empire.

Tunnels, Crossings a scene in this, where Churchill takes ‘the tube’ so that he can meet the citizens. It is the turning point in this story where he is emboldened to fight the Germans agains the odds. It is — if to be lived —...


Published January 29, 2025
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Duck Amuck (1953)
A Merrie Melodie ~ Cartoon ~
Filmmaker(s): Chuck Jones

The short-tempered Daffy Duck must improvise madly as the backgrounds, his costumes, the soundtrack, even his physical form, shifts and changes at the whim of the animator.

A Short History of Film Folds have a small list of films I think are essential viewing. This is on it, only one of two allowed for that year. Looking at my list, there are a few animated shorts, and I think that makes sense. Animators...


Published December 11, 2024
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Sherlock Jr. (1924)
Every inch of footage holds such a laugh!
Filmmaker(s): Buster Keaton

A film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.

Creating the Art of Folding am an enthusiast of what I call "folding" in film. That's the collection of techniques that map some awareness or identification of what the film is, to the story within the film. It isn't just a simple game, but a...


Published December 11, 2024
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My Man Godfrey (1936)
Butler! FOR THE COCK-EYEDEST FAMILY in the WHOLE WORLD!...and the butler-blonde battle was on!
Filmmaker(s): Gregory La Cava

Fifth Avenue socialite Irene Bullock needs a "forgotten man" to win a scavenger hunt, and no one is more forgotten than Godfrey Park, who resides in a dump by the East River. Irene hires Godfrey as a servant for her riotously unhinged family, to the chagrin of her spoiled sister, Cornelia, who tries her best to get Godfrey fired. As Irene falls for her new butler, Godfrey turns the tables and teaches the frivolous Bullocks a lesson or two.

The Man 30s was when movies decided what they want to be. You can spin one of three or four narratives tracing that development. One of those narratives casts genres as beings and has them duking it out, only a few surviving. In this narrative, you'd...


Published December 11, 2024
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A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
...Blanche, who wanted so much to stay a lady...
Filmmaker(s): Elia Kazan

A fading southern belle moves in with her sister in New Orleans where her ferocious brother-in-law takes stabs at her sanity.

Mass Transit vast majority of films use someone else's vocabulary, so when you can run across one that helped create that vocabulary it is cause for celebration. Usually the originality is in the vision of the filmmaker, but here it is in the manner of...


Published December 11, 2024
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Freaks (1932)
Can a full grown woman truly love a midget?
Filmmaker(s): Tod Browning

A circus' beautiful trapeze artist agrees to marry the leader of side-show performers, but his deformed friends discover she is only marrying him for his inheritance.

Elephant Men older gems have to be watched with eyes on two levels. The first concerns the experience within the narrative. Projects that worked well in this regard when new often fade. Those that continue to work as the context changes get called "classics" as if...


Published December 11, 2024
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12 Angry Men (1957)
Life is in their hands — Death is on their minds!
Filmmaker(s): Sidney Lumet

The defense and the prosecution have rested and the jury is filing into the jury room to decide if a young Spanish-American is guilty or innocent of murdering his father. What begins as an open and shut case soon becomes a mini-drama of each of the jurors' prejudices and preconceptions about the trial, the accused, and each other.

No Dissonance film deserves to be on anyone's list of top films. My problem is that it is so perfect, so seamlessly polished, it is hard to appreciate the individual excellences. The acting is top notch. I believe that monologue acting is quite a bit simpler...


Published December 11, 2024
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Diary of a Lost Girl (1929)
Filmmaker(s): G.W. Pabst

Thymian Henning, an innocent young girl, is raped by the clerk of her father's pharmacy. She becomes pregnant, is rejected by her family, and must fend for herself in a harsh, cruel world.

The Diary are two things about this that make it essential viewing. The first is obvious. Louise Brooks fills the camera like no one else in my experience. And like no one else probably could now that movies have filled out all the sensory space...


Published December 11, 2024
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