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The Birth of a Nation (1915)
The Fiery Cross of the Ku Klux Klan!
Filmmaker(s): D.W. Griffith

Two families, abolitionist Northerners the Stonemans and Southern landowners the Camerons, intertwine. When Confederate colonel Ben Cameron is captured in battle, nurse Elsie Stoneman petitions for his pardon. In Reconstruction-era South Carolina, Cameron founds the Ku Klux Klan, battling Elsie's congressman father and his African-American protégé, Silas Lynch.

Bad Influence This film marked a disastrous turn in American society. No, I’m not talking about the overtly racist content. Any nitwit can see that and adjust, though I suspect that my grandchildren will decry with equal vehemence the content of the films I now...
Published September 11, 2023
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The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
An unforgettable story of forty gallant years.

General Candy, who's overseeing an English squad in 1943, is a veteran leader who doesn't have the respect of the men he's training and is considered out-of-touch with what's needed to win the war. But it wasn't always this way. Flashing back to his early career in the Boer War and World War I, we see a dashing young officer whose life has been shaped by three different women, and by a lasting friendship with a German soldier.

Three Strikes To me, what‘s interesting about this are the many different, completely different ways one can approach it. For most folks, at the time this was made, it dealt with deep national issues of identity and war. For most others fifty years later, this...
Published July 27, 2023
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Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Three wonderful loves in the best picture of the year!
Filmmaker(s): William Wyler

It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.

Slow Meditation on Observation This treacly story hides some masterful filmmaking. Film is all about observation, except the observed usually contrive to make the observer feel unobtrusive. During this period, intelligent filmmakers were playing with the form so that often films were not only engineered...
Published July 14, 2023
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Archangel (1990)
A Tragedy of the Great War
Filmmaker(s): Guy Maddin

At the height of the October Revolution during the 1919 allied intervention in Arkhangelsk, the exploits of one-legged Canadian soldier Lt. John Boles are told, after he is taken in from the cold by a dysfunctional Russian family and mistakes a local woman for his presumed dead lover.

Eisenstein’s Smooth Stones of Forgetfulness I only know a few of Maddin’s projects. This seems to be the earliest available. I’m really beginning a deep appreciation of this man’s visual soul. While this project didn’t change my life, it demonstrated the power to do so,...
Published May 16, 2023
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Ararat (2002)
Filmmaker(s): Atom Egoyan

Interrogated by a customs officer, a young man recounts how his life was changed during the making of a film about the Armenian genocide.

Denied I think Egoyan is one of our best living filmmakers. He layers his stories in ways that some layers generate or reinterpret others. Usually, this is apparent to the viewer. In this case, the viewer is fooled into thinking that this is film reminding...
Published May 1, 2023
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Angels One Five (1952)
A Story of Some of "The Few"...
Filmmaker(s): George More O'Ferrall

The year is 1940 and Pilot Officer T.B. Baird arrives straight out of flight school to join a front line RAF squadron at the height of the Battle of Britain. After an unfortunate start and a drumming down from his commanding officer, Baird must balance the struggle to impress his Group Captain, regain his pride, fit in with his fellow pilots, and survive one of the most intense air battles in history.

Definitions I’m watching this right after the terrorist attacks on London. Immediately, the Brits snapped back to this period, the so-called Battle of Britain where a few outnumbered airmen held off that bad guys. They’ve since forgotten that the bad guys were the Germans (not...
Published April 4, 2023
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American Sniper (2014)
The most lethal sniper in U.S. history.
Filmmaker(s): Clint Eastwood

U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle takes his sole mission—protect his comrades—to heart and becomes one of the most lethal snipers in American history. His pinpoint accuracy not only saves countless lives but also makes him a prime target of insurgents. Despite grave danger and his struggle to be a good husband and father to his family back in the States, Kyle serves four tours of duty in Iraq. However, when he finally returns home, he finds that he cannot leave the war behind.

Focus I watched this like many others, consuming a rather simple story. Superficially, we are to admire this soul, both as an individual and representative of a collective who ‘serve’ us. As with Forgiven, we have some subtle exit from the story in the direction...
Published March 26, 2023
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Rambo (2008)
Live for nothing, or die for something.
Filmmaker(s): Sylvester Stallone

In Thailand, ex-Green Beret John James Rambo joins a group of mercenaries to venture into war-torn neighboring Myanmar to rescue a group of Christian aid workers who have been kidnapped by a ruthless local infantry unit.

Arrows I suppose it makes economic sense to design a film this way. It has one scene only: the shootout at the end. This is what the target audience comes to see. Everything else is setup and justification. The Asians are baddy bad bad. The...
Published March 7, 2023
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King Arthur (2004)
Rule Your Fate.
Filmmaker(s): Antoine Fuqua

The story of the Arthurian legend, based on the 'Sarmatian hypothesis' which contends that the legend has a historical nucleus in the Sarmatian heavy cavalry troops stationed in Britain, and that the Roman-British military commander, Lucius Artorius Castus is the historical person behind the legend.

Blue Woman With these simple constructions, its easy to see where they decided the hook would be. I imagine the pitch was that this would be “Braveheart” meets “Gladiator” but with a fighten’ gal. I’m sure they took a model and put her in blue...
Published March 7, 2023
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Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong
Filmmaker(s): Ridley Scott

After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.

A Trip to Holy Ground Ridley Scott is the current and all time master of the big budget long form film, no question. Most big budget productions are really collections of episodes. Few filmmakers have the control to manage the hoards of creative talent that...
Published March 4, 2023
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