The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932)
They found a love they dared not touch!
Filmmaker(s): Frank Capra
An American missionary is gradually seduced by a courtly warlord holding her in Shanghai.
Poor Things
She's like nothing you've ever seen.
Filmmaker(s): Yorgos Lanthimos
Brought back to life by an unorthodox scientist, a young woman runs off with a debauched lawyer on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, she grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.
13 Jan Poor Things
Things Inside Things This is not a film that grows on you and settles within your soul as cinematic enrichment. First, let me tell you that the period of watching was very pleasant. What this older man saw was a woman navigating within values I...
Tango (1998)
Tango: do not ever leave me
Filmmaker(s): Carlos Saura
A dangerous love affair inspires a director to create the most spectacular and boldly seductive dance film ever made.
05 Dec Tango (1998)
Making Film Dance I love this stuff. This film has weaknesses, but the ambition is so grand one can forgive, at least in deciding to watch. The general problem is mixing film and dance. Rarely, oh so rarely is it done well. The stock choices...
The Big Sleep (1946)
The picture they were born for!
Filmmaker(s): Howard Hawks
Private Investigator Philip Marlowe is hired by wealthy General Sternwood regarding a matter involving his youngest daughter Carmen. Before the complex case is over, Marlowe sees murder, blackmail, deception, and what might be love.
12 Aug The Big Sleep (1946)
Camera in the Head I’m an enthusiast of film, the kind of film that uses the uniquely cinematic qualities of the medium. From time to time, I see a non-cinematic film which I like. This is one such. By non-cinematic, I mean that the film...
The New World (2005)
Once discovered, it was changed forever.
Filmmaker(s): Terrence Malick
A drama about explorer John Smith and the clash between Native Americans and English settlers in the 17th century.
06 Aug The New World (2005)
Matoaka’s Miranda (This comment was deleted by IMDb based on an abuse report filed by another user, because of some perceived religious slight.) Malick’s method is to frame films as remembrances. Remembrances of romantic notions, whether freedom, peace, war or love (as his four films...
Cheeky (2000)
Filmmaker(s): Tinto Brass
While scouting out apartments in London for her Venetian boyfriend, Carla rents an apartment that overlooks the Thames. There she meet the lesbian hyper-horny real estate agent Moira.
03 Aug Cheeky (2000)
Nonchalant Openness Some films are simply about the appeal of one character. That’s all that matters. There seem to be two types: those that depend on the charm of attractive women, and those that have to work some other engagement. Often that’s the acting challenge....
So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)
The honeymoon was killer.
Filmmaker(s): Thomas Schlamme
Just after a bad breakup, Charlie MacKenzie falls for lovely butcher Harriet Michaels and introduces her to his parents. But, as voracious consumers of sensational tabloids, his parents soon come to suspect that Harriet is actually a notorious serial killer -- "Mrs. X" -- wanted in connection with a string of bizarre honeymoon killings. Thinking his parents foolish, Charlie proposes to Harriet. But while on his honeymoon with her, he begins to fear they were right.
27 Jul So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993)
Green Haggis Sometimes a movie only develops worth after a subsequent movie worked. I myself disliked “Shrek” because of the underhanded attempt to undermine the Disney/Pixar alliance, and the smarmy Bill Gates strategy. But some people did like it, largely because of the voices and...
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
An unforgettable story of forty gallant years.
Filmmaker(s): Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell
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.
27 Jul The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
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...
The Big Picture (1989)
Film school prepared Nick for everything... everything but Hollywood.
Filmmaker(s): Christopher Guest
Hollywood beckons for recent film school grad Nick Chapman, who is out to capitalize on the momentum from his national award-winning student film. Studio executive Allen Habel seduces Nick with a dream deal to make his first feature, but once production gets rolling, corporate reality begins to intervene: Nick is unable to control a series of compromises to his high-minded vision, and it's all he can do to maintain his integrity in the midst of filmmaking chaos.
27 Jul The Big Picture (1989)
Guest Travels in Search of an Ironic Formula As the child of intelligent film critics, Guest was poised to start a career in midstream, already aware of the dominance of irony in film. He would go on to develop and shamelessly exploit a specific, detailed...
Bewitched (2005)
Be warned. Be ready.
Filmmaker(s): Nora Ephron
Thinking he can overshadow an unknown actress in the part, an egocentric actor unknowingly gets a witch cast in an upcoming television remake of the classic show "Bewitched".
