Movie Recommendations, Rants and Ruminations
The Kid with a Bike is an extraordinary film that tells a riveting story of unconditional love. It is emotionally powerful without being sentimental and is gripping without stunts and explosions. The Kid with a Bike topped my list of Best Movies of 2012. It’s out today on DVD – available from by Criterion Collection, … Read more
Zero Dark Thirty is director Kathryn Bigelow’s inspired telling of the hunt for Bin Laden. Bigelow, who won the directorial Oscar for The Hurt Locker, once again demonstrates an uncommon ability to enthrall. She chose to tell the story of the frustrating, wearying and dangerous ten-year man hunt, not just the exciting raid in Abbottabad. … Read more
Here’s my list of the best films of 2012: 1) The Kid with a Bike, 2) Beasts of the Southern Wild, 3) Argo, 4) Lincoln, 5) Zero Dark Thirty, 6) A Separation, 7) Silver Linings Playbook, 8 ) Take This Waltz, 9) Once Upon a Time in Anatolia and 10) Elena. Continuing with my list … Read more
The Kid with a Bike is an extraordinary film that tells a riveting story of unconditional love. It is emotionally powerful without being sentimental and is gripping without stunts and explosions. A 12-year-old boy wants to find the father who dumped him at a children’s home, but meets a woman who becomes his de facto … Read more
Chimes at Midnight: Orson Welles’ Shakespearean masterpiece. Welles’ genius was in braiding together parts of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, some Richard III, Henry V and The Merry Wives of Windsor into a cohesive story of what he called “betrayal of friendship”. There’s a thrilling medieval battle scene, and when the friendship is … Read more
What if Butch Cassidy had survived that 1908 shootout with the Bolivian army? That’s the premise of this stylized Western starring Sam Shepherd as Butch. I love Westerns, and I found this one to be satisfying but not exceptional. It’s a beautifully shot film with sound acting. Unfortunately, once we get past the inspired premise, … Read more
I need to add some upcoming films to Friday’s post on Best Bets for May. Cave of Forgotten Dreams opens this week. Werner Herzog explores the 33,000-year-old cave paintings in Chauvert, France. Herzog knows what he is doing (Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Grizzly Man), and he says that this needed to be shot in … Read more
This week’s DVD release of Roger Corman’s Sci Fi Classics is my occasion for celebrating the prolific low-budget producer Roger Corman. So far, Corman has produced 395 titles – mostly shameless and delicious exploitation movies for the teen market. In one four-year period, he produced The Student Nurses, Private Duty Nurses, Night Call Nurses and … Read more