The Tragedy of Hamlet (Brook, 2002)
Peter Brook has forgotten more about Shakespeare than I'll ever know, and Adrian Lester is an underrated and underappreciated actor.
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Bride & Prejudice (Chadha, 2004)
Where to start? Well, I finally understand those singing puppets in the Fandango commercials.
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Up (Docter, 2009)
As such, there has always been something troubling to me about the increasing insistence of Disney and Pixar films that the villains not only be wrong, but incorrigibly evil--not merely defeated but destroyed.
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The Broadway Melody (1929 Best Picture Winner)
In a nutshell, a must see for cinophiles. Others might consider taking a pass.
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Nicholas Ray
"You're tearing me apart!" The line--the plaintive cry--is synonymous with Rebel Without A Cause and hence with Nicholas Ray.
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Ingmar Bergman: (Smiles of a Summer Night, 1955)
My relationship with the films of Ingmar Bergman has been analogous to that with a popular elder at a new church: I respect the title and all, but I usually find myself squinting when people tell me he's more than just deathly serious.
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You Can’t Take It With You (Capra, 1938)
The situation is timeless, but the setting is very much of the moment.
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The Life of Emile Zola (Dieterle, 1937)
I will admit that the film has the sort of schmaltzy feel (aided by the over the top score) of its era. It was released in 1937, so some of the acting is what we'd describe as overwrought today.
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Star Trek (Abrams, 2009)
I don't imagine kids running out of Abrams' movie and staring at the nighttime sky, and wondering about the mysteries of the universe, and perhaps getting inspired to visit their local science museums or become engaged with astronomy or space travel. What I see are frat boys saying, "dude, let's get totally smashed and check out that bangin' Star Trek movie," and then forgetting about having watched it ten minutes after the movie's over.
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Luis Buñuel
Or, perhaps it is just my personal history (or lack of it) that leaves me probing the surfaces of Buñuel's works like blocks of marble, trying to feel my way around to the human portrait that lies beneath. Am I not Roman Catholic enough to "get it"? Not Latin enough? Surely it's not a case of my being not cynical enough? I mean, I find the contemptous light to which everyone in Buñuel's universe gets held up to misanthropic and tedious, and that's coming from a man who loves Trey Parker and Matt Stone.