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.
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The Island (Bay, 2005)
Sean Bean and McGregor get tied together through the barbs. We are all interconnected. It’s allegorical. It’s metaphorical. It’s allephorical.
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Les Miserables (Bernard, 1934)
Victor Hugo's novel is a timeless classic which has been retold and well loved since its inception, in part because it tells the story of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. The contemporary stage adaptation focuses on the antagonistic relationship between Valjean and Javert, but Bernard's film really focuses more on Valjean's spiritual development, echoing the novel's emphasis on his experience of grace and the way that it changes him gradually. Valjean is one of the great characters in the history of literature, and Harry Baur is totally up to the task of bringing him to life. The film feels less like an adaptation than a translation, and every time I assumed there would be a concession to staging or special effects--the barricades, the sewers--Bernard is able to take us there without drawing attention to the effects for effects sake.
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Love in the Afternoon (Rohmer, 1972)
The Criterion DVD had an interview with Neil Labute talking about how Rohmer influenced him, but I confess that towards the end of Love in the Afternoon, the film I kept thinking about was Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut.
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Taxi to the Dark Side (Gibney, 2007)
A well deserved Academy Award (for best documentary) went to Gibney's investigation into the policies and practices that created the Abu Ghraib scandal. Eschewing sensationalistic tactics and avoiding an over-reliance on the photos themselves (which appear but aren't the final word), Taxi builds persuasive force until the viewers amazement reaches a level of disbelief.
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Julius Caesar (Houseman, 1954)
Question: What do the following actors have in common?: Jack Lemmon, Billy Crystal, Keanu Reeves, Nathan Lane, Robin Williams, Alicia Silverstone. Answer: They were all exposed trying to do Shakespeare.
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Lars and the Real Girl (Gillespie, 2007)
Lars and the Real Girl is a sweet film that gets a lot of emotional mileage out of showing people being kind. It is a film in which people are loving for no other reason than they can be and where they choose to be compassionate rather than cruel because doing the former seldom costs more than the latter.