Some might say that the cowboy genre is a particularly American type of film with its familiar motifs and archetypes. Oh, they’d be right, sure enough, but consider the masterworks of Italian filmmaker Sergio Leone and the great era of spaghetti westerns. And if Europeans can tell tall tales of gunslinging outlaws in the lawless [...]
I am a simple person who is really tickled when things break the rules. When I see filmmaking step out and away from convention and attempt something I haven’t seen before I get a warm, fuzzy sort of feeling. I have chosen four more movies that are really unique and special. Some you may have [...]
Several great films have employed little people to play crucial roles. Unfortunately, little people have been largely reduced to playing mythical dwarves, gnomes, leprechauns, Oompa Loompas, ewoks, jawas, and various other creatures. It’s not everyday they get to play Time Bandits (1981), take over a mental institution and learn that Even Dwarfs Started Small (1970), [...]
I really enjoyed the new Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011). It was well crafted, brilliantly acted, and stylish. The 1979 miniseries starring Alec Guinness and Ian Richardson was still superior though. But it did remind me of what a good spy movie can look like. As a fan of espionage I feel it only necessary [...]
Films depict historical events, great works of literature, flippant works of pulp, true life accounts, biographies, and so on. How often do we get a film based on a painting? Maybe not often enough. Tarkovsky sort of did that in Andrei Rublev (1966), Svankmajer made some bizarre shorts in the style of Arcimbaldo, and Ivan [...]
