22. Ivan’s Childhood
by Stephen Mullen Andrei Tarkovsky’s Ivan’s Childhood begins with the sound of a cuckoo, and a shot of a boy standing behind a tree, looking up at us through cobweb. It ends with the same boy chasing...
View ArticleMICHAEL MANN’S ‘MIAMI VICE’“How I know if you any good at this shit?”
© 2015 by James Clark The films of Michael Mann glow and growl with extreme sensual punch in the service of enveloping the viewer within a realm the likes of which most folks have never...
View Article21. Zéro de conduite (1933)
by Aaron West Warning: this review contains spoilers. Zéro de conduite is the most fully revealed of Vigo’s “social cinema.” Even though his anarchist politics were complicated, Zéro de conduite helps...
View Article20. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
by Sam Juliano The Ridgefield Park Rialto closed its doors on June 13, 2008. This local institution was the last single screen theater in Bergen County, New Jersey, and the only one in that domain...
View Article19. The Wizard of Oz (1939) – directed by Victor Fleming
By far the most successful adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 fairy tale about a Kansas girl thrust into a land of enchantment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s “The Wizard of Oz” achieves an iconography unique...
View ArticleBlack Mass, at-home viewings and upcoming events on Monday Morning Diary...
by Sam Juliano The Greatest Childhood/Adolescent Films Countdown is now down to the final three-and-a-half weeks after a lengthy run that began back in mid-June. The essays throughout have been...
View Article18. Los Olvidados (1950)
by Allan Fish (Mexico 1950 88m) DVD2 Aka. The Young and the Damned The lucky tooth p Oscar Dancigars d Luis Buñuel w Luis Buñuel, Oscar Dancigars, Luis Alcoriza ph Gabriel Figueroa ed Carlos Savage m...
View Article17. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
by Brandie Ashe I was two years old when the Steven Spielberg-directed E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial debuted in theaters. I was six years old when I saw the film for the first time, which my parents had...
View ArticleNo. 16 Cria Cuervos (1975)
By Marilyn Ferdinand Ana, a small, darkly serious girl of about 10, stands at the top of the stairs of her darkly ominous home and hears sounds that we guess are all too familiar. A man and a woman...
View Article15. The Fallen Idol (1948)
by Lee Price Sometimes as adults, we forget how lonely and confusing childhood can be. Produced in England in 1948, The Fallen Idol (1948) resonates long after its final scene for its moving central...
View Article14. Mouchette
by Allan Fish (France 1967 81m) DVD1/2 Going out like Mouchette p Robert Bresson d/w Robert Bresson ph Ghislain Cloquet ed Raymond Lamy, Robert Bresson m Monteverdi, Jean Wiener art Pierre...
View ArticleSteven Spielberg, God of the Cinema…shame it’s Hades!
by Allan Fish Steven Spielberg always seemed such a lovely bloke when seen on TV, made a KBE by the Queen, a fellow of the British academy by his old friend Dickie Attenborough, a devotee of David...
View ArticlePope Francis in Central Park; Warwick, New York Children’s Book Festival;...
by Sam Juliano It would be hard for me to imagine a richer or more active week than the one my family and I enjoyed this past week. We only saw a single film in theaters, but movies were only a blip...
View Article13. Kes (1969)
by Jon Warner Billy Casper lives with his elder brother Jud and his mother. They live in a small flat in a factory/mining town in Northern England. Both brothers share the same bed. Billy goes about...
View Article12. Jeux Interdits
by Allan Fish (France 1952 86m) DVD1/2 (France only) Aka. Forbidden Games/The Secret Games Keep it for a hundred years p Robert Dorfmann d René Clément w René Clément, Jean Aurenche, Pierre Bost novel...
View ArticleROMAN POLANSKI’S ‘REPULSION’“I think you must be in love or something…”
© 2015 by James Clark Auteur Roman Polanski, a film exponent being one of the most incendiary figures of a regularly dizzy business, is, I think, at his most perverse in carrying out a...
View Article11. Hope and Glory (1987)
by Sam Juliano John Boorman’s Hope and Glory stands apart from nearly-all other World War II-themed films in that it presents an idyllic view of terrible events, seen through the eyes of a ten-year...
View Article10. Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987)
by John Greco A while back, TCM had a one night festival of five Louis Malle films. It gave me the opportunity to revisit two favorites and catch up with a few that I somehow missed in the past. Louis...
View Article9. The Last Picture Show (1971)
by Sam Juliano Well, why don’t you love me like you used to do? How come you treat me like a worn-out shoe? My hair’s still curly and my eyes are still blue Why don’t you love me like you used to do?...
View ArticleLost in Translation – A Confession About the Impossibility of Being Fair
Sambizanga – 1972, Sarah Maldoror by Allan Fish At the end of the interminably gestating book I hope to release on Kindle by the end of the year there’s a section I call the Final Apologies. To some,...
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