Written by Michael Clawson 90/100 Plenty of directors could be described as wearing their influences on their sleeves, but with De Palma, it seems more appropriate to say he holds his up and waves them around over his head so … Continue reading.
Category: Classic Film
Dark Passage
Written by Michael Clawson 80/100 You should always plan to have someone pick you up and drive you home after surgery. Bogie clearly wasn’t paying attention during the pre-op consultation. This is one of the most romantically optimistic of the noirs … Continue reading.
Old School Kung Fu Festival: Joseph Kuo Retrospective
Written by Patrick Hao Joseph Kuo is the Roger Corman of kung fu cinema. He did not have the backing of a major studio like Shaw Brothers or Golden Harvest. He was not even making movies in Hong Kong. Rather, … Continue reading.
Episode 122: Rescreening Letter from an Unknown Woman
“The highest reaches of the actor's art begin, I believe, at the point where words cease to play a part.”Max Ophüls, Director of Letter from an Unknown Woman Links: Apple Podcasts | Castbox | Deezer | Gaana | Google Podcasts … Continue reading.
Bitter Rice
Written by Michael Clawson 80/100 Giuseppe De Santis’ Bitter Rice is two great movies woven together for the price of one. The first is a richly detailed neorealist account of seasonal rice-field workers in Northern Italy, and the second, a … Continue reading.
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Written by Michael Clawson 80/100 Preminger's second noir outing with Dana Andrews (quickly becoming a favorite of mine) and Gene Tierney (most definitely a favorite), six years after Laura. Andrews is a hot-tempered city cop with a bad habit of … Continue reading.
Retrospective Feature: Taxi Driver
Written by Rudolph Lambert Fernandez Among Columbia Pictures’s movies in the 20th century, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) is one of the last to bear their classic Lady and her torch logo. It wasn’t until the 1990s that a real-life … Continue reading.
Our Hospitality
Written by Michael Clawson 90/100 Buster takes a rinky-dink train from his modest rural homestead to see to his late father’s estate, but falls for a girl along the way who turns out to be from the now-wealthy family that … Continue reading.
Capsule Review: I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
Written by Michael Clawson 90/100 A soldier returns from WWI and searches for satisfying work, but being in the wrong place at the wrong time lands him in a chain gang, where he suffers through grueling work and miserable treatment … Continue reading.
Naked Childhood (L’Enfance-nue)
Written by Michael Clawson 90/100 A searingly honest chapter in the life of an unruly foster child, Francois, who as the film begins, is handed back to Social Services by a youngish married couple who can’t bear his egregious misbehavior— … Continue reading.