Monday, November 07, 2022
Shaft
- Commentary: Under construction.
Link to interview with Richard Roundtree about this movie.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Richard Roundtree John Shaft Moses Gunn Bumpy Jonas Drew Bundini Brown Willy Charles Cioffi Lt Vic Androzzi
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1971
Directed by Gordon Parks.
Labels: action4, Criterion4, detective1, neo-noirA
Graduation
- Commentary: Under construction.
Link to interview with director about this film.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Adrian Titieni Romeo Aldea Maria Drăguș Eliza Aldea Lia Bugnar Magda Mălina Manovici Sandra
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 2016
Directed by Cristian Mungiu.
Labels: §5, Criterion4, tragedy2
Rebecca
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Joan Fontaine 2nd Mrs. de Winter Laurence Olivier George Fortescue Maximilian de Winter Judith Anderson Mrs. Danvers George Sanders Jack Favell Reginald Denny Frank Crawley Gladys Cooper Beatrice Lacy C. Aubrey Smith Colonel Julyan Nigel Bruce Mjr Giles Lacy
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1940
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Labels: §5, alfred-hitchcock, Criterion4, film-noir1, melodramaA, psychological2, thriller3
Black Girl
- Commentary: Under construction.
More information about this movie at this link.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role M’Bissine Thérèse Diop Diouana Anne-Marie Jelinek Madame Robert Fontaine Monsieur Toto Bissainthe Diouana's voice
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1966
Directed by Ousmane Sembène.
Labels: §5, colonialism, Criterion4, social-hierarchy
Something Wild
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Carroll Baker Mary Ann Robinson Ralph Meeker Mike Mildred Dunnock Mrs. Gates Jean Stapleton Shirley Johnson Doris Roberts Mary Ann's co-worker Martin Kosleck Landlord Clifton James Detective Bogart George L. Smith Store Manager
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1961
Directed by Jack Garfein.
Labels: Criterion4, neo-noirA, psychological2, thriller3
Ikiru
- Commentary: Under Construction.
Roger Ebert cristened this movie as one of his Great Movies.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Takashi Shimura Kanji Watanabe Shinichi Himori Kimura Haruo Tanaka Sakai Minoru Chiaki Noguchi
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1952
Directed by Akira Kurosawa.
Labels: aging, akira-kurosawa, Criterion4
12 Angry Men
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Martin Balsam Juror 1 Foreman John Fiedler Juror 2 Lee J. Cobb Juror 3 E. G. Marshall Juror 4 Henry Fonda Juror 8 Davis Jack Klugman Juror 5 Jack Warden Juror 7 Joseph Sweeney Juror 9 McCardle
Roger Ebert christened this movie as one of his Great Movies.
As I write this (November 13, 2022), as I'm attaching a review write-up link to the title of this post, I'm noticing that in 2009 Nikita Mikhalkov released a Russian version of this film, named, simply, 12. I'm noticing, as well, that the digital version of the movie can be rented and bought over at Amazon. A used hard copy is also available for purchase there, at the moment. Roger Ebert not only took note of this remake, but reviewed it, giving it 3 and a half starts, and offered an interesting comparison of the two films. His review is attached to the second link in this paragraph.
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the U.S. film. This link is to the Wikipedia write-up of the 2007 Russian production of this story, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.
Release Date: 1957
Directed by Sidney Lumet.
Labels: courtroom, Criterion4, henry-fonda, jack-warden, lee-j-cobb, legal
Sanjuro
- Commentary: Under Construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Toshirô Mifune Sanjuro Tsubaki Tatsuya Nakadai Hanbei Muroto Yūzō Kayama Iori Izaka Reiko Dan Chidori Takashi Shimura Kurofuji Kamatari Fujiwara Takebayashi Takako Irie Mutsuta's wife Sachio Sakai Ashigaru
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1962
Directed by Akira Kurosawa.
Labels: §5, akira-kurosawa, Criterion4, samurai, tatsuya-nakadai, toshirô-mifune
Friday, October 21, 2022
War and Peace
- Commentary: Under construction.
This is about the Soviet war drama released in four installments from 1966-67. The cast is huge. I should probably treat it as a series in four parts, thus being able to highlight more cast members and commentary specific to each part. Stay tuned for that.
The director of each part of the series, by the way, is the same for the entire series. That information is reflected in the final Wikipedia link at the very bottom of this write-up.
Part I - Andrei Bolkonsky
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Sergei Bondarchuk Pierre Bezukhov Vyacheslav Tikhonov Andrei Bolkonsky Nikolai Tolkachyov Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov Boris Zakhava Mikhail Kutuzov Irina Skobtseva Hélène Kuragina Oleg Yefremov Fyodor Dolokhov Vasily Lanovoy Anatole Kuragin Anastasiya Vertinskaya Lisa Bolkonskaya
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of Part I.
Release Date:1966
Part II - Natasha Rostova
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Ludmila Savelyeva Natasha Rostova Vyacheslav Tikhonov Andrei Bolkonsky Anatoly Ktorov Nikolai Bolkonsky Vasily Lanovoy Anatole Kuragin
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of Part II.
Release Date: 1966
Part III - The Year 1812
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Boris Zakhava Mikhail Kutuzov Vladislav Strzhelchik Napoleon Vyacheslav Tikhonov Andrei Bolkonsky Sergei Bondarchuk Pierre Bezukhov
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of Part III.
Release Date: 1967
Part IV - Pierre Bezukhov
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Viktor Stanitsyn Ilya Rostov Ludmila Savelyeva Natasha Rostova Vyacheslav Tikhonov Andrei Bolkonsky Sergei Bondarchuk Pierre Bezukhov
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of Part IV.
Release Date: 1967
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the entire series.
Release Date: 1966-67
Directed by Sergei Bondarchuk.
Labels: §5, Criterion4, dramaF, historical4, period7, romance5, violence5, war3
Notorious
- Commentary: Under construction.
Roger Ebert christened this movie as one of his Great Movies.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Cary Grant T. R. Devlin Ingrid Bergman Alicia Huberman Claude Rains Alexander Sebastian Leopoldine Konstantin Madame Anna Sebastian Louis Calhern Cpt. Paul Prescott Reinhold Schünzel Dr. Anderson Moroni Olsen Walter Beardsley Ivan Triesault Eric Mathis Alexis Minotis Joseph, butler Wally Brown Mr. Hopkins Sir Charles Mendl Commodore Ricardo Costa Dr. Julio Barbosa Eberhard Krumschmidt Emil Hupka Fay Baker Ethel Bea Benaderet File Clerk Friedrich von Ledebur Knerr
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1946
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
Labels: §5, alfred-hitchcock, cary-grant, claude-rains, Criterion4, film-noir2, ingrid-bergman, melodramaB, spy, thriller3
Minding the Gap
- Commentary: Under construction. The write-up for this film on RogerEbert.com also includes Matt Fagerholm's interview with director of this film, Bing Liu.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Bing Liu Self Kent Abernathy Self Mengyue Bolen Self Nina Bowgren Self
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 2018
Directed by Bing Liu.
Labels: coming-of-age2, Criterion4, documentary2
Come and See
- Commentary: Roger Ebert christened this movie as one of his Great Movies in 2010. My guess is that he reviewed it initially in 1985 (although, maybe he didn't, maybe it didn't become available to U.S.A. audiences until 2010), but I can't seem to find any other review on his site but this one.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Aleksei Kravchenko Flyora/Florian Gaishun Olga Mironova Glasha/Glafira Liubomiras Laucevičius Kosach (voiced by Valery Kravchenko) Vladas Bagdonas Rubezh Tatyana Shestakova Flyora's mother Yevgeny Tilicheyev Gezhel, Soviet collaborator Viktors Lorents Walter Stein, German commander Jüri Lumiste German officer
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1985
Directed by Elem Klimov.
Labels: Criterion4, violence5, war3
A Brighter Summer Day
- Commentary: Under construction. For the full TCM write-up, click into the beginning of the article featured at the link in the title of this post.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Chang Chen Xiao Si'r Chang Kuo-chu Xiao Si'r's father Elaine Jin Xiao Si'r's mother Lisa Yang Ming Wong Chi-zan Cat (Wang Mao) Lawrence Ko Airplane Tan Chih-kang Ma Lin Hong-ming Honey Hung-Yu Chen Sly Wang Chuan Xiao Si'r's eldest sister Chang Han Lao Er (elder brother) Chiang Hsiu-chiung Xiao Si'r's middle sister Stephanie Lai Xiao Si'r's youngest sister Ming-Hsin Chang Underpants Chun-Lung Jung Bomber Hui-Kuo Chou Tiger
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1991
Directed by Edward Yang.
Labels: §5, Criterion4, political5, violence5
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Short Cuts
- Commentary: I saw this movie a long time ago, shortly after I became my mother's companion, during the period when she and I pursued our separate lives (mine included work, at that time) and lived together for her emotional comfort and to my enjoyment (my mother and I have been friends since I was a young adult). I didn't see it when it was first released, but a few years later at an art house theater. My memory of it is fuzzy, but my memory of my reaction to it has been very clear ever since that viewing. I think of it as a kind of Dazed and Confused for the "more mature" set. Since I began to investigate my mother's collection of movies on DVD, I've sporadically tried to hunt it down, not knowing if it had even been burnt to disc. Suddenly, today, as it turns out, I watched this video by Daisuke Beppu and, low an behold, there was my movie! Not only that, but he talked about not only the most recent release, but the old one with a booklet of Raymond Chandler's short stories, the edition for which I've been searching all these years!
Criterion no longer carries their original release of this film (with the booklet). The last place I considered looking was Amazon, but when I ran a search through my favored search engine, that's where it turned up! It's winging it's way to me, as I write, and should arrive a week from tomorrow. Its page indicates that the movie, itself, is "new", which I didn't expect at all, so I'm very excited!
I have to admit, it's more expensive than the movies I usually buy, but not for a Criterion movie (which I only buy during sales at reduced prices from other places besides Criterion) but, frankly, I consider its price a bargain, considering everything. It is still cheaper than your average, off-sale price of a Criterion movie sold at the Criterion website.
It's done in what has become known as Robert Altman's style (like Nashville, which I own and love and watch semi-regularly). As is true of a typical Robert Altman work, it features loads of actors, famous, not-so-famous and infamous, and sets each of them in situations which play to their acting strengths. There is an overall "theme", but not like Nashville.
It's been a long, long time since I've seen it, so watching it will be akin to my memory surprising me over and over. I'll be back, later, to catalog my reaction to seeing it again.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Andie MacDowell Ann Finnigan Bruce Davison Howard Finnigan Julianne Moore Marian Wyman Matthew Modine Dr. Ralph Wyman Anne Archer Claire Kane Fred Ward Stuart Kane Jennifer Jason Leigh Lois Kaiser Chris Penn Jerry Kaiser Lili Taylor Honey Piggot Bush Robert Downey Jr. Bill Bush Madeleine Stowe Sherri Shepard Tim Robbins Gene Shepard Lily Tomlin Doreen Piggot Tom Waits Earl Piggot Frances McDormand Betty Weathers Peter Gallagher Stormy Weathers Annie Ross Tess Trainer Lori Singer Zoe Trainer Jack Lemmon Paul Finnigan Lyle Lovett Andy Bitkower Buck Henry Gordon Johnson Huey Lewis Vern Miller Charles Rocket Wally Littleton Michael Beach Jim Stone
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1993
Directed by Robert Altman.
Labels: §5, Criterion4, dramedy3, jennifer-jason-leigh, julianne-moore, matthew-modine, robert-altman, robert-downey-jr, tim-robbins
Tuesday, March 08, 2022
Brute Force
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Burt Lancaster Joe Collins Hume Cronyn Captain Munsey Charles Bickford Gallagher Ann Blyth Ruth
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1947
Directed by Jules Dassin.
Labels: §3, burt-lancaster, Criterion4, film-noir1, hume-cronyn, melodramaB
Safe
- Commentary: I watched this movie today, 3/21/2022. The experience was somewhat unsettling for me, for a few reasons. I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but when I watch a movie that has a soundtrack of popular music from an era through which I lived and in which I paid particular attention to that popular music, I find it disquieting. This doesn't happen often. Luckily, I don't end up obtaining many movies that have vivid sound tracks with which I personally identify. In the case of this movie, for me, because I was so familiar with the soundtrack and associated it with a very specific time in my life in which I was in my car a lot, listening to the radio, traveling from job to job, hearing the soundtrack took me out of the movie and whipped me back to that time.
Other than that, I thought Julianne Moore's performance was astonishing, the character she played was even more astonishing, and, although I've never lived through such a character crisis, had circumstances been a bit different in my life, had I, for instance, gotten married, kept a home for a family, lived in an environment with very strict behavioral codes, I could imagine myself adopting some of that character's behaviors, just in order to remain standing. This surprised me, as it made me aware of the differences between expression of one's self and the expression of other's expectations of one's role that continues to plague women 35 years after the period of time this movie portrays and 27 years after this movie hit the screens. Todd Haynes, himself, has referred to this movie as a horror film. I would have to agree, and a damned subtle and intriguing horror film, at that, which continues, in my opinion, to seem applicable to the lives of women.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Julianne Moore Carol White Peter Friedman Peter Dunning James LeGros Chris Susan Norman Linda
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1995
Directed by Todd Haynes.
Labels: Criterion4, dramaE, horror1, julianne-moore, psychological1, women's-movie2
Sisters
- Commentary: I watched this movie last night, 3/20/22. It is yet another in a group of off-center horror movies that I purchased not too long ago. This one is clearly a Brian De Palma film. It was one of his early efforts. He doesn't have as firm a handle on his art, yet, but his promise is clear and the result is entertaining. It was impossible for me to take it seriously consistently. It continually drops into a bit of a puddle of made-for-TV-movies-cum-it's-supposed-to-be-funny-folks, rises out of it as an earnest effort, then drops back, again, and again, and again. The performances are crystalline, but the direction was not, which was clear even to me, who loves movies but is far from educated in film or savvy about all aspects of filmography. However, it was fun for me to watch, being a huge fan of some of De Palma's later films, especially those he released in the 1980's, some of which I gladly own. This one made me very curious about films he's done since then that I haven't seen, which are many. I think I might need to make a trip to the local library. The thing is, in this film, you can see his spark and his genius, but you can also clearly see how far he had yet to come. Thank the movie gods he continued on the journey, and is on that road, still!
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Margot Kidder Danielle Breton/Dominique Blanchion Jennifer Salt Grace Collier Charles Durning Joseph Larch Olympia Dukakis Louise Wilanski
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1972
Directed by Brian De Palma.
Labels: brian-de-palma, Criterion4, detective1, horror1, neo-noirA, suspense3, thriller2, violence4
one sings, the other doesn't
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Thérèse Liotard Suzanne Valérie Mairesse Pomme Ali Rafie Darius Robert Dadiès Jérôme
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1977
Directed by Agnès Varda.
Labels: §3, Criterion4
The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Shin Saburi Mokichi Satake Michiyo Kogure Taeko Satake Kōji Tsuruta Non-chan/Noboru Okada Chishū Ryū Sadao Hirayama
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1952
Directed by Yasujirō Ozu.
Labels: §3, chishū-ryū, Criterion4, yasujirō-ozu
The Story of Temple Drake
- Commentary: Under construction.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Miriam Hopkins Temple Drake Jack La Rue Trigger William Gargan Stephen Benbow Florence Eldridge Ruby Lemarr Irving Pichel James Goodwin Jobyna Howland Miss Reba Guy Standing Judge Drake Elizabeth Patterson Aunt Jennie Harlan Knight Pap James Eagles Tommy James Pier Mason Van Louise Beavers Minnie
Here's a link to the Wikipedia write-up of the film.
Release Date: 1933
Directed by Stephen Roberts.
Labels: §3, Criterion4, louise-beavers, miriam-hopkins, pre-code, southern-gothic
