| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
Army of Shadows (1969) |
|
"It took decades for the film to be rediscovered, reassessed and proclaimed a masterpiece." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Back From Eternity (1956) |
|
"... John Farrow's 1956 aviation disaster thriller turned jungle survival drama is in fact a faithful remake of the director's own 1939 Five Came Back." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Bedtime for Bonzo (1951) |
|
"... you might be surprised to discover that the modest little comedy is actually an enjoyable piece of light entertainment." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1983) |
|
"Rainer Werner Fassbinder's fifteen-hour-plus adaptation of Alfred Döblin's novel, one of the most revered classics of German literature, is the German auteur's most lavish and complex production ever." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Black Hole (1979) |
|
"The science of this fiction is as hokey as the drama, but the imaginative art design and excellent special effects are magnificent." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Calcutta (1947) |
|
"The most startling aspect of the production is the extreme poverty and squalor that he captures with his camera." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Contact (1997) |
|
"With all the science and technology, Zemeckis and the writers made room for spiritual debates (some of them painfully slight), political commentary, and a strangely tepid and inert romance..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Dark Past (1949) |
|
"... a minor noir notable largely for Holden's uncharacteristically feral performance..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Death of a Cyclist (1955) |
|
"Imagine a Michelangelo Antonio drama of upper class disaffection by way of a film noir..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Devil Dogs of the Air (1935) |
|
"It's really a showcase for Cagney's cocky charm and smart-aleck attitude..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Elusive Corporal (1962) |
|
"The tone is light and the repeated escape attempts are played with a comic undertone, yet behind the humor is the feeling of dignity lost..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Explosive Generation (1961) |
|
"... an early celebration of social protest from the youth generation." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) |
|
"... surely the most magnificent period piece of its era." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Fires on the Plain (1959) |
|
"... a grim and gruesome and at times macabre autopsy of its (selectively Japanese) victims." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
-- |
|
Francis the Talking Mule (1950) |
|
Click here to see the review. | |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Gung Ho! (1943) |
|
"... the film moves from the familiar cliches of platoon drama character vignettes to the sinewy action scenes of the invasion." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
I Am Cuba (1964) |
|
"Politics, propaganda and poetry are whipped into an exotic cinematic cocktail in Mikhail Kalatozov's delirious tribute to the Cuban revolution..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
-- |
|
I Am Curious (Blue) (1968) |
|
Click here to see the review. | |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
I Was Born, But... (1932) |
|
"Behind the deft comedy and spirited performances of the two boys is a rather somber engagement with the compromises adults make to the demands of the social order." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Iron Horse (1924) |
|
"It's the atmosphere that Ford captures so beautifully, from the location shooting to the labor and process of clearing land and laying track." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Jubal (1956) |
|
"This is less Shakespeare than Hollywood melodrama in chaps and Daves was a seasoned hand at both genres." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Konga (1961) |
|
"Konga is a giant ape movie to be sure but Gough's Dr. Decker is a mad scientist in the mode of Peter Cushing's Dr. Frankenstein from Hammer's series..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Kundun (1997) |
|
"Kundun is surely the most gentle and meditative of Scorsese's films, a placid biography with the scope of an epic, the quality of a storybook, and the dramatic stakes of a tragedy." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
La Marseillaise (1937) |
|
"... the heady, idealistic days of the French Revolution as seen from the street, through the eyes of an idealistic group of Republicans from Marseilles..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Ladies Man (1961) |
|
"...it's hard not to be awed by the technological leaps of this production, and at their best his gags delve in to the realm of the surreal last visited by the Marx Brothers." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Mala Noche (1985) |
|
"The film is a study in infatuation and rejection, euphoria and frustration, and Van Sant observes their dance of desire and dismissal and wary coexistence without judgment." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Murder in the Private Car (1934) |
|
"... a lightweight programmer with a capricious attitude toward plotting and a script unencumbered by logic." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
My Brother's Wedding (1983) |
|
"[Director Charles Burnett] paints a world of complex family dynamics and social relations..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
My Life as a Dog (1987) |
|
"One of the greatest and most sensitive films about children and the turbulence of childhood..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
None But the Brave (1965) |
|
"... a familiar lesson in the futility of war, but [director Frank] Sinatra has an easy way with the actors and lets them carry the scenes." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Passing Fancy (1933) |
|
"... utterly contemporary to the times, a stylized snapshot of working class life in 1933 Japan, and Ozu's details of their subsistence existence... creates a rich atmosphere." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Pierrot Le Fou (1965) |
|
"... plays like Godard's formal farewell to his past films, a last play with his old toys before putting them into storage and moving on to more serious concerns" | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Private Property (2002) |
|
"It's a nature study of the dysfunctional family unit in its native habitat and Lafosse's camera captures every behavioral nuance with cold clarity." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Rembrandt (1936) |
|
"[Alexander Korda's] direction tends to be stiff and stagy but he showcases his magnificent sets and costumes and his detailed period recreations beautifully." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Ring of Fear (1954) |
|
"The resulting film, with its wildly inconsistent acting styles and loopy dialogue , borders on camp classic." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Rio Bravo (1959) |
|
"... one Hawks' greatest films, perhaps his masterpiece, and one of the finest westerns of all time." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Seven (1995) |
|
"The real star of Seven, however, is the gloom and doom of the setting: an unidentified blight of a modern city." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Stranger Than Paradise (1984) |
|
"... like a French New wave film by way of Bela Tarr, directed with a hipster American comic sensibility and an outsider's fascination with the details of the everyday." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
-- |
|
Sunday in New York (1963) |
|
Click here to see the review. | |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Terminator (1984) |
|
"Gritty, clever, breathlessly paced, and dynamic despite the dark shadow of doom cast over the story, this sci-fi thriller remains one of the defining American films of the 1980s." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Doctor's Horrible Experiment (1958) |
|
"The film shifts tones and rhythms almost uncomfortably..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
There Was a Father (1942) |
|
"If There Was a Father celebrates obedience as a virtue and duty the highest calling on the surface, there is an ambiguity in Ozu's tone." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Third Man (1949) |
|
"... one of the most beloved of movies of all time, a crisp, clever, witty, yet serious international thriller, with a dramatic ambiguity and a satirical edge." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Threepenny Opera (1931) |
|
"It's a lavish production and it shows in every frame, yet [director G.W.] Pabst is also true to Brecht's political commentary and social satire." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Tingler (1959) |
|
"The Tingler is more gimmick than movie and it lacks the level of tension and terror of other productions, but the showmanship is still a lot of fun." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Tokyo Chorus (1931) |
|
"... Ozu fills the film with deft sight gags, many thanks to the antics of the son, yet there's undercurrent of desperation to the comedy." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Tom Jones (1963) |
|
"A lusty historical romp with a cheeky sense of humor and a rollicking energy..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Twelve O'Clock High (1949) |
|
"... one of the first and arguably the greatest of the Hollywood films to examine the pressures of command and psychological toll of making life and death decision..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
The Velvet Touch (1948) |
|
"(The)staging is more theatrical than cinematic, appropriate perhaps for a film so steeped in the culture of Broadway but less effective in building tension..." | |
Sean Axmaker | |
|
IGN RSS Feeds
