Vikings – King Alfred’s Rise and Bishop Heahmund’s Fall
The challenge Vikings faces is how to sustain the drama. Battles are an obvious answer but what makes a good battle? It must be more than life and death.
Tag Archives: Akira Kurosawa
Lost in Translation
Sofia Coppola’s Oscar-winning, off-beat romance deftly explores themes such as isolation, miscommunication and the superficiality of modern media.
The Double Life of Veronique
Krzysztof Kieślowski avoids all the clichés of doppelgängers, doubles and lookalikes to deliver a meditation on freedom.
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
Films about writers are tricky propositions but you can roughly divide the genre into two eras; pre- and post-Mishima.
The Godfather
Regarded as the greatest gangster picture of them all, the passing years continue to reveal new layers and meanings in Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece.
Yi Yi
As the title to Edward Yang’s masterpiece indicates, Yi Yi is a series of doubles; narrative, thematic, visual and aural, that deliver a subtle family portrait.
Wadjda
Precious few films celebrate the joys of riding a bike. Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda is more than just a celebration; it is a dissection of an entire culture.
Miller’s Crossing
The plot to Miller’s Crossing is so complex, it’s hard to even figure out where and when it is set. And that’s before we discuss the meaning of Tom Reagan’s hat.
Great Openings – Part Three
What makes for a great opening? Character? Conflict? Poetry? Hopefully, more than something we’re supposed to just listen to.
Dunkirk
All boring films are alike; every great film is great in its own way. Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk belongs not just to the latter but amongst the greatest ever made.
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
It is incorrectly assumed that Steven Spielberg turned Stanley Kubrick’s dark story into another of his child-friendly fantasies.
Le Samouraï
Jean-Pierre Melville’s masterpiece is so influential, even if you haven’t seen it… you have seen it because you’ve seen dozens of films influenced by it.
Slow-Motion
Once considered avant-garde, slow-motion is now the mainstay of every action film. Here are some of the best and most innovative uses of the technique.
All About My Mother
Once dismissed as The King of Kitsch, Pedro Almodovar has since become a laureate of liberalism. This masterpiece from 1999 was the turning point.
Tokyo Story
On the surface Yasujiro Ozu’s examination of family life in post-war Japan may sound simple, but what he delivered is one of cinema’s supreme achievements.
M
In terms of genre, few films are as influential film as Fritz Lang’s M. Where would The French Connection, LA Confidential and Se7en be without it?
Rashomon
Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon is celebrated for asking what is truth. Which is more than a little ironic, because that’s not what it is really about.
Diva
Like many other cult classics, the French thriller Diva was almost still born. Rejected by the French critics and public, it only got a second lease of life in the US.
#Shakespeare400
He died in 1616 but the fact that over four hundred films have been made from his plays shows how much The Bard knew about human nature.
The Case for the Courtroom Drama
Of all the genres, the courtroom is perhaps the one most beset by clichés. So is there any evidence for a few masterpieces?
The Searchers
The Searchers is both a cinematic monument and an extremely unsettling depiction of the racism that lies at the heart of America’s own mythology.
Once Upon a Time in the West
Sergio Leone’s masterpiece doesn’t only reference American westerns. He also drew inspiration from an English film.
Moving Pictures: From Hollywood to Silicon Valley
This extended video-essay examines the innovations at the heart of cinema, focusing on how cinema is coping with the move from Hollywood to Silicon Valley.
Gone Girl
Adapted from Gillian Flynn’s best-selling thriller, David Fincher’s film keeps its most surprising twist until the final shot. And it’s not what you think.
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Steven Benedict (StevenBenedict2)
Award-winning filmmaker. Podcaster, broadcaster, author and lecturer. I'm downloading the universe one app at a time.
Dublin, Ireland
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