Tag Archives: D.W. Griffith

384. Gomorrah

Matteo Garrone’s adaptation of Roberto Saviano’s book on the Neapolitan camorra smacks down the innumerable movies that have marketed the Mafia mythology.

376. The Passion of Joan of Arc

In Carl Theodor Dreyer’s silent masterpiece, the story isn’t so much told through the Saint’s eyes as it is read on her face.

360. Waltz with Bashir

Ari Folman’s animated documentary is different from many other films about trauma. But it is only in its final moments that it reveal its most telling truth.

330. Aguirre, the Wrath of God

Werner Herzog’s hallucinatory telling of a Conquistador’s search for El Dorado etches a landscape of greed on the human face.

319. 2001: A Space Odyssey

For all its groundbreaking effects and narrative innovation, this owes a debt to a romantic fantasy and a Soviet propaganda film.

318. Battleship Potemkin

Sergei Eisenstein devised montage for black and white and silent film. How have sound, colour and digital extended his theories?

316. The Marriage of Maria Braun

In The Marriage of Maria Braun, Rainer Werner Fassbinder mixed Hollywood melodrama, historical drama and political indictment.

298. The Great Beauty

While Paolo Sorrentino’s film follows in the footsteps of Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni, its quest arrives at a very surprising answer.

293. A Clockwork Orange

Kubrick’s controversial film remains relevant because of the Ludovico Technique’s conversion therapy: Pray Away the Gay.

276. Le Mépris

When it comes to making movies about making movies, many directors choose to venerate the medium. Not Jean-Luc Godard. He treats it with contempt.

268. 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.

237. 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.

218. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

An unknown author, a director not known for action, and only one actor fluent in the language. How did this film succeed?

186. Spotlight

Spotlight is more than just an investigation into the child abuse scandals that riddled Boston’s Archdiocese. It is an examination of the institutions we create.

Fifty Shades of Hate

This video-essay addresses the abuse inflicted by men against women in cinema. The films are critically acclaimed, Oscar winners and box-office hits. WARNING: It features scenes of extreme graphic violence.

American Trailers

This extended video-essay charts the development and possible future of the America movie trailer. Beginning in 1912, taking in the coming of television and suggesting where it might go in the age of the internet.

112. Dazed and Confused

Belonging to a tradition that dates back to Rebel Without a Cause, Richard Linklater’s early masterpiece also owes some debt of gratitude to Robert Altman.

109. Heaven’s Gate

Heaven’s Gate was such a flop, it sank a studio. But in the years since its release, its reputation has been growing. Is it the masterpiece some people claim?

64. James Bond & the Art of the Set-Piece

007 is more than just dry martinis, guns, gadgets and product placement. His best contribution to cinema is the Set-Piece.

4. Point Blank

John Boorman’s first film in America brought a very distinctive and European look to the hardened Hollywood gangster genre.


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