Tag Archives: Orson Welles

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.

234. Great Shots – Part One

What makes for a great shot? Beauty? The lens? Lighting? Combine them and you have more than just an image.

233. “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?

232. The Age of Innocence

Best known for his crime dramas, Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of Edith Wharton’s romantic novel is one of his most incisive works.

231. 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.

228. The Magnificent Ambersons

Orson Welles is celebrated for Citizen Kane but it was this adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s novel that defined his career.

224. Citizen Kane

Orson Welles’ debut feature is now a quarter of a century old. Have we been taking its greatness for granted or is it time for reappraisal?

216. Great Scenes – Part Two

What makes for a great scene? Performance? Conflict? Dialogue? Visuals? Music? Combine them and you have atomic weight.

213. Cinema Sex

Orson Welles was one of cinema’s true geniuses but was he correct in claiming that two things cinema couldn’t honestly depict were prayer and sex?

202. #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.

200. Apocalypse Now

Francis Ford Coppola’s radical adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novella is one of the most astonishing achievements in the entire history of cinema.

192. Wuthering Heights

Emily Brontë’s novel has been filmed over 25 times. Is there a line between radical interpretation and reckless desecration?

182. Gaslight

Made in 1944, Gaslight is an Oscar-winning melodrama concerning madness and murder. The film itself is guilty of attempted homicide.

172. The War of the Roses

Divorce is traumatic enough we hardly need to laugh at it. But this deliciously dark comedy brought career highs from all involved.

167. Sexy Beast

Jonathan Glazer’s film is one of the most assured debuts in cinema history. But the film has another entrance that also stands with the best of them.

158. The Big Sleep

How can Howard Hawks’ adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s labyrinthine detective novel be heralded as a classic when it is impossible to follow?

149. The Last Picture Show

How did New York’s Peter Bogdanovich make a masterpiece set in small town Texas when he had never set foot in the state?

Scorsese/Welles

This short video-essay compares and contrasts the ways both Martin Scorsese and Orson Welles present the corrupting forces of wealth and power. Their narratives may be similar but they yield different results.

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.

107. The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson may share his surname with other directors, but there’s no mistaking his films for anybody elses.

The Journeys of Martin Scorsese

This video-essay celebrates the career of Martin Scorsese, showing how he has taken cinema as a means of telling stories and expanded it as a means of personal expression.

94. JFK

Oliver Stone’s JFK was lambasted by both the political left and right for its factual inaccuracies. But since very few can agree on the facts, is it a good movie?

71. The Summer Blockbuster

With young audiences off from school, Hollywood knows there is more money to be made in the summer than at any other time.

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.

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