Reviews

This was my sleeper of the year. Little attention was given a film about a kid searching for God after his grandpa dies. Yet young Joseph Cross will win your heart as he starts what could be a terrific career. The film is hardly perfect but is so different from most other films and how can it be so funny. Well it is. Sometimes films work & some don't. If more people saw this gem of a movie, then more would love it.

Richard Lester made what is clearly the best three musketeers film! Competition is not that bad but he added great filming, acting, casting, and the little touches, particularly games and sidelights that were typical to the period. The film is always moving and a terrific action film.

Robert Flaherty had a great eye for the interesting shots. Never more so than this oil company funded film about a young boy seeing the oil rig come to his Louisiana bayou. Although there is not much of a story the shots of the oil rig, life in the bayou, and the moods that Flaherty captures make it a film well worth seeing. If you see "Man of Aran" or "Nannok of the North" remember it was the same great documentary filmmaker. I've seen it twice and probably will see it again someday.

Seeing a film 50 or 60 years after it was made, you sometimes need to say, well they didn"t have all of the tecnology that current filmmakers do today. That is not the case with "Adventures of Robin Hood". The color is wonderful. I believe the best early example of color. The acting by Errol Flynn, not usually among the greats, was wonderful. Basil Rathbone was a great evil counterpoint. The swordsmanship exciting. Music & pacing were right on. It simply is an adventure classic that even sixty plus years later holds up wonderfully.

This was one of the most disappointing films I've seen. Critics made me think this was special and it only was especially slow and tedious. The film is pretentious and a poor way to waste a couple of hours. Great people were involved and produced a bloated waste of time.

Laurence Olivier was at his best acting and directing in the greatest play ever written. Powerful and complete it was Olivier's interpretation of Hamlet that adds life to many familiar lines. The greatest actor of the 20th century did credit to Shakespeare and himself. His version of the soliloquy "To be or not to be" is the one to compare all others with.

As a recovering alcoholic (14 years sober) this remains as the first great film dealing with alcoholism. Ray Milland"s great performance shows realistically the insanity of drinking and the struggles. The promises and hidden bottles will ring true to anyone who has dealt with the problem. Billy Wilder's career was noted for his comedies but he showed in "Lost Weekend" that he knew how to deal with serious matter as well. The ending shot is a classic and will be memorable for anyone seeing the film. Check out "Days of Wine & Roses" as well.

Dovzhenko's masterpiece deserves to be seen. Not watched or followed because of the storyline, which is propaganda but what images! The Russian people were carefully chosen to epitomize the struggle and suffering of the people. The carefully constructed shots are visual wonders that can simply be enjoyed in and of themselves. The film captivated me thirty years ago and seeing it again still left me tremendously impressed.

Amazingly it took a Communist to make the most powerful and certainly the greatest film on Christ. Passolini shows miracles, but without the Hollywood special effects. The music is outstanding and captivating. By noticing the very high average score by voters in your survey this is not a unique position. I remember thinking that this comes closer to Jesus as a revolutionary than any other film I've seen, but wasn't that the message? Perhaps Jesus seemed too angry at times, or was it simply impatience or a sense of urgency. Controversial but thoughtful and powerful.

Baseball fans are likely to find this John Sayles low-budget film pretty much to their liking. It also serves well to see "Field of Dreams" and understand those banned players from the cornfield. Acting was good and generally historically correct.

Of all films that have won an Academy award for Best Picture this is by far the worst choice the academy made.I say this having seen every Academy award winner of the last sixty-five years. The film is a bore. Slow and stultifying, pretentious. Pollock is a fine director but this filmn tried to be artsy from a book that was hard to pick up rather than hard to put down.

Well before "The Big Chill" came along, John Sayles made this terrific low-budget film. If you are looking for slick-filmmaking go elsewhere. If you want something that is different, and for me far more believable, than most Hollywood films try this one.

Chukrai has made a film that combines the great Russian visual style with the most human of filmmaking. Ivashov is superb as the soldier who knows his duty as well as his family. A movie that reaches and touches its audience for many reasons and on many levels. Of all the Russian films I've seen this is the one that touched my heart.

For westerners, like myself, the beauty and wonder of the Indian culture and humanity of the people was supremely captured in Ray's masterpiece. I've seen the film three times and each reveals new insights.

The first great 3-D movie was full of delights. I remember sitting far back and loving the paddle ball going three-fourths of the way out into the audience. Vincent Price is his usual demonic best. A film that can still be fun.

Robert Flaherty was the great American documentary filmmaker from Nanook of the North to Louisiana Story. Funded by the oil industry, nonetheless, the great visuals from a director -cinematographer make this film a joy. Forget the story and "see" the film!

As a recovering alcoholic of almost fifteen years I'm thankful to Ray Milland for his great performance about the unyielding grip that alcohol can have over someone. The fact that this film does not gloss over as most films do, the fact that only through groups like AA can someone hope to break from its clutches, makes up for the fact that it seems dated today. Thank you Billy Wilder for drawing an accurate picture of the alcoholics great battle with the bottle and himself.

If you have seen Battleship Potemkin & October, you should not miss Sergei Eisenstein at his mature best. The film is moody, brooding, and powerful. The acting is probably the best of any of his films and the dramatic power of well-designed scenes that are meant to convey extra force, is unmistakable. A film that is meant to be seen, not simply a story, because visually it's magnificent.

Edgar Ulmer made the greatest low-budget (close to no-budget) film in history. Narration, style, acting that misses occasionally but still becomes 1940's believable. Wonderful fun and well-worth watching. Trust those of us who have seen it.

W.C. Fields movies are always filled with his unique brand of humor, none more so that than "Sucker". If you see only one Fields film this should be it. The chase scene at the end is one of the best from the 1940's and still holds up decently today.

Dreyer's masterpiece is also Falconetti's masterpiece and the most powerful film role by any woman ever. Critics have said it for years and anyone who sees the film will know why. See it and it will remain with you forever. I saw it over thirty years ago and have never seen another actress come close to this role.

Hard to find, I saw this in the 1960's in Berkeley, California and even then it seemed dated and yet the Japanese style and film touches that later influenced Kurosawa & Ozu were unmistakable. This is surely the first important Japanese film and the one that influenced the later masters. Simple in story-telling and rich in characterization, even if the acting seems a bit overwrought. Try to find it.

Maybe not as funny as "The Freshman" but as inventive and stylish as any Harold Lloyd film. Today people forget that he was as popular with movie-goers of the teens and 20's as Chaplin and Keaton. This film shows why. You will never forget him holding on to the hands of the clock many stories above the New York skyline. Still a treat.

In the 1960's Time called "Way Down East" the greatest film ever made and had no less than Charles Laughton & Lillian Gish to back it up. The scene of Richard Barthelmess chasing after Miss Gish on the ice flow is still wonderful and one of cinema's classics. A film that is well worth seeing.