- Brief Encounter is such a lovely gem of a movie—one that, as Greta Gerwig puts it in an interview on the Criterion Channel, “lets you be in love with falling in love.” It doesn’t feel at first like it should even work, told so simply through flashback and voice-over narration, but there are such wonderful performances in it, particularly by Celia Johnson, and the movie is directed so deftly by David Lean.
- I don’t know that I would go so far as to call Blast of Silence a “neglected film noir masterpiece” (as Patton Oswalt does here), but it’s a uniquely grim and impressive early neo-noir.
- Drums Along the Mohawk isn’t very culturally sensitive, to say the least, but there are good performances and strong direction by John Ford.
- Nimona is, top to bottom, such an awesomely delightful and genuinely touching movie.
- Testament is a remarkable, but difficult, watch—a movie that, as Roger Ebert put it, “asks how we might act toward one another, how our values might stand up, in the face of an overwhelming catastrophe.” It is such a heartbreaking movie that, nevertheless, refuses to let go of hope.
- It’s not that there are great ideas in Screamers—those feel more than a little shopworn, confused, and under-developed—but there is (again as Roger Ebert put it) “a certain imagination and intelligence” to the filmmaking. Most of that comes through Peter Weller’s performance, which isn’t enough to recommend the movie, but is strong enough to make it interesting.
- How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a terrifically tense film, though I suppose how you end up feeling about it will depend on how much you sympathize with the characters, or how comfortable you are with not knowing who to sympathize with.
- John Frankenheimer’s documentary-like filmmaking is well suited to The Train, as is Burt Lancaster’s performance, though you can’t often go wrong with either one of them.
- The Watermelon Woman feels every bit like a mid-’90s independent movie—loose, semi-improvised scenes by non-professional actors—but it asks important questions with warmth and humor. Even if the filmmaking itself feels somewhat dated, or at least very much of its time, it’s an entertaining movie made by and about black lesbians.
- Cemetery Man feels reminiscient of Sam Raimi or early Peter Jackson, but is never as clever, interesting, or fun as either of them. It holds only scattered moments of enjoyment. As critic Mick LaSalle wrote, “It aims high and misses, but it does hold interest with visual flash, wry humor and a couple of sex scenes that can make steam come out of your ears.”
- Fallen Leaves is a bittersweet and deceptively simple love story.
- I don’t really share Steven Soderbergh’s recent fondness for anamorphic lenses, but the choice is less distracting in High Flying Bird, which is thoroughly engaging, thanks to some terrific performances all around, particularly by André Holland.
I also rewatched Predator, which is still a fantastic ’80s sci-fi action movie, but I don’t think it could ever be as cool as it was to ten-year-old me watching it on hotel cable in 1987.
