View image I can't think of another movie that makes me laugh and cry within the course of its opening shot. This is "The Big Animal" (2000), a feature directed by and starring Jerzy Stuhr, based on an early screenplay…
Wow, this is sad. There aren't even very many good movies on the list, much less great ones. Guess this is an example of what one Spinal Tap member called "too f-----g much perspective." So, what was the last really…
View image On the state of film criticism, yesterday... and today. An open letter to the Seattle Weekly from Michael Seiwerath of the Northwest Film Forum (posted at GreenCine Daily) should remind us, on the one hand, what's lost when…
Martin Scorsese has an Oscar in his hand. It's his Oscar. For the first time in 30+ years, Roger Ebert watched the Oscars from home instead of from backstage. He writes about the experience here. Meanwhile, I spent my Oscar…
Lowe does Snow -- live! Oh, and so much more. Here's the ideal warm-up for Sunday's Academy Awards festivities: the infamous Allan Carr-produced 1989 Oscar opening number that also features Army Archerd, Merv Griffin, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Vincent…
Academy Award-winning Cher in her "serious actress" Oscar ensemble. Almost every year for the last 20 or so I've had to think seriously about that question. I mean, what is there to write about the Oscars that hasn't already been…
As far as I can tell, this is not Pauline Kael. "The hot-pants Queen Victoria of American film criticism, Pauline Kael has now paid the debt of nature, providing the obituarians with the opportunity to finally top off their 35-year…
Pauline Kael by David Levine, for NYRoB. This is a continuation of the discussion about the legacy of critic Pauline Kael, five-plus years after her death (Art and Trash: Critics on/of Pauline Kael). It's particularly for those who don't remember…
Frame from the opening shot -- of a pre-1998 version. C. Jerry Kutner's contribution to the Contrarianism Blog-a-Thon ("Why Murch's 'Touch of Evil' Doesn't Make the Cut!") is generating some discussion over at Bright Lights After Dark. You should look…
Waldo Lydecker: "I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom.... Hand me my towel, would you?" First, let me again express my gratitude to all those who got into the spirit of the Contrarianism…
Great Movies