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Rope (1948)
Rope is intriguing, if not altogether successful. The picture marked a kind of paradox for Alfred Hitchcock, a master of cinematic storytelling who presented himself with a challenge that appeared almost antithetical to the possibilities of film. In adapting a 1929 play by Patrick Hamilton, the director wanted the story to be experienced in the same…
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Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Back in the day when Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay were still pals, they stumbled upon a winning formula for comedy with 2004’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, which goosed TV newsrooms while simultaneously skewering the Dumb American Male over a fire pit. The humor was silly, largely improvisational, and devoted to a spirit…
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The Awful Truth (1937)
The centerpiece of this screwball comedy still sparkles as brilliantly as it did in 1937, that being the embattled married couple of Jerry and Lucy Wariner, played by Cary Grant and Irene Dunne. Oklahoma viewers, however, might be slightly more interested by Ralph Bellamy as the movie’s requisite dope, a rich Oklahoma oilman named Dan.…
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Topaz (1969)
The late 1960s marked something of a downslide for Alfred Hitchcock. There is speculation about what prompted his string of disappointments. Perhaps the slow demise of the studio system left the master of suspense rudderless. Hitchcock scholar Donald Spoto contended in his 1983 biography, The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock, that…
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The Ritchie Boys (2004)
One of the pleasures of little-known documentaries is learning about something wholly new and unexpected. After Ken Burns’ exhaustive documentary on World War II, I figured there weren’t too many more WW2 stories still waiting to be unearthed. The Ritchie Boys happily proved me wrong. This straightforward doc tells the tale of a group of…
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Year by year: My faves of the 2010s
Will the 2010s be the last hurrah for the full-fledged movie theater-going experience? Streaming and home devices were certainly changing habits before COVID decimated theaters. There is some reason for optimism, thankfully. At any rate, this decade was an eclectic one… 2010: 10. Four Lions, director: Chris Morris9. The Fighter, director: David O. Russell8. Let…
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The Tree of Life (2011)
Not many pictures are so flat-out ballsy as to interrupt its principal narrative in order to reveal the origin of the cosmos. But Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life does just that. This coming-of-age story is ambitious and audacious, bold and bewildering. It is 2001 with a Texas twang. It is amazing. That doesn’t mean…
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Year by year: My faves of the 1970s
Hollywood’s second golden age saw the emergence of film school influences, cultural upheaval, experimentation, and a European art-house sensibility. Conversely, the decade also saw the birth of the blockbuster. With apologies to a podcast of the same name, these are (along with the 1980s) the movies that made me. 1970: 10. The Landlord, director: Hal…
Cutting to the Chase with Phil Bacharach
Let’s talk about movies.
Cutting to the Chase with Phil Bacharach 