I used to think of Billy Wilder primarily as a very witty, literate screenwriter who made sophisticated, Lubitsch -like films. But re-watching Sunset Boulevard and Stalag 17 recently, I was reminded again of how hard-edged Wilder’s sense of humour is. Of course, there was never any denying that he made some very cynical movies (most notably Ace in the Hole , which anticipates the evils of today’s...
As anyone who knows the film well might realize, the idea of a special screening of Robert Altman’s masterpiece THE LONG GOODBYE at the Hammer Museum in Westwood Village was very appropriate if only because the museum is located by the corner of Wilshire & Westwood, situated exactly where Elliott Gould’s Phillip Marlowe chases after the Mercedes driven by Nina van Pallandt’s Eileen...
The Oscar race doesn't begin and end with Up in the Air , certainly, but it's one of a handful of movies expected to be represented throughout the evening on March 7th. It has a Best Actor possibility in George Clooney (which would be his fifth nomination in four years), a Supporting Actress push for Anna Kendrick , plus awards for Adapted Screenplay, Director, and Best Picture. If it doesn't "feel"...
By Kevin B. Lee [ Editor's Note: This is the latest entry in House contributor Kevin B. Lee's Shooting Down Pictures , a record of his ongoing quest to see every title on the list of the 1000 Greatest Films compiled by They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? ] _____________________ One: Is it backhanded praise to say that One, Two, Three is a movie you don’t even have to look at to enjoy? For the first...
The Apartment ***** IMDB This is the simple tale of a mensch, a decent guy. ..... He's a gentle heart adrift in a sea of anonymity and loneliness. .... His unscrupulous colleagues, sensing his innocent eagerness for approval in the form of company advancement, persuade him to let them use his bachelor apartment as a love nest for their secret trysts. .... When his boss makes a reservation on which...
Where to watch free movies online? Here’s a list that will get you started. We’ve listed 30 sites that feature a wide range of films, plus a healthy number of great films. Classics, international, film noir, documentaries, indies — they’re all here, waiting to be watched. So please Free Movies Online A Woman (1915) with Charlie Chaplin. Adaptation [...]
Amelia Earhart, the great pioneer aviatrix, has been impersonated on screen by numerous actresses, among them Katharine Hepburn, Rosalind Russell, Diane Keaton and Amy Adams. But never as convincingly as she is by Hilary Swank in this immensely enjoyably biopic from the Indian director who made her name with Salaam Bombay! . With the right short haircut, some orthodontic effects and sporting her regular...
L'Atalante (1934) .. Jean Vigo The Spirit of the Beehive (1973) .. Victor Erice Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) .. Robert Bresson Tokyo Story (1953) .. Yasujiro Ozu Man with a Movie Camera (1929) .. Dziga Vertov La Règle du Jeu (1939) .. Jean Renoir Playtime (1967) .. Jacques Tati L'Avventura (1960) .. Michelangelo Antonioni Sunrise (1927) .. F.W. Murnau The Conformist (1970) .. Bernardo Bertolucci...
Speaking of Sherlock Holmes pastiches, a while back Sumana and I watched The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes , the least impressive of the Billy Wilder movies we've watched. After an excellent opening vignette and the promising appearance of Mycroft Holmes, there's a big boring movie about Scotland and then the credits roll. Kind of similar to the big boring movie about Scotland found in the beginning...
Two weeks ago, I posted a collection of 20 sites where you can watch free movies online. Thanks to your help, the page now features 30 Places to Watch Free Movies Online, and I hope to keep it growing. Below, I have featured five of the new additions, which includes many important classics. Please feel [...]
THREE, TWO, ONE! Who ever thought that our beloved sixties starlet Pamela Tiffin would be mentioned in an article in the conservative National Journal ? But there she is (along with co-stars the great James Cagney and gorgeous Horst Buchholz ) in a tribute piece to one of my favorite comedies of all time, Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three (1961) a satire on the Cold War set in West Berlin just before...
One final (but less serious) note about West Berlin and the fall of the Berlin Wall. One of Billy Wilder’s lesser-known movies, but an absolutely hilarious romp, is about Berlin just before the Wall was built. With scenes shot on location (a very funny car chase through the Brandenburg Gate is a highlight), the movie was released in 1961 and is called One, Two, Three . I t stars Jimmy Cagney...
"He had delusions of adequacy." - Walter Kerr "He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire." - Winston Churchill "I have never killed a man, but I have read many obituaries with great pleasure." - Clarence Darrow "He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary." - William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)....
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