Blog
These stories have been around a long time. Some of them I have updated. Many of them I haven’t. This started out when blogs were like, new!
Bunuel’s Overrated “Discreet Charm”
In his review of The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972), Charles Thomas Samuels wrote, "Bunuel's film doesn't deserve to be called surrealistic because its dislocation of reality isn't dictated by theme but by narrative opportunism." Is there a theme in this...
About Those Dames: “Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne”
The Frenchman Jean ceases to love Helene, who in turn plots to avenge herself on him. She starts financially supporting Agnes, a destitute cabaret dancer, and Agnes's mother with the objective of introducing Agnes to Jean, sensing that he will fall for her. He does,...
The Triumph Of “Wonder Woman”
The whole physical package of Gal Gadot---pro-Israel and former Miss Israel---is stunningly gorgeous, and the character she plays, Wonder Woman (or Diana), in Wonder Woman (2017), is truly morally good. Which only adds to her irresistible being. Directed by Patty...
A Hack Job: Benton’s “Twilight”
A very fine Paul Newman entertainment of post-studio system film is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, not the 1998 Twilight. A very fine detective entertainment of post-studio system film is Chinatown, not the 1998 Twilight. In this Robert Benton movie in which...
On Not Leaving Well Enough Alone: Farhadi’s “The Salesman”
In the first-rate Iranian film, The Salesman (2016), by Asghar Farhadi, Emad, the main character, is not a salesman. He is a schoolteacher who plays a salesman---Willy Loman---in a local production of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, but this is not the only role...
“Satyricon” Sodom: On Fellini’s 1970 Movie
The dreamlike pre-Christian "civilization" of Federico Fellini's Satyricon (1970) is employed to reveal history as damned, as lost Sodom, indeed with persons both white and black united in their hedonism and in sexual nihilism. Yes, nihilism: this is what this...
Munro, Almodovar, “Julieta”
The protag in Pedro Almodovar's Julieta (2016), the beautiful Julieta (played as a young woman by Adriana Ugarte) meets and engages in sex with a bearded man called Xoan while traveling on a train. The sex scene is one of the proofs that this movie has in it more...
The Not-Obvious “Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife”
The film, Bluebeard's Eighth Wife (1938), is an adapted work for sure: it is based on the English translation of a play. And it's made pleasant by director Ernst Lubitsch, surefooted and keeping the charm flowing, and actors Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper and David...
Oh, Henry! On The Film Version Of “Catch-22” (1970)
I dislike Joseph Heller's Catch-22, which never should have been made into a movie. It was, though, by Mike Nichols and half-talented scenarist Buck Henry. About Nichols, Stanley Kauffmann was correct: "at whatever level, he was born to direct," and the material in...
