Director:Steven Spielberg Starring Harrison Ford, Sean Connery 1989
An ideal action-comedy/adventure if there ever was one. In this entertaining third installment archaeologist Ford must travel to Italy to try and rescue his estranged father. However, the rescue mission soon turns into a historic quest as he seeks out the Holy Grail, and once again finds himself battling Hitler's Nazis and encountering dangerous perils every step of the way. Follows basically the same formula as Raiders of the Lost Ark, but Connery is an added bonus and the two make a perfect duo. A good blend of elements as the film provides lots of exciting, cliffhanger style action/stunts, memorable lines, and genuine humor, but the relationship between the two leads is what really gives it stability. Lots of fun!
Directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot Starring: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter Van Eyck 1953
The Wages of Fear (Le Salaire de la Peur) is among the most suspenseful films of the 1950s, notable for slowly building character development and atmosphere before its dramatic climax. In its original 148-minute version, the story lags in spots as director Henri-Georges Clouzot indulges some anti-United States propaganda. Not surprisingly, the film was re-edited for release in the U.S., and many critics preferred the faster pacing and more focused narrative. International acclaim came quickly, including the Grand Prix at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival. Yves Montand gives one of his best performances, though current-day audiences may find his character's chauvinism and condescension toward women unappealing.
The film is considered as one of the most nerve-wracking and exciting films ever made. It tells the story of an American oil company that enlists four tough drifters for a high-paying suicide mission - transporting explosives across the rough terrain of Central America.
Directed by Fred Zinnemann Starring Garry Cooper, Grace Kelly 1952
High Noon (1952) is possibly the all-time best Western film ever made - a successful box-office production by Stanley Kramer and director Fred Zinnemann (who also directed From Here to Eternity (1953) and A Man For All Seasons (1966)). The Western genre was employed to tell an uncharacteristic social problem tale about civic responsibility, without much of the typical frontier violence, panoramic landscapes, or tribes of marauding Indians. This is also a movie that can be taken down from the DVD racks and played again and again. Gary Cooper fans will find this to be one of the best, if not THE best, Cooper performance. This is a perfect presentation for black and white. Color would have diminished the sense of impending death that builds relentlessly with each coward's refusal to help Marshal Kane. The film emphasizes that triumph often comes with a price. In the end, Kane removes his lawman's badge and throws it down into the dust, and he rides off with his Quaker bride who must forever live with the fact that she took a human life in violation of her religious convictions. Courage and valor do not come easily.
The dramatic, tightly-compressed, austere black and white film with high-contrast images was shot in a spare 31 days, and the physically-pained, ravaged look etched on 51 year old Gary Cooper's gaunt face was due to actual illness (a recurring hip problem, bleeding stomach ulcers, and lower back pain), and emotional stress due to his recent breakup with actress Patricia Neal after a three-year, well-publicized affair while separated from his wife. The time span of the film (about 105 minutes) approximates the actual screen length of the film - 85 minutes - accentuated by frequent images of the clock as time rapidly dissipates before the final showdown. Cameraman Floyd Crosby's years of filming New Deal documentaries is evident in the film's sparseness, static compositions, and authentic feel.
This is the story of a man who was too proud to run.
Director:Roger Spottiswoode Starring:Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher 1997
The 18th chapter in the 35-year-old James Bond series (excluding Casino Royale and Never Say Never Again). James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Michelle Yeoh deliver action in this edge-of-your-seat thrill ride...
After a 13-year absence, partially due to a life-threatening stroke, master filmmaker Nagisa Oshima returns to the silver screen with this revisionist samurai epic. From his first major film, Cruel Story of Youth to his most notorious work Ai no Korrida, Oshima has coupled the political and the sexual in a manner that transgresses all social norms. In this film, Oshima explores homosexuality among the ranks of the much hallowed samurai. The film is set in Kyoto in 1865 during a critical moment of Japanese history--the country's 300-year-long self-imposed isolation was coming to an abrupt halt leading to the end of the Shogunate. In its place came a more internationally-minded government with the Emperor as its nominal head. Feeling both their traditions and their grip on power threatened, samurai militia sprang up throughout the country to fight this foreign encroachment. One such group, the Shinsengumi, is auditioning new recruits at the film's opening. Commander Kondo (Yoichi Sai) and Captain Hijikata (Takeshi Kitano, a renowned filmmaker in his own right) select the ruggedly handsome Tashiro (cult actor Tadanobu Asano) and Kano (Ryuhei Matsuda), an effeminate lad with long locks and a thirst for blood. Worried about the perceived slightness of the latter, Kondo and Hijikata order Kano to perform an execution, which he does with grim aplomb. The lad's androgynous beauty soon raises the general blood pressure of the militia. While Tashiro snuggles up with him nightly, Hijikata, who suspects that something other than manly appreciation is going on between the two neophytes, also seems unduly interested in the youth. This film was screened in competition at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
As the foundation of the Mayan civilization begins to crumble, one man's previously idyllic existence is forever changed when he is chosen as a sacrifice needed to appease the gods in director Mel Gibson's mythic, end-times adventure. The Mayan kingdom is at the absolute height of opulence and power, but leaders are convinced that unless more temples are constructed and more human sacrifices made, the crops, and ultimately the people, will suffer. Jaguar Paw (Rudy Youngblood) is a peaceful hunter from a remote forest tribe whose life is about to be changed forever. When Jaguar Paw's village is raided and he is prepared as a sacrifice that the Mayan deities have demanded, the brave young hunter is forced to navigate a horrific new world of fear and oppression. Fearlessly determined to escape his captors and save his family from a harrowing demise, Jaguar Paw prepares to risk it all in one final, desperate attempt to preserve his dying way of life. However, few who have seen the sacrificial alter of the Mayans have managed to live to see another day. Now, in order to rescue his pregnant wife and young son, Jaguar Paw will have to elude the most powerful warriors of the Mayan kingdom while using his vast knowledge of the forest to turn the tables on those who would rather see him dead than set free. Inspired by such ancient Mayan texts as the Popul Vuh, Apocalypto marks a comprehensive collaboration between director Gibson, Cambridge-educated screenwriter Farhad Safinia, and world-renowned archeologist and Mayan culture expert Dr. Richard D. Hansen -- whose services as a special consultant on the film lent the production an unprecedented degree of historical accuracy. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Awards: 2006 Phoenix Film Critics Circle Best Cinematography 2006 Dallas-Ft. Worth Film Critics Awards Best Cinematography
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky Cast: Kolya Burlyaev, I Tarkoskaya, Valentin zubkov, Y. Zharikov, 1962
The debut feature from the great Andrei Tarkovsky, Ivan’s Childhood is an evocative, poetic journey through the shadows and shards of one boy’s war-torn youth. Moving back and forth between the traumatic realities of WWII and the serene moments of family life before the conflict began, Tarkovsky’s film remains one of the most jarring and unforgettable depictions of the impact of violence on children in wartime.
When I discovered the first films of Tarkovsky, it was a miracle. I suddenly found myself before a door to which I had never had the key.a room which I had always wished to penetrate and wherein he felt perfectly at ease. Someone was able to express what I had always wished to say without knowing how. For me Tarkovsky is the greatest filmmaker (Ingmar Bergman).
This is a DVD to own. "Ivan's Childhood" is Tarkovsky's first and arguably his most famous film. Based on Vladimir Bogomolov's early novella, "Ivan" (that is, "John") (1957), the film achieved wide acclaim outside Russia. It was produced at the risky time when Premier Khrushchev's era was ending and fundamentalist Marxists were ascendant again, restricting freedom in the arts; it is, as one observer wrote, "one of the harshest, morally complex versions of the war in Soviet film." It won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. With this debut film, Tarkovsky established an international reputation that has influenced many other filmmakers.
Awards: 1962 Venice Film Festval - Best Actor - Best Picture - Best Director
Director:Steven Spielberg
