Reviewing the Classics| Scrooge
Charles Dickens’ story A Christmas Carol is well nigh inescapable during this time of year. Even without reading the book or watching any of the dozens of film and stage adaptations, we still encounter it. The word “scrooge” is part…
Reviewing the Classics| Citizen Kane
Orson Welles’ mythic masterpiece about an American tycoon’s rise and fall feels remarkably relevant for America in 2016. Despite only winning one Oscar out of its nine nominations and being panned at the box office, Citizen Kane is arguably the…
Reviewing the Classics| Singin’ In The Rain
Considered by many to be the greatest film musical of all time, Singing in the Rain is also one of my personal favorite things, a movie about the art and business of making movies. At the pinnacle of fame and…
Reviewing the Classics| Andrei Rublev
What do we think about when we engage art? When we gaze at a painting, do we appreciate it for its beauty – the images we see and perceive – or for the craftsmanship it took to create it? Depending…
Reviewing the Classics| Shivers and the Horror of the Flesh
Shivers is a film about sex and parasitic worm-like creatures…and more sex. The film marks, both, the beginning of David Cronenberg’s feature directorial career and of the subgenre of horror called “body horror.” Body horror is driven by its exploration…
Reviewing the Classics| Knowing Our Neighbors Outside Our Rear Windows
When Alfred Hitchcock and the horror genre are mentioned in the same breath, the conversation is more than likely revolving around Psycho – Hitchcock’s 1960 classic that single-handedly evolved the horror genre into a new kind of monster. If Psycho…
Reviewing the Classics| Seven Samurai
Seven Samurai, directed and co-written by Akira Kurosawa, is a masterwork of filmmaking. Set in late-16th century feudal Japan, the backdrop for the story is one of upheaval and unrest. A poor farming village is under continual threat from pillaging…
Reviewing the Classics| Rebecca
I am quite surprised to be the first to review a Hitchcock film here on Reviewing the Classics, but I am sure I won’t be the last. While most people think of Psycho, The Birds, or North By Northwest first…
Reviewing the Classics| An Autumn Afternoon
Director Yasujiro Ozu may not be as well-known in the West as Akira Kurosawa – easily the most recognizable name in classic Japanese filmmaking – but his role in not only shaping the cinema of his own nation but also…
Reviewing the Classics| The Hidden Fortress
For Western audiences, Akira Kurosawa is probably the most accessible of Japanese filmmakers. Kurosawa hybridized traditional Japanese and Western story elements to create something unique. His camera work is influenced by John Ford’s Westerns. He was one of the earliest…