Reviewing the Classics| Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
I chose this film as my next classics piece long before the political climate of our country reached critical mass, and now it’s clear that it is a perfect choice. Frank Capra’s gem was released in cinemas at the cusp…
Reviewing the Classics| Make Way for Tomorrow
When Leo McCarey won an Academy Award for directing The Awful Truth, he began his acceptance speech with the following: “I want to thank the Academy for this wonderful award, but you gave it to me for the wrong picture.”…
Reviewing the Classics| Playtime
Long before the onslaught of films chastising us for The Way We Live Now – including themes such as technophobia, interpersonal miscommunication, and the daunting rise of urbanity – that has marked the better part of the late-twentieth and early…
Reviewing the Classics| The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
I was in college when a dear friend said, “You have to watch this crazy French movie. It’s weird, but you’ll like it.” When I dubiously sat down with her to watch Umbrellas of Cherbourg, little did I know that…
Reviewing The Classics| The Day the Earth Stood Still
When director Robert Wise’s Sci-Fi drama, The Day the Earth Stood Still, debuted in 1951 it was met with mostly positive acclaim by critics but not as widely seen by audiences of the day. It finished 52nd at the box…
Reviewing the Classics| The Seventh Seal
Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal is a cliché. From the obvious choice of death as a skull-like specter, playing chess with death as a sort of “gentleman’s agreement” to delay the inevitable, to the dense dialogue and religious imagery, the…
Reviewing the Classics | Casablanca
If you asked me about my top 10 favorite films of all-time, Casablanca would be on the list. It’s romantic, witty, adventurous. It is both ahead of its time and incredibly timely. The doomed romance between Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart)…
Reviewing the Classics| M
“Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?” – Matthew 7:3 Is there anything more despicable than the thought of bringing harm to a…
Reviewing the Classics| It Happened One Night
It’s common knowledge that most romantic comedies follow a formula. It’s not always a bad thing either. If you were to comb through film history to find the source of the rom-com formula, I would say undoubtedly that it comes…
Reviewing the Classics| The General
Unlike other comedic stars of the silent film era, Buster Keaton stands above comparisons to his most obvious counterpart, Charlie Chaplin. Keaton was a different kind of man making different films. In his movies, Keaton has been described as “a…