The Night of the Hunter
Directed by: Charles Laughton
Year: 1955
A harrowing tale of Faith vs. False Prophets who attempt to use the words of God as justification for their evil deeds. Indeed, Mitchum’s Harry Powell is among the most memorably threatening screen presence’s of all time. Lillian Gish’s Rachel Cooper is the opposite of everything Powell represents, she presents a genuine grace touched hand to any lone wandering child in need of the loving care she provides.
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Directed by: David Lean
Year: 1957
Occasionally you get the chance to experience watching a movie that you know as soon as you finish it that it’s among the best films you’ve ever seen. That’s the euphoria I felt at the end of this. As Lean opened up each character, I took their motivations in and followed their journeys with investment, all building to a (literally) breathtaking finale where the characters odds all find themselves facing against one another. Magnificent film.
Rififi
Directed by: Jules Dassin
Year: 1955
Taut and masterfully crafted, and never unsuprising. A near hour might pass without a word spoken but you’re so wrapped up in the tensity of the moment to care nor notice.
The French Connection
Directed by: William Friedkin
Year: 1971
Tightly structured and ferocious in execution. I’d expect myself to build an even stronger appreciation of it over rewatches. I especially found the gritty-approached cinematography and jarringly fast paced editing effective.
The Last Waltz
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Year: 1978
Beautiful and intimate. Scorsese never allows the camera to leave The Band’s stage presence, this is not a concert film meant to capture the experience of seeing a show live amongst hundreds of other fans, but rather a bittersweet swan song to an end of Rock’s most creative and timeless contemporary eras.
Barry Lyndon
Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
Year: 1975
This is another that I knew as I was watching it that I was watching one of the best films I’ve seen in my life. Bitterly cold characterization might put some off, yet resonate with others in surprising ways. It’s a gorgeously filmed, and depicted film. Each frame is composited flawlessly, and Kubrick crafts painterly images. Cruelly satirical in nature, at one moment to one’s amusement, another to sheer embarrassment of another. Barry Lyndon is Stanley Kubrick at a peek of a filmmaker, where 2001: A Space Odyssey was an accomplishment in abstract, visceral filmmaking, Lyndon displays Kubrick at his finest as a storyteller.
Midnight in Paris
Directed by: Woody Allen
Year: 2011
In a summer of big bang blockbusters, Allen’s latest feels like a refreshing breeze on a hot summer afternoon. Likely to go down as one of the year’s finest, this is a film where its filmmaker lets his imagination flow. The film oozes love for cinema, and indulges on the nostalgia treatment of believed past glory days, or ‘Golden Ages’ if you want. Gil is another proxy character for Allen, and I found myself frequently throughout the film muttering under my breath “this is so… me!”, and the scenario’s Gil finds himself in is delightfully, dare I say, cool? The less you know about the film, the better, as I knew nothing besides the director and Owen Wilson. The film has more than just a few surprises up its sleeve, and if you allow yourself to be given over to it, it will take you to another place, resonate with any cinema lover or ambitious person truncated in the pressures of being a dreamer in social living. One of the year’s biggest must-see’s, and pure enjoyment promised to anyone who looks at art as something more than just pretty pictures on a wall but as something of expression.
L.A. Confidential
Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Year: 1997
With my love of Noir as a genre, it’s kind of baffling that I haven’t seen this until now. More than just an ultimate homage, but made as a noir itself. It’s gripping storytelling, and each performance is nuanced and engaging. Plenty of surprises abound in the twists and turns the plot of the film takes, never knowing who to completely put your trust in as a viewer. Guy Pearce and Russel Crowe own the film, Pearce is a shamefully underappreciated actor, and Crowe brings enough intensity to just about fear the character’s temperament. And it’s a reminder that once, a while back, Kevin Spacey used to be in good, even great movies.
