Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

2019

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is a comedy-drama about Hollywood set in 1969. A pleasant and unhurried hangout movie interrupted abruptly by triumphant revisionist violence that rises in intensity until it crescendos to an absurd pitch and curdles into the intentionally uncomfortable, the film is a Hollywood fairytale; an exercise in nostalgia; and Quentin Tarantino’s most metafictional self-reflection on the role of violence in movies, and especially in his movies. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is consistently entertaining, and  it’s interesting to think about, but its statements about film and violence are shallower and more self-serving than the far more powerful undercurrents that animate the ahistorical violence of Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained.

Would see.

The Magnificent Ambersons

The Magnificent Ambersons

1942

Directed by Orson Welles

The Magnificent Ambersons, adapted from the 1918 novel of the same name by Booth Tarkington, is a period drama about a wealthy Midwestern family and the coming of the age of the automobile. The Magnificent Ambersons is an enjoyable film, with entertaining acting and compelling cinematography, but it ultimately doesn’t have anything very interesting to say about the country or era it’s set in.

Would see.

Throne of Blood

Throne of Blood

1957

Directed by Akira Kurosawa

Throne of Blood, which follows the plot of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, is a Japanese-language samurai film. Kurosawa adapts Shakespeare not to mindlessly repeat his words or to borrow literary seriousness, but to use Macbeth’s story and themes to craft his own masterpiece. Throne of Blood is the best film adaptation of Macbeth in any language.

Must see.

Exodus

Exodus

1960

Directed by Otto Preminger

Exodus, based on the 1958 novel of the same name by Leon Uris, is an epic film about the founding of the modern State of Israel. The film, at 208 minutes, is too long. While Exodus succeeds in turning twentieth-century history into a historical epic that maintains its gravitas even more than half a century later, its politics are superficial and its characters are a little flat.

Would see.

The Wind Rises

The Wind Rises

2013

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

The Wind Rises is an animated historical drama based on the life of Jiro Horikoshi and Tatsuo Hori’s 1937 novel, The Wind Has Risen. The Wind Rises is an exceptionally great film. The animation is stunning, the music is delightful, and the story is thoughtful and affecting. The film is devastatingly beautiful.

Must see.

Phantom Thread

Phantom Thread

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

2017

Phantom Thread is a period drama about a fashion house in 1950s London. It is a beautiful and very strange film. The acting, directing, and costuming are all self-assuredly excellent. The film defies category.

Would see.

The Post

The Post

Directed by Steven Spielberg

2017

The Post is a dramatization of The Washington Post’s publication of the Pentagon Papers. The Post is didactic, flat, and self-satisfied, but it’s still a fun film — and it’s too earnest a paean to its ideals to dislike very much.

Would see.

The Beguiled

The Beguiled

Directed by Sofia Coppola

2017

The Beguiled, an adaption of a novel of the same name by Thomas P. Cullinan, is a drama about a wounded Union soldier convalescing in a nearly abandoned girls school in Virginia. (A movie of the same name – directed by Don Siegel, starring Clint Eastwood, and also based on Cullinan’s novel – came out in 1971). The Beguiled is entertaining enough, and it’s very well-shot, but it feels hollow.

Would see.

Midnight in Paris

Midnight in Paris

Directed by Woody Allen

2011

Midnight in Paris is an English language romantic comedy set in Paris. Midnight in Paris is a charming portrait of an imagined Paris, both of the 1920s and the early 2000s, filled with unabashed, but thoughtful, nostalgia and highly amusing caricatures of Lost Generation writers.

Would see.

Silence

Silence

Directed by Martin Scorsese

2016

Silence, based on the 1966 novel of the same name by Shūsaku Endō, is an epic historical drama that follows two Jesuit priests who enter Japan in the seventeenth century. At a plodding 161 minutes, Silence would probably be more entertaining 30 or even 60 minutes shorter. But it isn’t entirely clear Scorsese is entirely or even primary concerned with the audience’s enjoyment of his film. Silence is an honest and fiery testament of sincerity, belief, pride, faith, and suffering. If nothing else, Silence is an experience, and, importantly, a film worth experiencing.

Would see.