30 days, 30 movies

Best Movie I Saw Last Year (20ll)

Robert Bresson's realistic directing style is part of what makes this film so poignant; Bresson used mostly non-actors or 'models' to not act or be expressive, and the film feels true to life.

The protagonist's life mirrors the fate of her donkey Balthazar; Balthazar became a metaphor for whenever we felt powerless in our lives. Jean-Luc Godard didn't lie when he said Au Hasard Balthazar is 'the world in an hour and a half.'

An Underrated Movie

Too many people probably expected too much of the movie and feeling it was 'overhyped' and 'overrated', and compensated by underrating the film.

A Movie That Makes Me Happy

Do not be put off if you read the plot synopsis; Ikiru isn't a bleak film, but a triumph. I wish sometime in my life, my life will be as meaningful as Shimura's character life is in his final moments.

A Movie That Makes Me Sad
You should watch Bicycle Thieves before watching this clip by Martin Scorsese; it contains spoilers.

Favorite Love Story In A Movie

Favorite TV Show

The Wire is tied with Breaking Bad.

The Most Surprising Plot Twist Or Ending

Please don't read spoilers before watching Mouchette.
Mouchette is one of Andrei Tarkovsky's favorite films.

A Movie That I've Seen Countless Times

The Wizard of Oz was beautiful seeing it as a child when Dorothy first stepped into Oz and the film magically changed to technicolor, and it's just as beautiful today.

[The Wizard of Oz is] a film whose driving force is the inadequacy of adults, even of good adults, and how the weakness of grown-ups forces children to take control of their own destinies, and so, ironically, grow up themselves. - Salman Rushdie

A Movie With The Best Soundtrack
The soundtrack is great.

Favorite Friendship In A Movie

A Movie That Changed My Opinion About Something

This film will make even the most ardent pacifist question if the ends can ever justify the means. Kenzo's decision to shoot the person's son was futile, and to blindly accept his logic could be a form of military worship and reverence (what Kenzo rallies against).

A Movie That I Hate

Crash is saccharine and condescending.

I couldn't say it any better than A.O. Scott

So what kind of a movie is "Crash"? A frustrating movie: full of heart and devoid of life; crudely manipulative when it tries hardest to be subtle; and profoundly complacent in spite of its intention to unsettle and disturb.

A Movie That Is A Guilty Pleasure

I don't understand the backlash against this documentary. It could be the narrator's homosexuality, or a perceived 'fatalism' about his abusive past of rape and his fear that he'll lose grip on reality like his mother, or maybe it's because he made the movie on Imovie or whatever Apple computers have. Tarnation is a worthy experience.

A Movie That No One Would Expect Me To Love

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? - Epicurus

As a secular humanist I don't believe in any supernatural beings, but that doesn't mean I'm not a spiritual or empathetic person.

I made a list about The Decalogue films; this is the greatest film in the series, but most of the other films are just as great.

A character who you can relate to the most
I really related to George because of his nostalgia, his reluctance to work, his fears of being slandered, and worse his fears of death and becoming a shadow of his former self. Despite his mistakes, he didn't deserve his comeuppance.

A movie that you used to love but now hate

I don't hate the film (I think it's average), but I loved it when I was a child.

A Movie That Disappointed Me The Most

A disappointing sequel to The 400 Blows. The third Antoine Doinel film, Stolen Kisses, was criticized for being bourgeois (modern viewers might think it's twee), but it's a better film than Antoine and Colette.

A Movie That I Wish More People Would`ve Seen
The Uncobbled Cut

Richard Williams worked on the film for decades, only to lose creative control; the animation scenes, particularly at the end

are genius, and are more imaginatively animated than most modern Disney films.

Favorite Movie Based On a book

Based on the book The Godfather.

Favorite Movie From My Favorite Actor

I liked Robert De Niro's performance even more than Marlon Brando's brilliant performance in the first movie.

Favorite Movie From My Favorite Actress

For Falconetti, the performance was an ordeal. Legends from the set tell of Dreyer forcing her to kneel painfully on stone and then wipe all expression from her face--so that the viewer would read suppressed or inner pain. He filmed the same shots again and again, hoping that in the editing room he could find exactly the right nuance in her facial expression. - Roger Ebert

Favorite Action Movie

The greatest anti-war film ever made. Masaki Kobayashi was critical of the Samurai code, which influenced Japan's actions during WWII (he made the Human Condition trilogy about this).

Favorite movie based on a true story

Citizen Kane was based on the life of William Randolph Hearst.

Favorite Animation

The Most Hilarious Movie I've Ever Seen

A Movie That I Love But Everyone Else Hates

The film is beautiful, despite containing lies and bigotry. The film was used by the KKK, but Griffith tried to make amends by making Intolerance and Broken Blossoms (the film would be racist by today's standards, but it's one of the first examples of interracial couples in film). The Birth of a Nation isn't a blight on D.W. Griffith's career; it's one of the most important films ever made.

Erich von Stroheim, one of Griffith's assistants, said that he was the pioneer of filmdom. The first to put beauty and poetry into a cheap and tawdry sort of amusement. - Martin Scorsese, from A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies

Favorite Character in a Movie

... there's a kind of magical sense in the film. For example, Gelsomina, her wonderful ability, like a child, to be exited by everything's she's seen in the world. - Martin Scorsese, La Strada: Criterion Collection

Favorite Movie From My Favorite Director

Akira Kuroswa's film Rashomon is just as great for different reasons.

Movie From My Childhood

Children try to rescue their friend's life and decide to sacrifice one year of their lives to rescue their dying friend. The Halloween Tree is a great coming of age film for children.

Favorite Movie


I recommend the 4 hour reconstruction using film stills (the original lost film was almost ten hours).
Unfortunately, it's only available on Itunes, and no DVD is planned for release.

According to Stroheim, “The rest of the negative” — 35 of the 45 reels in the original workprint — “was burned to get the 43 cents worth of silver out.”
Fortunately, the Greed that remains is a lot more than a tantalizing fragment. Viewers who want to get a better idea of Stropheim’s intentions can read Norris’s novel or the published screenplay. But even without these backups, the storytelling is lucid and compelling, the view of human existence is both tender and corrosive (there are no villains in sight), and the richness of detail in every frame testifies to Stroheim’s obsessive brilliance. - Jonathan Rosenbaum