curated cinema: a previous trip to Arrakis
1984’s Dune leaves UK Mubi in 6 days; it’s streaming on Max in the US.
Sting
my picks for tonight’s 89th Academy Awards (the Oscars for 2016’s films)
Now updated with winners…
20 Feet from Stardom: raw real voices
This must-see music documentary introduces us to the extraordinary women you didn’t know were behind some of the songs you know by heart.
why Peter Jackson should direct ‘The Hobbit’; ‘Showgirls 2’ trailer is terrible; lost Charlie Chaplin film; more: leftover links
Every week my browser gets cluttered up with tabs for stuff that I stumble across and figure I might be able to use as a Question of the Day or a WTF Thought for the Day or grist for some other post. And inevitably, I end the week with most of that material unused. But … more…
Flyboys (review)
Oh, those rickety biplanes, all canvas and wood and held together by spit and a prayer, come taxiing out of the early morning fog and there’s the sad tin whistle music and the eager young men jumping to get up in the air and get themselves killed, and I’m a basket case from the get-go, all tears and sobby and having just the best time I can have at the movies: I. Am. Moved.
The Sting (review)
The Sting is pretty universally acknowledged as one of the best films ever made. From the flawless performances all round to the clever script, this is movie magic that approaches a kind of wizardry. Not a note is out of place — every line, every scene builds on what’s come before until it ends so breathlessly and abruptly that it leaves you astounded at its audacity. Lonnegan’s not the only one who gets conned; writer David S. Ward and director George Roy Hill sting the viewer, too. This is just about as perfect as movies come.
All About Eve (review)
From the snarky opening scene, I knew I was gonna love All About Eve. Written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, this is perhaps the first film with an attitude we today would call modern.
