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Tell Them Willie Boy is Here (1969, Abraham Polonsky)
Is that the one where Katharine Ross plays an Indian? Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Tell Them Willie Boy is Here starts incredibly strong. It gives a real sense of building towards something, but when that...
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The Natural (1984, Barry Levinson), the director’s cut
The Natural is a strange one. It’s a cheap success. The story is incredibly simple–you have the golden-haired hero and the evil monster who lives in the dark–and looking for anything more will leave...
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Lions for Lambs (2007, Robert Redford)
Hopefully, Lions for Lambs will be the most topical film ever made. Hopefully. In fifteen years, hopefully it won’t make any sense. It probably will. As a dramatic narrative, it’s pretty limp. Most of...
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Three Days of the Condor (1975, Sydney Pollack)
The espionage genre has gotten so stupid over the last couple decades, it’s hard to even imagine how a mediocre entry could be good. Now, it’s watching the least worst. Three Days of the Condor is such...
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A Civil Action (1998, Steven Zaillian)
A Civil Action is somewhere in between a modestly budgeted Hollywood drama (you know, the kind they don’t make anymore unless it’s for Oscar season) and a wildly passionate–well, not art film, but it’s...
View ArticleAll the President's Men (1976, Alan J. Pakula)
In an American history survey class, when we got to Nixon, one student asked if we could cover it. She felt we hadn’t covered it well enough. The professor said we would not be covering it–everyone...
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The Sting (1973, George Roy Hill)
There are two immediate peculiar things about The Sting. The opening credits introduce the cast with scenes from the film, so one watches the picture waiting for a particular actor to come up. While it...
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Quiz Show (1994, Robert Redford)
Quiz Show is a story about pride and envy. The film’s main plot is about the quiz show scandals in the fifties–big media taking the American public for a ride–and I suppose it could be seen as a loss...
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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969, George Roy Hill)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid opens with a sepia-toned silent film newsreel. It’s exposition, but also contrast. The silent images of a daring train robbery distract from reading the film’s...
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All Is Lost (2013, J.C. Chandor)
All Is Lost is the harrowing tale of an unnamed man (Robert Redford) on his damaged yacht in the Indian Ocean. The film runs 106 minutes. It’s harrowing for all of them. Director Chandor knows how to...
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Sneakers (1992, Phil Alden Robinson)
Describing Ocean’s Eleven, Steven Soderbergh said he wanted to “make a movie that has no desire except to give you pleasure from beginning to end.” He seems to have ripped off that idea from Sneakers....
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