Dolittle
A wild whirlwind of a mess, without any coherence, without even a guiding principle.
Douglas Sirk
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Written on the Wind (1956)
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Directed by
Roger Ebert
* This filmography is not intended to be a comprehensive list of this artist’s work. Instead it reflects the films this person has been involved with that have been reviewed on this site.
I Get a Kick Out of Entertaining People: Robert Shaye, Founder of New Line Cinema and Unique Features, on Directing his Third Film, Ambition
Chaz Ebert interviews Robert Shaye, founder of New Line Cinema and Unique Features about directing his third film, "Ambition."
Preview of Noir City Chicago 2019
An in-depth preview on the classic noir films that will be playing at Chicago's Music Box Theater from Sept. 6-12.
Home Entertainment Guide: August 22, 2019
The latest on Blu-ray and streaming, including Amazing Grace, Avengers: Endgame, and Shadow.
Christian Petzold on Transit, Kafka, His Love for Den of Thieves and More
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Barry Jenkins on Adapting James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk, The Film's Timeliness and more
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Beata Virgo Viscera: a Feature-Length Unloved Video Essay by Scout Tafoya
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Every Time I Cast an Actor, There Is a Birth That Occurs: Marc Turtletaub on Puzzle
An interview with Marc Turtletaub, director of "Puzzle."
Goodbye to the Sigh Guy: A Tribute to Tab Hunter, 1931-2018
A tribute to the late Tab Hunter, a gay matinee idol and Hollywood trailblazer.
30 Minutes on: Wonderstruck
Todd Haynes' latest is a near-silent film with passages of great beauty but a concept that never quite gels.
Comic-Con 2017: Interview with Brian Selznick about "Wonderstruck"
Author Brian Selznick talks about his book "Wonderstruck" and its upcoming film adaptation by director Todd Haynes.
Nitrate and Old Favorites: A Recap of the 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival
A look back at the eighth annual TCM Classic Film Festival, which included screenings of nitrate prints, a conversation with Michael Douglas and much more.
Like Going to Church: Joe Dante on "The Movie Orgy"
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Adapting Good Material: Whit Stillman on "Love & Friendship"
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Moving Pictures: A Recap of the 2016 TCM Classic Film Festival
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The Act of Looking: Todd Haynes on Carol
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A Trip Through Film History with Norman Lloyd
An in-depth look at the extraordinary film career of 100-year-old actor Norman Lloyd, currently starring in Judd Apatow's "Trainwreck."
Thumbnails 6/30/15
"Inside Out" and the stranglehold of Minnesota Nice; 20th anniversary of "Kids"; Small-screen auteurism of Keith Gordon; Danny Elfman on Tim Burton; John Lasseter on the evolution of storytelling.
Book Excerpt: "Mise en scène and Film Style: From Classical Hollywood to New Media Art" by Adrian Martin
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Lauren Bacall: 1924-2014
An obituary for the legendary Lauren Bacall.
Blu-ray Consumer Guide: May 2014
May 2014 Blu-rays of note.
Regarding R.W. Fassbinder: Letter to a Young Cinephile
A history and appreciation of R.W. Fassbinder on the launch of a retrospective screening series at the Lincoln Center.
Blu-ray Consumer Guide: March 18, 2014
Recent releases on Blu-ray, including Cat People, Death Wish, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, and more.
True love and self-destruction: Early Fassbinder on DVD
A box set of early Fassbinder films sees him working through pastiches of film noir and melodrama as he fins his way to his distinctive themes and style.
The great movies (almost) nobody voted for
OK, this is where it really gets interesting. Forget the consensus Top 50 Greatest Movies of All Time; let's get personal. Sight & Sound has now published the top 250 titles in its 2012 international critics poll, the full list of more than 2,000 movies mentioned, and all the individual lists of the 845 participating critics, academics, archivists and programmers, along with any accompanying remarks they submitted. I find this to be the most captivating aspect of the survey, because it reminds us of so many terrific movies we may have forgotten about, or never even heard of. If you want to seek out surprising, rewarding movies, this is a terrific place to start looking. For the past few days I've been taking various slices at the "data" trying to find statistical patterns, and to glean from the wealth of titles some treasures I'd like to heartily recommend -- and either re-watch or catch up with myself.
I know we're supposed to consider the S&S poll a feature film "canon" -- a historically influential decennial event since 1952, but just one of many. I don't disagree with Greg Ferrara at TCM's Movie Morlocks ("Ranking the Greats: Please Make it Stop") when he says that limiting ballots to ten all-time "best" (or "favorite," "significant," "influential" titles is incredibly limiting. That's why I think perusing at the critics' personal lists, the Top 250 (cited by seven critics or more) and the full list of 2,045 films mentioned is more enjoyable pastime.
It's wise to remember that, although the top of the poll may at first glance look relatively conservative or traditional, there's a tremendous diversity in the individual lists. Even the top vote-getter, "Vertigo," was chosen by less than one quarter of the participants.
The best greatest movies ever list
UPDATED (08/01/12): Scroll to the bottom of this entry to see my first impressions of the newly announced critics' and directors' poll results.
Vittorio De Sica's "Bicycle Thieves" (1948) topped the first Sight & Sound critics' poll in 1952, only four years after it was first released, dropped to #7 in 1962, and then disappeared from the top ten never to be seen again. (In 2002 only five of the 145 participating critics voted for it.) Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane" (1941) flopped in its initial release but was rediscovered in the 1950s after RKO licensed its films to television in 1956. From 1962 to 2002 "Kane" has remained at the top of the poll (46 critics voted for it last time). This year, a whopping 846 top-ten ballots (mentioning 2,045 different titles) were counted, solicited from international "critics, programmers, academics, distributors, writers and other cinephiles" -- including bloggers and other online-only writers. Sight & Sound has announced it will live-tweet the 2012 "Top 50 Greatest Films of All Time" (@SightSoundmag #sightsoundpoll) August 1, and as I write this the night before, I of course don't know the results. But, for now at least, I'm more interested in the process.
Given the much wider and younger selection of voters in 2012, ist-watchers have been speculating: Will another movie (leading candidate: Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo," number 2 in 2002) supplant "Kane" at the top of the list? Will there be any silent films in the top 10? (Eisenstein's "Battleship Potemkin" and Murnau's "Sunrise" tied for #7 on the 2002 list, but the latter was released in 1927 with a Fox Movietone sound-on-film musical score and sound effects.)
Though there's been no rule about how much time should pass between a film's initial release and its eligibility (the Library of Congress's National Film Registry requires that selections be at least ten years old), most of the selections ten to have stood the test of time for at least a decade or two. The newest film on the 2002 list was the combination of "The Godfather" (1972) and "The Godfather, Part II" (1974) -- but they won't be allowed to count as one title for 2012.
