Favorite films

Recent reviews

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  To Catch a Thief 1955

  Rewatched 20 Jan 2025

  A film I watched numerous times throughout high school but not sure if I've seen since. It's a most luscious confection, of course, though traces of unexpected tartness keep revealing themselves throughout; I was pleased to come across Raymond Durgnant mounting a case for its moral complexity, & Dennis Grunes emphasis on Robie's intriguing past as a war hero in the French Resistance. I don't think I'd go quite as far as either, though Hitchcock's depiction of such an unashamedly amoral…

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  The Only Girl in the Orchestra 2023

  Watched 05 Jan 2025

  I'm a complete sucker for a doc more or less explicitly intended to give an accomplished elder their flowers, & this is a particularly good one, in large part because Orin O'Brien is such a complete pleasure to spend some time with.

  The daughter of actors George O'Brien (Sunrise) & Marguerite Churchill (The Big Trail), the musically-inclined O'Brien realized early on that she didn't crave the spotlight but creative collaboration, & took up the double bass simply because her school orchestra needed one.…

Popular reviews

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  Passages 2023

  Watched 17 Aug 2023

  Movie villain: Tomas. Actual villain: Martin.

  jkjk, Sachs is a filmmaker who imbues his characters & depiction of interpersonal dynamics with way too much complexity & subtly to even attempt sorting actions & behavior into neat good/bad categories. But as exasperating & messy as Tomas' behavior was, I often found myself even more frustrated by Martin's passive aggressiveness, which is just as damaging to a relationship in its stealthy way.

  But what a magnificent trio of actors, who are asked to perform an emotional…

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  In a Lonely Place 1950

  Rewatched 18 Jun 2024

  The rare film that evokes the type of mythic fatalism I associate with Greek tragedy much more than cinema; from the very first moments it's possible to sense how everything about to transpire is already locked into place & must now be witnessed to the tragic conclusion.

  Bogart is truly excellent but for me Graham is the knockout here, discovering a perfect balance between insouciant femme fatale glamour & soft romantic dreamer. Together they capture something of the electricity that makes the…