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Secret Honor 1984
This sounds more like a thought experiment than a real movie: what if a director known for overlapping dialogue and ensemble casts filmed a one-man show of a semi-fictional Nixon?
But I’m so glad it’s a real movie, because it’s an absolute frigging phenomenon. Philip Baker Hall always stands out; he’s more than big enough to carry a show by himself. But he’s also talented enough to show us a small, broken, pathetic side of a big man.
The few…
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Kes 1969
A gorgeous, heartrending movie with a mind-bogglingly good child performance. Watching in 2025, it was difficult to understand the stakes at play - not because of the accents (subtitles exist), but because the 11-plus exam, the Tripartite System, and the idea of children working in mines (as opposed to yearning for them) are basically science fiction.
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Gaslight 1944
A taut thriller that toys with its characters’ - and the audience’s - perceptions of reality. Incredible performance by Charles Boyer, who plays the quietly manipulative sociopath to perfection. His tone when speaking to Paula is unnerving in its calm. The way Cukor keeps much of Gregory’s trickery off-screen is so effective at putting us in Paula’s place.
I wasn’t particularly taken by Joseph Cotten, but he’s got the least to work with in the script.
Running out of words for Ingrid Bergman.
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Jaws 1975
Loved revisiting this after about 15 years. The three leads are fantastic in any combination, but Scheider especially grabbed my attention (he always does). Nobody has pulled off those glasses since he did.
You automatically hear the score when you think of this movie, but I was struck by how many scenes have no music at all. It’s a great way of building the tension. I also love the way Williams makes it jaunty and upbeat during the seagoing scenes. Hints of Raiders.
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