Movie thoughts and fiction updates.
#24 in my Ranking of Billy Wilder movies. This is the first Billy Wilder movie that feels overlong and unfocused, barely missing the mark. There’s a lot to really enjoy in Irma la Douce, but at two and a half hours, the movie doesn’t effectively fill its runtime creating distractions while inefficiently telling what should… Continue reading Irma la Douce
News that caught my eye: 'Star Trek': 'Fargo' Creator Noah Hawley to Direct Next Film I overall like the new Star Trek films, so this is nice news. It's not the mysterious Tarantino project (that no one knows anything about other than it exists in some form), but a direct sequel to Beyond. Pine was the big… Continue reading Movie News – Week of 11/25
#6 in my Ranking of Billy Wilder movies. After The Apartment, Billy Wilder returned to his native Europe and a more explicitly comic sensibility. It's a steady build of comic tension that explodes into madcap energy by the end, and I find it absolutely riveting. C.R. MacNamara, the head of Coca Cola's operations in West… Continue reading One, Two, Three
#1 in my Ranking of Billy Wilder movies. This is the perfect encapsulation of what made Billy Wilder great. It contains his thematic focuses, some of the best performances he ever got from actors, the most effective and beautiful black and white photography, and the best combination of comedy and drama. It's billed as a… Continue reading The Apartment
#3 in my Ranking of Billy Wilder movies. This movie is about as pure entertainment as movies can get. It's an expert mixture of comedy, tension, sex, and romance that creates such a complete package of good times that Hollywood has very rarely come close to matching. Working with I.A.L. Diamond for the second time… Continue reading Some Like it Hot
David Vining, Author 