Movie thoughts and fiction updates.
#31 in my ranking of Clint Eastwood's films. I have a feeling that the appeal of this film to Clint Eastwood wasn't narrative but the evocation of the time of his youth, the music, the people, and the setting. Through movies like Gran Torino and Space Cowboys, it was obvious that Eastwood was looking at… Continue reading Jersey Boys
#24 in my ranking of Clint Eastwood's films. I have a thing against biopics, but this one about the FBI director J. Edgar Hoover actually sidesteps a lot of my issues in a creative way while also leaning into some of the more standard tropes. At least Leonardo DiCaprio doesn't play J. Edgar Hoover when… Continue reading J. Edgar
#11 in my ranking of Akira Kurosawa's filmography. Dersu Uzala got Kurosawa back to work, but it was Star Wars that brought him back to the top of the cinematic world. George Lucas, heavily inspired by Kurosawa in his space opera, used his newfound power in Hollywood to, alongside Francis Ford Coppola, to convince 20th… Continue reading Kagemusha
I can see why this is disappointing some people. It's marketed with videos like this while following up on the anarchic insanity of the first two movies, and yet it's not really like that for the bulk of its running time. In addition, the movie does have elements of the craziness, but they never really… Continue reading The King’s Man
#28 in my ranking of John Ford's filmography. John Ford takes on one of the most famous real life Western showdowns and shootouts, delivering a handsome and emotionally affecting character piece that also ends up dealing with the actual shootout. It's mostly a character piece about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday where the Clantons are… Continue reading My Darling Clementine
David Vining, Author 