#43 in my ranking of Best Picture winners at the Oscars. My introduction to Korean cinema was probably pretty typical for my generation: It was Park Chan Wook's Oldboy, especially when Harry Knowles was pushing it at Ain't It Cool News. I've never really dug much deeper, knowing most of Wook's filmography really well (I… Continue reading Parasite: A Second Look
Category: Thriller
Argo
#62 in my ranking of Best Picture winners at the Oscars. You know, Ben Affleck is a pretty good director. Remember the meme about how Matt Damon probably only wrote Good Will Hunting and Affleck just put his name on it? Over the years, it seems increasingly like it might be the reverse. That being… Continue reading Argo
The Power of the Press
#17 in my ranking of Frank Capra's filmography. Frank Capra follows up a well-made but misguided naval thriller with another thriller, this one centered around a young reporter trying to uncover some corruption and crime at the highest levels of his unnamed city, and its right back to feeling like a Capra film. It doesn't… Continue reading The Power of the Press
The Night of the Hunter
Charles Laughton's sole work as director is an accomplished, beautifully made, impeccably acted, and perhaps a bit too thin thriller, the announcement of a new talent behind the camera. And the reaction was muted contemporaneously. It was either the negative critical reaction or Laughton's simple preference for directing theater over film, but The Night of… Continue reading The Night of the Hunter
The Silence of the Lambs
#17 in my ranking of Best Picture winners at the Oscars. It's amazing how this film just fires on all cylinders for its entire runtime, from its quiet opening to its grand finale. It's kind of structured a bit weird, it's all kinds of trashy, but it's so impeccably made that it completely and easily… Continue reading The Silence of the Lambs
David Vining, Author 