Category: Film
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Reel 75: The Western as Allegory
Webster’s (online) Dictionary defines allegory as “the expression by means of fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence.” How’s THAT for an eye-opener? Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking “Wait, isn’t that a metaphor?” No. A metaphor, in its broadest sense, is a symbolic representation of a concept. So while…
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R.I.P., Donald Sutherland
The following is an updated and expanded version of a post I wrote nearly 10 years ago for an “O Canada” blogathon. Nearly an hour into The Dirty Dozen, Robert Aldrich’s WWII movie about the title group – American army prisoners, on death row or with long sentences – and how they’re trained for a mission…
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There Will Be Blood (2007) – Review
When he was promoting his solo album Nothing Like the Sun, Sting gave an interview to Rolling Stone. One of the questions he was asked was why he had turned away from the type of music he had made with The Police, and instead towards what the interviewer seemed to criticize as “art rock”, to…
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The Treasure of the Sierra Madres (1948) – Review
John Huston made all kinds of movies, from film noir (The Maltese Falcon), to war movies (The Red Badge of Courage), to heist movies (The Asphalt Jungle), to romantic adventures (The African Queen), to sports movies (Fat City), to religious movies (Wise Blood), and even a musical (Annie). The one type of story he seemed…
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A Most Wanted Man (2014) – Review
Though I obviously have no problem ranking my favorite films (even though I sometimes struggle with the order, as well as whether I can limit it to 10 favorites per year), and I also don’t have an issue with ranking individual performances, I’m not really good at ranking individual actors in their overall careers. Nevertheless,…
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Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) – Review
In Three Days of the Condor, John Houseman and Cliff Robertson, two high-ranking members of the CIA, are briefly reminiscing about how they entered the intelligence field in the first place, with Houseman (who in the film is British) talking about how he started out a decade after World War I, or as he refers to…
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The Russia House (1990) – Review
It’s somewhat ironic James Bond, for a long time, was considered the symbol of spies and espionage during the Cold War when Bond himself, for all intents and purposes, was never strictly a Cold War warrior. True, he dealt with the Soviets, or Soviet-type agencies, in a few novels and movies (From Russia with Love),…
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The Spy who Came In from the Cold (1965) – Review
Of all of the symbols of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall was probably the most visible. Erected in August of 1961 to separate East Berlin (the Soviet side) from West Berlin (the U.S., British and French side), it ostensibly was supposed to keep so-called “fascist” elements out of East Berlin (and, by extension, East…
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Top Secret! (1984) – Review
In addition to being a fan of rock music, as I’ve made clear, I’m also a fan of movies that are musicals that use rock, though not all; I’m not, for example, a big fan of Elvis Presley’s movies, even the ones that are considered his better movies (Michael Curtiz’s King Creole). I am also…
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The In-Laws (1979) – Review
“I’m being irrational. I sit there listening to stories about the Guacamole Act of 1917 and tsetse flies carrying off small children and I’m being irrational?” “I have flames on my car! I HAVE FLAMES ON MY CAR!” “You’re dead, right? Good!” “Are you interested in joining (the CIA)? I tell you, the benefits are…