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Luis Buñuel's Mexican films are arguably THE most under-appreciated filmography by a major master of the art of cinema. ENSAYO DE UN CRIMEN was titled THE CRIMINAL LIFE OF ARCHIBALDO DE LA CRUZ for...

I added an early talkie to the list: THE FRONT PAGE, the original (1931) adaptation of the play written by former reporters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Lewis Milestone directed. The book and the...

I don't think there's been much mention on FILMLEAF of Charlie Kaufman's I'M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS, certainly not a review. This film is currently commanding a lot of my thinking about movies....

I shoulda put a smily face next to my correction. Emojis were invented for a reason. By the way, I want to mention a few titles that may continue to impress me and find their way into the list: Steve...

I'm the one who posted the quote, not Chris.


Given how prolific Kurosawa was, it's weird Chris and I both love Ikiru and Rashomon more than any others from his filmography. Yes, a ringing...

The passage quoted below is from the most recent Wyler retrospective (at the Quad in NYC). I think that it may be of interest to you.

"In The American Cinema, Andrew Sarris grouped William Wyler...

I am sorry it took me so long to respond to your post. One thing to bear in mind is that some element of subjectivity factors into the decision to include or not to include a movie despite my efforts...

1939 is said to have been the best year in the history of film. I have been sharing my on-going, perrennially revised cannon for decades now, and I have organized it according to year of world...

One addition to my personal canon of achievements in the art of film is a 13 minute film directed by Alain Resnais: Guernica (1951)
It uses Picasso's "Guernica" and earlier works by the greatest...

I think I would put three other movies ahead of CRASH among my faves:
DEAD RINGERS (1988)
NAKED LUNCH (1991)
SPIDER (2002)

I have the Masterpiece collection with 10 Blurays made for the European Market.
I added Cronnenberg's amazing EASTERN PROMISES (2007)which mixes the gangster genre with a murder mystery where the...

I have a Kubrick Bluray boxset.
It has an inferior image quality when compared with the 4k transfer you have.
Maybe I splurge and I buy it anyway, since now finally I will have a top-of-the-line...

Three recent films have proven over repeated viewings to belong among the best of all time in my humble but passionate estimation:
From 2018
-----THE IMAGE BOOK (Godard/France-Switzerland) ...

That's great. I can't think of a better way to spend one's time. I cannot get enough of golden age Hollywood. I enjoy the average movie made in Hollywood then much more than today's output, that's...

Of course, my canon includes the John Ford western that exemplifies the rebirth of the genre (STAGECOACH in that fabled year of 1939), the genre at its most complex, philosophical and mature (THE...

I watch it a lot because some of it is great, not surprisingly, it turns out, a lot of these aches were the ones shot by George Cukor, who had a long history of collaboration with producer David O....

The most recent release that I have added to my canonical list of love objects is...the 4 hour, 2-part American film: A BREAD FACTORY (USA/2018)

Here's a quote from Richard Brody about it:
“A...

Thanks for the post Chris. I like reading White's criticism and I'm glad he elevates TREE OF LIFE as well as Jonze's HER which doesn't quite make my list but I admire. It elicits interesting thoughts...

THE 2010s

It's the end of a decade; a time when different groups and publications poll people involved in film culture and production about the films they consider best or favorite of the decade...

THERE ARE NOW 7 FILMS DIRECTED BY KENJI MIZOGUCHI IN MY LIST OF FAVORITE FILMS OF ALL TIME. IT IS
THE CRUCIFIED LOVERS (1954)
which has been released by Criterion under the title A STORY FROM...

I want to state (or re-state) how important it is the coverage of film festivals, new releases, and other events related to the culture of cinema that you provide in your reportage and film...

I think that every film school had unique tendencies depending on who was in charge and who he hired to teach. Some schools emphasized Hollywood directors more than the one you attended (I base this...

Thanks very much for this interesting post. There are some TV interviews of the actors accessible on the Criterion BR that I own. I'm interested to dig further into the relationships between the...

Zama is an easy read; and fairly short. In English (because the Spanish language version is hard to find/expensive).
I prefer Ghibli films dubbed in English, by the way. Guess I'm not always a...

I'd love to attend a stage version of "3 penny".
The version I watched in college was much shorter than the more complete, good-looking version available today. Cast and crew are top notch;
the...