Heaven’s Gate (no 1)

I draw the reader’s attention to the disclaimer at the bottom of the main piece… (USA 1980 219m) DVD1 In principle, everything can be done p  Johann Carelli  d  Michael Cimino  w  Michael Cimino  ph  Vilmos Zsigmond  ed  Tom Rolf, William Reynolds, Lisa Fruchtman, Gerald Greenberg  m  David Mansfield  art  Tambi Larsen, Spencer Deverill, Maurice [...]

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1980′s Poll Voting Ends on Saturday, October 10

              Jean de Florette (1986) one of decade’s greatest films      The deadline for submitting completed Top 25 ballots for the 1980′s poll is Saturday October 10 at 11:00 P.M. EST.  As per our standard, voters are allowed 10 days after Allan Fish’s #1 choice is unveiled, which in this case is scheduled for tomorrow [...]

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Once Upon a Time in America (no 2)

(USA 1984 228m) DVD1/2 An appointment at Fat Moe’s p  Arnon Milchan  d  Sergio Leone  w  Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero de Bernardi, Enrico Medioli, Franco Arcalli, Franco Ferrini, Stuart Kaminsky, Sergio Leone  novel  “The Hoods” by David Aaronson, Harry Grey  ph  Tonino delli Colli  ed  Nino Baragli  m  Ennio Morricone (with Giaocchino Rossini, Cole Porter, Joseph [...]

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Monday Morning Diary (September 28)

                                        Scene from Jane Campion’s Bright Star                                                           Poster from documentary In Search of Beethoven by Sam Juliano New York sports fans are on cloud nine this weekend and in baseball the Yankees completed a sweep of the Boston Red Sox to clinch the eastern division crown, while both the football Jets and the football Giants [...]

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The Singing Detective (no 3)

(UK 1986 415m) DVD1/2 Ten cents a dance, fella p  John Harris, Kenith Trodd  d  Jon Amiel  w  Dennis Potter  ph  Ken Westbury  ed  Bill Wright, Sue Wyatt  m  Stanley Myers  art  Jim Clay Michael Gambon (Philip Marlow), Patrick Malahide (Mark Binney), Alison Steadman (Lili), Joanne Whalley (Nurse Mills), David Ryall (Mr Hall), Ron Cook [...]

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Review of “For the Love of Movies”

Andreas Winkelman … is repairing the roof of the cottage in which he lives as a literate hermit. At one point, he stares off at the sun that hangs low and dim—with its edges made ragged by a telephoto lens—in the Scandinavian sky. Suddenly the sun disappears into the gray-blue haze, but it’s as if [...]

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Berlin Alexanderplatz (no 4)

(West Germany 1980 921m) DVD1/2 There is a reaper, he is called Death p  Peter Marthesheimer  d/w  Rainer Werner Fassbinder  novel  Alfred Döblin  ph  Xavier Schwarzenberger  ed  Jiliane Lorenz  m  Peer Raben  art  Harry Baer Günter Lamprecht (Franz Biberkopf), Hanna Schygulla (Eva), Barbara Sukowa (Mieze), Gottfried John (Reinhold), Franz Buchrieser (Meck), Karin Baal (Minna), Peter [...]

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Bob Clark’s Spectacular Review of Michael Cimino’s ‘Heaven’s Gate’

by Bob Clark Prologue The time is 1890, and the place is Johnson County, Wyoming. A man and his wife butcher and clean a carcass of cattle on their isolated farm, as their children look on and help. The farm is surrounded by sheets of canvas billowing in the wind, erected on all sides to [...]

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Dekalog (no 5)

(Poland 1988 559m) DVD1/2 Aka. The Decalogue/The Ten Commandments More monumental than Sinai p  Ryszard Chutkowski  d  Krzysztof Kieslowski  w  Krzysztof Kieslowski, Krsysztof Piesewicz  ph  Wieslaw Zdort, Edward Klosinski, Piotr Sobocinski, Krzysztof Pakulski, Slawomir Idziak, Witold Amadek, Dariusz Kus, Andrzej Jaroszewicz, Jacek Blawut  ed  Ewa Smal  m  Zbigniew Preisner  art  Halina Dobrowolska Henryk Baranowski (Krzysztof), [...]

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Exceptional 80′s Cinema: Alejandro Jodorowsky’s ‘Santa Sangre’

by Sam Juliano      Few directors in the cinema have split art house audiences and film critics as severely as Chilean-born Alejandro Jodorowky.  While his admirers have issued rapturous praise, even going as far as to declare him as the heir apparent of Luis Bunuel and the master of surrealist cinema, his detractors have condemned [...]

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