1Nov

The Journeymen—13 Directors #11: Agneiszka Holland

Posted by: mark Categories: Moviemakers Movies The Journeymen

Agneiszka Holland is a director I greatly admire. I have not seen all of her films, but I’ve enjoyed (or at least appreciated—you’ll see what I mean shortly) every one I have seen. But like Patrice Leconte, Holland barely qualifies as a journeyman. You could argue the theme of religion and faith runs strongly through […]

28Oct

The Journeymen—13 Directors #10: Fred Zinneman

Posted by: mark Categories: Moviemakers Movies The Journeymen

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What makes one a “journeyman” director? When you think about it, many filmmakers from Hal Ashby to Ridley Scott to F. Gary Gray to Danny Boyle could be considered journeymen. But Hal Ashby has a distinct style, Ridley Scott has several high-profile franchises* (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator), and F. Gary Gray makes slick Friday night […]

10Oct

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #11: The End of the Affair

Posted by: mark Categories: 13 Movies: Christ and the Christian Moviemakers Movies

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Graham Greene’s novel of The End of the Affair is one of my favorites, and Neil Jordan’s film adaptation is, in my opinion, the best of a filmmaker who’s directed some classics (Mona Lisa, The Crying Game) and some works better forgotten (such as In Dreams, once again proving 98% of serial killer movies suck). […]

19Sep

The Journeymen—13 Directors #9: Billy Wilder

Posted by: mark Categories: Moviemakers Movies The Journeymen

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Billy Wilder’s headstone reads BILLY WILDERI’M A WRITERBUT THENNOBODY’S PERFECT This epitaph reminds us of two things: one, Wilder’s and I. A. L. Diamond’s immortal closing line from Some Like It Hot; and two, that Billy Wilder considered himself first and foremost a writer, not a director. None of our Journeyman Directors thus far have […]

3Sep

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #10 (part II): The Blind Side

Posted by: mark Categories: 13 Movies: Christ and the Christian Moviemakers Movies

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The Blind Side is a Christian film made by Hollywood. It is not the only such movie (see Amazing Grace, Hacksaw Ridge, Little Boy, The 15:17 to Paris, all the Narnia movies), but it is the only one in recent memory that won the lead an Academy Award. That it has its extremely vocal detractors […]

1Sep

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #10 (part I): The Blind Side, White Saviors, Magical Negros, and the Church in Galatia

Posted by: mark Categories: 13 Movies: Christ and the Christian

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For September’s Christ and the Christian entry, I wanted to tackle The Blind Side. Since the movie opened and Sandra Bullock won her Oscar, the movie and book on which it’s based have undergone a revisionist reckoning, no doubt spurred by the Black Lives Matter disruptions of 2020. I would rather write about the depiction […]

25Aug

The Journeymen—13 Directors #8: Sydney Pollack

Posted by: mark Categories: Moviemakers Movies The Journeymen

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In the movie Out of Sight, George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez, locked in a car trunk, bond over Faye Dunaway movies: Bonnie and Clyde, Network, and Three Days of the Condor. Lopez’s Karen Sisco criticizes the last movie for getting Dunaway and Robert Redford together too quickly. It’s a meta-criticism of the scene she’s acting […]

24Aug

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #9: The Elephant Man

Posted by: mark Categories: 13 Movies: Christ and the Christian Moviemakers Movies

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Dr. Frederick Treves is not a warm fellow. He is a proper Victorian man, after all, and a scientist to boot. His interest in the horribly deformed John Merrick is purely professional. He wants to house him at his hospital so he can study him, and he must convince the equally stoic head of the […]

12Jul

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #8: The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) and Les Misérables (2012)

Posted by: mark Categories: 13 Movies: Christ and the Christian Movies

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I wrote the Holy Ghost haunts no one like the 20th century English writer. If that’s the case, then it’s apt to say the Fall of Man lives rent-free in the mind of the 19th century French author. Having lived through the Revolution, the Reign of Terror, Napoleon, the Bourbon Restoration, and countless smaller turmoils […]

12Jul

The Journeymen—13 Directors #7: Henry Hathaway

Posted by: mark Categories: Moviemakers Movies The Journeymen

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I haven’t seen many of Henry Hathaway’s movies, but I’m including him because he directed one of my favorite noir films ever: Kiss of Death (the 1947 original, not the David Caruso remake), in addition to an exemplar of the intrepid newsman genre, Call Northside 777. Oh, he also directed the lauded adventure The Lives […]

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Latest Blog

The Journeymen—13 Directors #11: Agneiszka Holland

The Journeymen—13 Directors #10: Fred Zinneman

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #11: The End of the Affair

The Journeymen—13 Directors #9: Billy Wilder

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #10 (part II): The Blind Side

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #10 (part I): The Blind Side, White Saviors, Magical Negros, and the Church in Galatia

The Journeymen—13 Directors #8: Sydney Pollack

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #9: The Elephant Man

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #8: The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) and Les Misérables (2012)

The Journeymen—13 Directors #7: Henry Hathaway

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