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

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 […]

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

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 […]

27Jun

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #7: World Trade Center

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

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Oliver Stone is a filmmaker who pours a lot of himself into his movies. Platoon described his experience as an infantry soldier in Vietnam. His persistent dance with drug addiction ended up on display in The Doors and his script for Midnight Express. His obsession with the paranoia and conspiracies is writ large in Snowden, […]

3Jun

The Journeymen—13 Directors #6: Peter Hyams

Posted by: mark Categories: Moviemakers Movies The Journeymen

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One of the reasons serious cinema lovers dismiss “journeyman” filmmakers is they often make fun, widely-seen crowd-pleasers. Rob Reiner, Robert Wise, and Penny Marshall made hits that will never be confused with Cries and Whispers or The Human Condition. To be sure, a popular movie can be a work of art. But summer tentpoles are […]

21May

The Journeymen—13 Directors #5: Penny Marshall

Posted by: mark Categories: Moviemakers Movies The Journeymen

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Gen X nostalgia is at its peak now, and as an Xer myself, let me apologize to all of you Millennials and Zoomers right now. The callbacks, parodies, and reminiscings out there are insufferable. Yes, we all want $2 gas and $7 large pan pizzas and kids on bicycles breathing fresh air. We don’t want […]

10Apr

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #5: Ida

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

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Anna is a puzzle, her emotions held close to her chest. And there must be a lot of emotion boiling under her simple novice’s habit. On the eve of taking her vows and entering the life of a Catholic nun, her prioress tells her she must visit the only family she has—an aunt she’s never […]

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Moviemakers

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

The Journeymen—13 Directors #8: Sydney Pollack

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

The Journeymen—13 Directors #7: Henry Hathaway

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #7: World Trade Center

The Journeymen—13 Directors #6: Peter Hyams

The Journeymen—13 Directors #5: Penny Marshall

13 Movies—Christ and the Christian #5: Ida

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