Moviemakers

Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki The two girls enter the house. They don’t want to be here, away from friends and school. But their mother is in a rural hospital, and dad has moved them to this rental to be closer to her. In the midst of this unease, they open a door and […]

Denzel Washington in Spike Lee's Malcolm X

Directed by Spike Lee, screenplay by Arnold Perl and Lee based on The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley If any filmmaker working today could claim the legacy of David Lean, it would be Steven Spielberg. The man who brought us Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire of the […]

Triumph of the Will screen shot

Directed by Leni Riefenstahl The list of reviled movies everyone should see is short. In fact, I would say there is only one reprehensible film that makes the list: Triumph of the Will, a film not only about Adolf Hitler, but one that helped elevate him to power and is therefore responsible for the Holocaust […]

Directed by Jules Dassin, written by Monja Danischewsky, based on The Light of Day by Eric Ambler The bad guys are the good guys. This seems a simple, uncomplicated conceit. But to a 12-year-old boy weaned on Star Wars and Indiana Jones, this idea was revolutionary. Like Capricorn One and Time After Time, Topkapi was […]

Directed by Andrew Stanton, screenplay by Stanton and Jim Reardon, story by Stanton and Pete Docter I’m going to pick 13 movies. They may be an influence on my writing, on my filmmaking, or on my thinking. They may just be movies I like. There may be more than 13. From 1995’s Toy Story to 2019’s […]

Directed by Mary Harron, written by Harron and Guinevere Turner from the novel by Bret Easton Ellis I’m going to pick 13 movies. They may be an influence on my writing, on my filmmaking, or on my thinking. They may just be movies I like. There may be more than 13. Here’s a hot take. […]

Written and directed by Ingmar Bergman I’m going to pick 13 movies. They may be an influence on my writing, on my filmmaking, or on my thinking. They may just be movies I like. There may be more than 13. There are only three colors in Cries and Whispers. The women wear white. The men […]

Written and directed by Peter Hyams I’m going to pick 13 movies. They may be an influence on my writing, on my filmmaking, or on my thinking. They may just be movies I like. There may be more than 13. The black helicopters swoop down on the biplane like angry locusts. They communicate by turning […]

October Sky movie still

directed By Joe Johnston, written by Lewis Colick based on the book by Homer Hickam, Jr. I’m going to pick 13 movies. They may be an influence on my writing, on my filmmaking, or on my thinking. They may just be movies I like. There may be more than 13. Every man loves October Sky. […]

L.A. Confidential is a Christmas movie. It begins with a real event—1951’s “Bloody Christmas” beating of seven prisoners in the L.A. jail—and springboards from there into a sprawling epic weaving police corruption, show business, and scandal together into three, four, or five (I lose count every time I watch it) intertwining stories. L.A. Confidential is […]