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Once Upon a Time in the West
Year: 1968
Director: Sergio Leone
And so my Top 50 Countdown finally comes to an end. Except it doesn’t. After all, I want to do justice to my favorite film. I have much to say about Leone’s great Once Upon a Time in the West and so look for my review coming soon. […]
Posted on December 5th, 2009 by Mat Viola
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Once Upon a Time in America
Year: 1984
Director: Sergio Leone
With shootouts, murders and Prohibition speakeasy parties aplenty, Once Upon a Time in America is, no question, a virtuoso genre piece, but Leone also manages to transcend the gangster genre, transforming it into an exploration of the unreliability of memory, the subjectivity of truth, and the ephemeral […]
Posted on December 4th, 2009 by Mat Viola
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McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Year: 1971
Director: Robert Altman
Altman’s stated intention in making McCabe & Mrs. Miller was to “destroy all the myths of heroism”, and the result is so thorough a revision of Western movie mythology that the abiding impression one is left with might best be described by an ironic inversion of that famous line […]
Posted on December 3rd, 2009 by Mat Viola
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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Year: 1966
Director: Sergio Leone
“The Good”
Clint Eastwood as Blondie, a super cool bounty hunter
“The Bad”
Lee Van Cleef as Angel Eyes, a super bad mercenary
“The Ugly”
Eli Wallach as Tuco, a super talkative trickster
Leone’s nihilistic, survival of the richest view of the Wild West reached its peak in The Good, the Bad […]
Posted on December 2nd, 2009 by Mat Viola
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Singin’ in the Rain
Year: 1952
Director: Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen
Thanks to Comden-Green’s knowing screenplay, which sharply satirizes Hollywood types and hilariously parodies the industry’s awkward transition to sound pictures, Singin’ in the Rain is one of the best movies about movies ever made, whether in the musical genre or not. Mix in the musical numbers, […]
Posted on December 1st, 2009 by Mat Viola
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Crimes and Misdemeanors
Year: 1989
Director: Woody Allen
Woody Allen: “I just wanted to illustrate, in an entertaining way, that there is no God and that we’re alone in the universe, and there is nobody out there to punish you. That your morality is strictly up to you. If you’re willing to murder and you can get away […]
Posted on November 9th, 2009 by Mat Viola
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Touch of Evil
Year: 1958
Director: Orson Welles
Finally given the opportunity to direct with a free reign after being stymied for years by short-sighted studios, Welles responded with a stylistic masterpiece of unparalleled virtuosity, as if years of pent-up creativity and artistic inspiration were finally released and came gloriously gushing forth onto Welles’ cinematic canvas. With its […]
Posted on October 17th, 2009 by Mat Viola
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Repulsion
Year: 1965
Director: Roman Polanski
One of the creepiest visions of madness ever put on film, Repulsion stars Catherine Denueve as a deeply disturbed young woman with a serious loathing of men whose distorted perception and disintegrating mental state is reflected in a frightening array of unnerving sound effects and hallucinatory imagery.
To read my longer review click […]
Posted on September 22nd, 2009 by Mat Viola
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The Wizard of Oz
Year: 1939
Director: Victor Fleming
The Wizard of Oz owes its enduring appeal not only to the captivating fantasy world created by its eye-popping Technicolor photography, imaginative set designs, memorable special effects, colorful costumes, catchy songs, and wondrous characters, but also to the film’s reassuring message which teaches us that, like Dorothy, we too […]
Posted on September 13th, 2009 by Mat Viola
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El
Year: 1953
Director: Luis Buñuel
Buñuel’s most scathing, wickedly funny attack on the Church, El explores the irrational jealousy of a respectable churchgoer, whose deeply ingrained sexual neuroses, firmly rooted in the repressive practices of the Church, come to the fore soon after his marriage, sparking within him paranoid suspicions of his wife’s unfaithfulness and ultimately compelling […]
Posted on August 22nd, 2009 by Mat Viola
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