the french connection Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Are These the 75 Movies Every Man Must See?
Filed under: Classics », Fandom », Newsstand », Lists »
Summertime seems to be movie list-making time in just about every publication. I imagine it's because once you slap Chris Pine or Christian Bale onto a summer magazine cover, you're stuck waiting for the fall buzz to kick up ... or anxious film writers out there are hoping to remind audiences that they can ease the pain of mindless blockbusters with meat-and-potato classics. Either way, we get a lot of lists.
Esquire has a particularly interesting one up, though. They've compiled a collection of 75 movies they feel every man should see in his lifetime, and go so far as to suggest they've all shaped American manhood in some fashion. Some of the choices are obvious classics: In the Heat of the Night, 12 Angry Men, Chinatown, The Godfather, North by Northwest, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The French Connection. Some are a little more on the forgotten side, like Fitzcarraldo and Run Silent, Run Deep.
But some of the choices are a little questionable. Iron Man? Three Kings? Runaway Train? Lone Star? Enjoyable sure, but are they must watch classics? Did Lone Star really shape modern manhood? I'm pretty sure Iron Man didn't considering it came out oh, exactly one year ago. Surely Easy Rider or Death Wish should have two of those spots. Doesn't John McClane deserve a rank above Johnny Dangerously? No Goodfellas? Why only one John Wayne (The Searchers) and no Jimmy Stewart or Gregory Peck?
Check out the list and ponder whether you think watching all 75 of these makes (or has made) a true man, as Esquire's version has me a little worried. Then come back and tell us what films you think are more essential than these.
*And no, clearly no one thinks there's an essential list for women. We may have to put that one together here on Cinematical.
Warner Archives Announces Latest DVDs-on-Demand (Freebie and the Bean!)
Filed under: Home Entertainment »
Today, Warner Home Video announced the titles that will be released in May through the studio's video on demand service, Warner Archives. Among these titles is the 1963 Steve McQueen film Soldier in the Rain, costarring Jackie Gleason, and most excitingly, the 1974 buddy comedy Freebie and the Bean.
Chances are if you aren't already shouting at the top of your lungs in excitement, you have no idea what Freebie and the Bean is. And yet, in retrospect it seems like the missing - and absolutely essential - link between the gritty potboilers of the 1970s, such as The French Connection, and the glib, profane thrillers of the '80s and '90s, in particular the early work of Shane Black. At the urging of a few well-informed buddies I went to see the film late last year at a revival theater in Los Angeles, not the least of which because it stars Alan Arkin as a Hispanic detective (i.e., The Bean), and James Caan as his determined-to-be-corrupted partner (Hence "Freebie"). And while it certainly doesn't have the palpable drama of Friedkin's film, or even the slick polish of the Lethal Weapon films (or even The Last Boy Scout, a movie with which it shares an unhealthy number of similarities), it's an amazing, explosive, almost self-destructive exercise in action, comedy, racism, and property damage, not necessarily in that order.
Spin-ematical: New on DVD for 2/24
Filed under: Comedy », Documentary », Drama », Horror », Independent », New on DVD », Home Entertainment », Cinematical Indie »
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Devastating, haunting, infuriating, and shamelessly manipulative: Kurt Kuenne's film about his murdered friend Andrew Bagby is all of those things and more. Erik Davis described it as "a film that will rock you to your core. You will cry. You will hurt -- and the flick will sit with you for days, weeks, months. But you will come away believing in people." After the film aired on MSNBC in December, we received dozens of comments, to which director Kuenne responded with appreciation. The DVD includes deleted scenes and additional footage as well as other extra features. Buy it.
Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon. | Read Erik's review. | Watch trailer.
The Haunting of Molly Hartley
Mickey Liddell's would-be horror flick is not, in fact, haunting; most often it's simply a series of regurgitated SHOCK cuts accompanied by LOUD music cues. Eric D. Snider called it a "lame, tame psychological thriller ... I've read fortune cookies that were scarier, not to mention smarter and more interesting." Skip it.
Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon. | Read Eric's review.
Sex Drive
A teen comedy featuring a Mexican donut. "It's like The Sure Thing crossed with Road Trip" and five or six other movies, according to William Goss. "Is this the best modern teen comedies have to offer? A Mexican donut costume?" Skip it.
Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon. | Read William's review.
Also out: Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder.
After the jump: Indies on DVD and Collector's Corner. Plus: Is William Friedkin's rejiggered view of The French Connection on Blu-ray an artistic leap forward or a desecration of a classic?
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
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