And here we are. The day after Easter and we’ve reached the top of the mountain. While compiling this list, it’s become evident that true religious films just aren’t made anymore (and if they are, they are widely panned). That being said, religious themes exist in more mainstream movies than ever, despite there being no …
Faith is such a tenuous concept that it’s hard to believe that it has the strength that it does. The act of believing in the existence or the potential of a supreme being despite any earthly evidence or causation should be treated with suspicion or disdain right from the outset.
With enough similarities and differences to make each film stand apart in their own right, Robert Siodmak’s version of “The Killers” is better in almost every way.
Bresson directed a number of films that could be considered his greatest, and while Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) puts up the strongest fight, a good case could be made for Pickpocket, from 1959, as the inimitable filmmaker’s finest achievement.
What’s difficult about making this list is finding a balance between a successful Kubrickian film that either predates or pays homage to Kubrick and, for lack of a better term, is a ripoff. Now that we’ve hit the apex, it’s clear that these are, regardless of influence, quality films. What sets them apart is their …
“While ‘Nostalghia’ is distinctly divergent from some of Tarkovsky’s previous works (certainly his shooting out of the USSR was a crucial factor), it is, nevertheless, unmistakably one of his own, a fine addition to his remarkable, though limited, body of work.”
Soderbergh’s film came out on November 27, 2002 to middling reviews and a commercial drubbing by seasonal box office heavyweights like Die Another Day. To say that his film has acquired a cult fanbase would be an overstatement. It is still largely dismissed in favor of Tarkovsky’s canonical picture and is seen as a curiosity among Soderbergh die-hards.
More than a filmmaker or artist, Andrei Tarkovsky was an explorer. He worked tirelessly to shine a light on man’s darkest corners, not to expose a monster, but to examine the core doubts of our very being. His films explore the spirit, shaken by life, made fragile by the falsities of society endangering our clarity …