World War Z (2013) Review
World War Z (2013) rates 5 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A great book turned into a competent chase film with the structure removed first. The Jerusalem sequence is worth the ticket and nothing else is.
Tag: Writing Craft (Page 10)
2010sBoardwalk Empire (2010-2014) Review
Boardwalk Empire (2010-2014) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. The first three seasons are in my top ten of anything ever put on a screen. Then it degrades, badly. Watch to the end of season three and…
1940sNow, Voyager (1942) Review
Now, Voyager (1942) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A woman boards a cruise as her mother's property and comes back a person. The most famous cigarette in cinema, and a last line that refuses the ending…
1960sShip of Fools (1965) Review
Ship of Fools (1965) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A German liner crossing from Veracruz to Bremerhaven in 1933, carrying passengers with no idea what they are sailing toward. Vivien Leigh's last film.
1950sGentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Review
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Two women on a transatlantic crossing, one openly interested in money and honest about it. Sharper about the economics of marriage than any film of 1953 had…
1960sL’Avventura (1960) Review
L'Avventura (1960) rates 8 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A woman vanishes on a yacht trip and the film loses interest in finding her. Jeered at Cannes, given a jury prize by the same festival, and on best-of…
1970sDeath on the Nile (1978) Review
Death on the Nile (1978) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Christie on a paddle steamer with a closed passenger list and a cast of stars. The correct way to film a detective novel, and the only…
2020sGlass Onion (2022) Review
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A tech billionaire's private island weekend where the solution is that the clever man has nothing inside. Better as satire than as a puzzle.
2000sThe Life Aquatic (2004) Review
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Anderson's least loved film and his saddest. A failing documentarian on a converted research vessel, hunting a shark that may not exist, and the…
1970sVoyage of the Damned (1976) Review
Voyage of the Damned (1976) rates 7 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. The true story of the MS St. Louis, which carried 937 Jewish refugees out of Hamburg in 1939 and was refused entry everywhere it went. A…
1970sBeyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) Review
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) rates 3 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A sequel that kept the upturned hull and threw away the reason it worked. Michael Caine, Sally Field, Telly Savalas, and no idea what to do…
1980sLeviathan (1989) Review
Leviathan (1989) rates 5 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. An underwater Alien with a good cast and a wrecked Soviet ship. One of three deep-sea monster films released in 1989, and the middle one.