The temperature today at the Mill Valley Film Festival reached 90 degrees, and the locals that I talked to could not recall a hotter Autumn in the festival’s history. When you consider that the nicest suit most locals wear outside is a bicycle jersey, it could have been […]
I was not able to make it to the first night of the 37th annual Mill Valley Film Festival, which opened with the Tommy Lee Jones-directed western The Homesman, introduced live by star Hilary Swank. Although I had already screened about a half dozen films that will […]
Against All Odds (1984; Taylor Hackford) GRADE: B- By Daniel Barnes The first few notes of synth-bass on the soundtrack and the fire engine red color of the opening credits unmistakably announce Against All Odds as a product of Reagan/Orwell’s 1984. However, the film’s roots lie in the […]
The End of Summer (1961; Yasujiro Ozu) GRADE: A- By Daniel Barnes “I was born, and here I am. That’s all that matters.” There is no more powerful a sequence of images in the cinema than a Yasujiro Ozu shot-reverse-shot. The great Japanese director was a master of […]
Kiss Me, Stupid (1964; Billy Wilder) GRADE: A By Daniel Barnes Dean Martin occupies a fascinating area in the American imagination. He is famed for being a lecherous boozehound, yet there is nothing he could have done on the screen or in public to stain his crushed velvet […]
The Class (2008; Laurent Cantet) GRADE: A- By Daniel Barnes While Hollywood films are typically and predictably dismissive of school teachers (and all public servants, really) as pedants, snobs, fascists, and/or layabouts, there also exists a mostly icky vein of educator-as-hero stories. Movies ranging from Goodbye, Mr. Chips […]
