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“If there’s any completely realized and executed masterpiece in Danny Kaye’s filmography it is 1956’s The Court Jester. Not only is it a goof on the Errol Flynn medieval swashbucklers but it maintains a perfect balance of the songs, narrative, comedic bits, and characters to build something spe” read more
“A musical-comedy remake of Ball of Fire from Howard Hawks, A Song Is Born is a film that I probably enjoyed more than the average viewer. By no stretch of the imagination is it an improvement on the original, or even a worthy successor, but it is harmlessly entertaining. And it is fascinating to wat” read more
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
“Here is the film where Danny Kaye’s career begins to transition away from near shapeless excuses for his typical bag of tricks and towards something that gives him more character and structure. While The Secret Life of Walter Mitty still finds plenty of time, a bit too much in my estimation, to hi” read more
“The Kid from Brooklyn casts Danny Kaye as a meek milkman who somehow becomes a boxer. That’s it, that’s the entire premise of this one. Many of the usual parts are here again, Vera-Ellen, Virginia Mayo, the Goldwyn Girls, songs and dances, bits of slapstick comedy. It’s pure Kaye formula by th” read more
“Danny Kaye pulls double-duty in Wonder Man playing twins, one a nebbish type and the other a nightclub sensation that runs afoul of some gangsters. The ghost of the extrovert possesses the nerd and causes all sorts of shenanigans along the way. Of course, there’s a love triangle adject plotline in” read more
“Danny Kaye’s film debut, Up in Arms, is a case study in his (now stale) musical-comedies of the mid-40s. There’s a very basic premise and structure, hypochondriac gets drafted into the army, that merely exists as an excuse to get Kaye to perform various bits of song-and-dance, pull faces, and co” read more
“Lina Wertmüller returns to her oldest obsessions – sexuality and politics and where/how they converge – in Ferdinando and Carolina. Yet Wertmüller’s film is malformed and various maneuvers are poorly explained to the audience so the narrative remains indecipherable. It’s quite simple, Ferd” read more
“Summer Night plays like a spiritual sequel to Swept Away in which the couple get something akin to a happy ending, or as happy an ending as Lina Wertmüller is capable of crafting, which is more elliptical than emphatic. A wealthy industrialist (Mariangela Melato) kidnaps a Sicilian renegade (Michel” read more
“A make-or-break film or the make-or-break film for whether the cinema of Lina Wertmüller is for you? Swept Away is a combination of her rebellious treatment of sexual politics, class politics, and regional differences populated with her two favorite actors, Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato.” read more
“Coming off her first masterpiece, Love & Anarchy, Lina Wertmüller dropped the stars and more playful tone for this scattershot glimpse on modern living in Milan viewed through the prism of recently arrived citizens of southern Italy. The film is essentially an assembly of various pieces struggl” read more
“A perfect sampler for the cinema of Lina Wertmüller, one of Italian cinema’s biggest provocateurs. The Seduction of Mimi not only unites the director with her two best stars, Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato, but offers an accessible primer on her artistic outlook and prevailing themes. W” read more
“From the opening minutes of A Separation we are thrown into the deep end of the film’s emotionally bruising and complicated morass. The simplest of domestic squabbles can so easily spin out into messy situations that grow exponentially and drag in surrounding players. What starts as a simple impas” read more
“Am I missing something with Get Carter? Widely acclaimed as one of the preeminent British gangster films, if not films in general, but I just couldn’t embrace it. For all its grit, grime, and fetishistic sexuality, there’s a sleaziness and pronounced periods of lag. Granted, having Michael” read more
“A corrosive portrait of a misogynist getting his comeuppance, Alfie is a minor late-60s work anchored by a wonderful Michael Caine performance. Caine gives a layered, complex performance that finds Alfie’s toxic masculinity, unwarranted arrogance, and gross sexism smothering a deep insecurity and ” read more
“Hanna-Barbera aren’t a studio that’s necessarily known for its high production values. Many of its beloved franchises, and I do love several of them, aren’t exactly memorable (in a positive way) for their beautiful animation. Plenty of chatter has occurred referencing the repeating backgrounds” read more
“Ava DuVernay’s camera is one that is best when the scales are smaller, and she can obsess over the contours and textures of an actor’s face. Not only the stellar adult players in this ensemble, but Storm Reid and Deric McCabe’s surprising and pleasing central performances. It’s a shame that ” read more
“The Depression looms large over the lives of these showgirls – skipping the rent, desperate for employment, putting things in hock. And what a fun group of girls it is between Aline MacMahon’s acid tongue, Joan Blondell’s raw intensity, and a pre-supernova Ginger Rogers playing one of her good” read more