Two films that I adore have very obvious camera bumps in them: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, and Punch Drunk Love. In both films there is a moment when the camera suddenly jilts and (in my case) you become aware for a moment that you’re watching a movie.
If the camera bumps [...]
Archive for the ‘Top 130 Movies: A List’ Category
Camera Bumps in Film
Posted in Filmmaking, Top 130 Movies: A List, tagged camera bumps, master and commander, Punch-Drunk Love, Roger Elswit, Russell Boyd, Steadicam mistakes, The Far Side of the World on July 17, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Top 130 Movie List: #48 All the President’s Men (1976, Dir: Alan Pakula, Scr: William Goldman)
Posted in Top 130 Movies: A List on April 13, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
When I read Carl Bertstein and Bob Woodward’s account of their investigate reporting around the Watergate scandal, I was not only riveted by the story, but was also amazed at the quality and depth of their journalism.
The film adaptation of their story is an example of talented storytellers working at the top of [...]
Top 130 Movie List: #65 The Passion of the Christ (2004, Dir: Mel Gibson, Scr: Mel Gibson, Benedict Fitzgerald)
Posted in Top 130 Movies: A List on April 13, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Whatever you think of Gibson, this film, or even Jesus, you can’t deny how visually stunning this movie is.
Here’s my favourite moment from the film. The character featured is Mary, the mother of Jesus, as she encounters Jesus on the way to his death.
JESUS: “See, Mother, I make all things new.”
My Favourite Christmas Movies
Posted in Top 130 Movies: A List, tagged Billy Wilder, Christmas Films, Christmas Movies, It's a Wonderful Life on December 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
My favourite film to watch at Christmas is It’s a Wonderful Life. But when you think about it, this isn’t a pure ‘Christmacy’ type movie. Christmas only comes into play toward the end of the film as a backdrop for George Bailey’s crisis. We watched again last night and it just gets better and [...]
Top 25 Canadian Films: A List
Posted in Movies, Top 130 Movies: A List, tagged Award Winning Canadian Films, Best Canadian Films, Canada Film, Canadian Movie List, Canadian Movies, Canadian Short Films, Douglas Coupland, Favourite Canadian Movies, Frédéric Back, Jean Giono, Paul Fox, Top Canadian Movies on October 5, 2008 | 4 Comments »
Canadians are probably the only people on the planet who are constantly bringing up the fact that so-and-so is Canadian. That is to say, the person is not American. (Americans, of course, suffer from no such insecurity.) But who can blame us? When you are a small country, living next to a media powerhouse, it’s [...]
Top 130 Movie List: #39 Jerry Maguire (Dir/Scr: Cameron Crowe)
Posted in Top 130 Movies: A List, tagged Cameron Crowe, Film, jerry cantrell, jerry maguire, tom cruise on August 12, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Cameron Crowe is probably my favourite contemporary filmmaker. I enjoy the characters and worlds he creates, and the spirit in which he tells his stories. The brilliance of Crowe’s films is that they often start where other’s finish – his stories often tell the challenges experienced in the rest of the story: what happens when [...]
Top 130 Movie List: #56 Ryan (2004, Dir/Scr: Chris Landreth)
Posted in Top 130 Movies: A List, tagged Canadian Film, Chris Landreth, National Film Board, Ryan on August 12, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Director Chris Landreth brings together the two best streams of Canadian filmmaking – documentary and animation – in the Oscar winning film Ryan. This NFB sponsored short is a first-person, animated documentary about former Oscar nominated NFB animator Ryan Larkin, now an alcoholic living on the streets of Montreal.
There’s a reason it won just about [...]
Top 130 Movie List: #14 My Darling Clementine (1946, Dir: John Ford, Scr: S. Engel, W.Miller)
Posted in Top 130 Movies: A List, tagged Henry Fonda, John Ford, My Darling Clementine, Top 130 Movies on June 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It was only three or four years ago that I discovered the films of John Ford, and he quickly jumped to the top of my list of favourite directors. And with six, he has the most films on my Top 130 Movie List: The Searchers, My Darling Clementine, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Stagecoach, [...]
Top 130 Movie List: #15 Chinatown (1974, Dir: Roman Polanski, Scr: Robert Towne)
Posted in Top 130 Movies: A List, tagged Chinatown, film directing, films, Movies, Roman Polanski on March 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
In the tradition of Raymond Chandler and movies like The Big Sleep (Top 130: #24) and The Maltese Falcon (Top 130: #31), Chinatown is a near perfect movie which finds Private Investigator Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) plunged into a world of money, murder and… water.
Robert Towne is the writer responsible for this, one of the [...]
Top 130 Movie List: #5 Lawrence of Arabia (1962, Dir: David Lean, Scr: Robert Bolt)
Posted in Top 130 Movies: A List, tagged David Lean, Film, lawrence of arabia, Movies on March 7, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Lawrence of Arabia is a sweeping epic that still manages to be a character study of the entirely unique and compelling T.E. Lawrence.
Notwithstanding the writing of Robert Bolt and the performance by Peter O’Toole (was there ever a better break-out role?), David Lean’s direction is what moves this movie into the realm of [...]
