Doctor Sleep

When these 30-40 year later sequels happen with intelligence by filmmakers who understand the original and how to continue the stories in new ways, good things can happen. Some prime early examples could be The Hustler’s sequel The Color of Money and Scenes from a Marriage’s sequel Saraband. Well, in a combination of hate and…

Billy Wilder’s Movies Ranked: The Definitive Ranking

We come to it at last, another top list. May the listicle gods be appeased and grant bounties upon this blog. Hey, not a Top 10, so I’m good. Oh, and click here for all the Definitive Rankings. Billy Wilder’s filmography was great to wade through. He was a remarkable talent who almost always made…

The Irishman

#12 in my ranking of Martin Scorsese's films. The canvas is very large, but the story is actually quite small. It’s about three men navigating the American culture of the 50s and 60s as they slowly fall onto opposites sides of an impossible divide. It’s about a man who chose wrong and ends up alone.…

The Fortune Cookie

#13 in my Ranking of Billy Wilder movies. A man without morals exploits an accident which he blows out of proportion in order to enrich himself, but enough about Ace in the Hole. In some thin way, The Fortune Cookie is the same story as Wilder’s earlier masterpiece, but it takes a very different path,…

Kiss Me, Stupid

#14 in my Ranking of Billy Wilder movies. For the second movie in a row, Billy Wilder chose a prostitute to carry a film, and this time it works better. It helps that the movie is only two hours long, providing greater focus which enhances the final emotional impact. Dean Martin stars as Dino, essentially…