Joe Dante: A Retrospective

There's something Joe Dante says near the beginning of his commentary on the Blu-ray of his movie Innerspace that, I think, perfectly sums up who he is as a filmmaker. He's commenting on the scene where Martin Short's hypochondriac character goes to his doctor for the first time in the film, and Dante points out that the…

Submarine

#30 in my ranking of Frank Capra's filmography. This was reportedly Frank Capra's first A-level feature film, and you can see it in the increased number of locations and sets. However, this was the era when even A-level feature films were written in a few weeks, shot in a few weeks, and editing in a…

The Matinee Idol

#9 in my ranking of Frank Capra's filmography. This Frank Capra fellow just keeps getting better and better. This quick, 56 minute long feature is a real little gem of Capra's early career, further refining his combination of comedy and drama around winning performances. It's also another portrait of the little guy winning over the…

So This is Love?

#20 in my ranking of Frank Capra's filmography. Well, that's interesting. The first half of Frank Capra's previous film, That Certain Thing, was the weaker of the two halves while its second half was kind of great, and we get the exact opposite here with So This is Love?, a romantic boxing comedy. Continuing to…

That Certain Thing

#18 in my ranking of Frank Capra's filmography. The first half of That Certain Feeling is a gauzy, undramatic look at two people who pretty much just fall in love at first sight. The second half is the story of two people who love each other trying to forge their path in a world of…