Where the Heart Is

Part of that weird 80s and 90s subgenre of rich people having to interact with the homeless, John Boorman's Where the Heart Is is actually one of the more successful efforts, in the lines of Mel Brooks' Life Stinks. It's more clear-eyed and realistic in its portrayal of the issue while having something to say…

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Leo the Last

Yeah...no. Leo the Last is part of this subgenre of films that heavily uses metaphor and symbolism to try and explain, well, everything. Darren Aronofsky's mother! is a more modern example, and Lindsay Anderson's Britannia Hotel is another. Considering the presence of Marcello Mastroianni, regular star of Federico Fellini's films, I'd say that this is…

Catch Us if You Can

I've got to admit that I resisted John Boorman's first film, an effort to replicate the success of The Beatles' A Hard Days Night by fellow British Invasion band the Dave Clark Five. It was hard to figure out what was even going on with five, young British men that all kind of looked alike…

The Lady in Ermine

#30 in my ranking of Ernst Lubitsch's filmography. Well, at least I learned what ermine is, that's neat. That being said, I was actually somewhat enchanted with That Lady in Ermine, Ernst Lubitsch's final feature film that he was unable to complete due to his untimely death, a task that Otto Preminger, who had completed…

Cluny Brown

#13 in my ranking of Ernst Lubitsch's filmography. Ernst Lubitsch's final full film, Cluny Brown is a light comedy full of innuendo in pre-war Britain. Not his best work but reminiscent of what made him so wonderful as a filmmaker in general (much like Alfred Hitchcock's final film, Family Plot, did something similar at the…