School’s out, vacations are beginning. This week, the five best films which deal with travel. Brian Murnion: “Ugetsu” dir. Kenji Mizoguchi, 1953 “The Wages of Fear” dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953 “Alice in the Cities” dir. Wim Wenders, 1974 “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” dir. Stanley Kramer, 1963 “Weekend” dir. Jean-Luc Godard, 1967 Elizabeth…Read On
For the last several years, I’ve figured that there is something Dionysian about Summer and something Apollonian about Winter. When November rolls around, the Best Picture candidates come out. Everyone gets thoughtful, but in the Summer, nothing doing. A few films do a pretty fine job capturing the madness of Summer… I think of “The…Read On
M Night Shyamalan might be Hitchcock’s greatest living devotee, but no matter how good Shyamalan’s films were ten to fifteen years ago, even his best work missed lacked the essence and toxic potency of Hitchcock’s best work. Shyamalan is an innocent. He makes moral films, pure films. On the other hand, the battery which powers…Read On
In Paths of Glory, Col. Dax is the righteous, indignant military lawyer who defends three innocent French soldiers being tried on trumped up charges of cowardice. In truth, the three soldiers are merely scapegoats of the upper brass and are ultimately put to death to cover over the shame and selfishness of top generals. Dax…Read On
You feel intimidated. Ten minutes in, you think, “This can’t be going anywhere good. I should probably get while the getting is good.” But you have nothing else to do, nowhere to go, nothing else to watch. So you sit and you sit and you sit and you do not like it one little bit…Read On
If the characters are not wicked, the book is. Thus spake GK Chesterton in All Things Considered. Often enough, the quote is a little mangled. I grew up hearing it thus: A story without wicked characters is a wicked story. Granting for the moment that the quote is true, let us admit that the maxim…Read On
Tired of spending forever trying to find something worth watching on Netflix? This week, the five best films streaming on Netflix. Brian Murnion: The Apartment (1960) Sunset Boulevard (1950) In Bloom (2014) Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963) Clueless (1995) Remy Wilkins: There Will Be Blood : People should be aware that the greatest movie of…Read On
The average citizen of the West now lives nearly twice as long as he did a thousand years ago. An extension of the sunset years has proven disorienting to us, a fact chiefly observable in the growing legality and popularity of physician assisted suicide. This week, give five films which deal lucidly with old age…Read On
No one is perfect, neither living people nor fictional people. We must forgive our friends much, and we must forgive our favorite characters much, as well. We forgive our friends for sins they do not confess, because we want God to forgive the sins we do not confess, and we forgive the sins of our…Read On
The first episode of Lost premiered September 22, 2004 and ushered in what more than a few critics have called “the new golden age of television,” which lasts up until today. What are the five greatest individual episodes of television to have aired in this era? Jon Paul Pope “The Wheel,” Mad Men Episode 1.13…Read On
“Utopia – The Place That Cannot Be”: How Mad Men Incorporates the Divine Comedy Into the American Dream “They taught us at Barnard about that word, ‘utopia,’” says Rachel Menken (Maggie Siff) in “Babylon,” the sixth episode of Mad Men’s first season. “The Greeks had two meanings for it: ‘eu-topos,’ meaning ‘the good place,’ and ‘u-topos,’…Read On
The epic of the wasteland, at worst, beats you over the head with a cricket bat. At best, the epic of the wasteland is the greatest analysis of the absolute depravity humans can sink to and the heights to which they can soar. It is the ultimate nightmare of a world obsessed with its own survival…Read On
This week, the five greatest animated movies of all time. Thomas Banks: The Jungle Book Robin Hood 101 Dalmations The Sword in the Stone The Looney Toons spoof on Casablanca Brian Murnion: Toy Story (USA – 1995) Sleeping Beauty (USA – 1959) Spirited Away (Japan – 2001) The Secret of Nimh (USA – 1982) The…Read On
“He who saves one life saves the world entire” claims the Talmud. How can this be true? Judaism, Islam and Christianity all have long philosophical and theological traditions which uphold the notion that man is a microcosm, a little cosmos, and that God has written the entirety of creation, in miniature, within the person of…Read On
Spring has lately arrived. A young man’s fancy turns to love. What films best capture the natural beauty of the world? This week, five films that do well to show us God’s grandeur. Also, in addition to the title, supply a single line as to your appreciation of each entered film. Remy Wilkins: Days of…Read On
A few weeks ago, Kanaan Trotter and I watched Fireproof and then discussed the film. FilmFisher has no vested interest in “Christian films,” per se, but rather film criticism written by Christians. At the same time, the “Christian film” industry is a burgeoning industry, and simply ignoring Christian films because they tend to operate with…Read On
This week, top five cinematic shopping scenes. Barry Egan buying pudding in Punch Drunk Love was a given. Remy Wilkins: The Dude post-dating a check for .69 in The Big Lebowski Shigeru shopping for Apollo Choco in Nobody Knows Supermarket Banjo Fight Scene in Zombieland Robert Neville renting movies in I Am Legend Uncle Owen buying…Read On
Patience is a difficult virtue to convey in film. Films have to be intriguing, progressive, suggestive, so patience and waiting don’t always make for riveting viewing. Nonetheless, in a world which moves as fast as ours, patience is essential to living a happy life. As we find ourselves in the middle of Lent, in a…Read On
Dark Days (2011): You’ll just sit there baffled for most of this one. The story of an underground city in New York, Dark Days director Marc Singer somehow found out about and then got access to one of the smallest, most secluded and protective communities of the homeless in NYC and made a documentary about…Read On
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When I visited the theater to see Unbroken last December, my teenage ticket salesman complimented me on my choice. “It’s a great movie,” he gushed. Two hours later, I felt sorely tempted to go back and ask him why he thought the movie was so wonderful. Certainly, Unbroken tells a remarkable true story. But compared…Read On
