English, American Studies, Cinema Studies Prof at St. Joseph's University of NY (Brooklyn & LI); Ben and Hannah's Dad; Happy Husband of Andrea. He/Him/His
@JuddApatow
It’s a bad joke that didn’t work. Haven’t most of us been there? “Empathy” includes not being so quick to make such a sweeping judgment and piling on.
Which is your favourite actor-director collaboration in American movies?
I'll begin: Robert de Niro & Martin Scorsese.
Taxi Driver (1976)
Director: Martin Scorsese
@DannyDrinksWine
@sunburnhaze
“Objectively speaking” is out of place for an inherently subjective choice like “greatest living filmmaker.” You have your choice, Coppola has his, and others have theirs. There’s no real “evidence” to prove one’s choice as correct.
A remarkable thing about the character is her evolution over the series. Archie first meets her when she faints in his cab and he does mouth-to-mouth (thinking she's a woman). She comes to the house to repay him and offers a 50-dollar bill in thanks, and this happens:
Ten favorite books (random ten novels, not necessarily top ten), no author repeats:
True Grit
Charlotte’s Web
Lolita
The Age of Innocence
The Long Goodbye
My Antonia
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Goodbye, Columbus
Rabbit is Rich
The Bluest Eye
Ten favorite books (random ten, not necessarily top ten), no author repeats:
PIECE OF CAKE
A HIGH WIND IN JAMAICA
AMONG THE DEAD
TAKE A GIRL LIKE YOU
FAT CITY
LONDON FIELDS
SAVAGE NIGHT
A HANDFUL OF DUST
CLOCKERS
PEACE
@jaketapper
Does Grassley even realize that the beneficiaries of such estates haven’t done the investing? The deceased did that. Beneficiaries can spend all that money on booze, women, and movies, although — given the extraordinary amount of money involved — that’s a hell of a lot of all 3.
@acroce66
If it’s about personality, Steve Martin.
If it’s about their movies, slight edge to Bill Murray (because Groundhog Day).
If it’s their overall careers, Martin’s a genuinely brilliant renaissance man.
Happy Birthday (Jan. 14) to Joseph Losey. His masterpieces are The Servant (1963) and Monsieur Klein (1976), but my favorite is one of the last films he made in Hollywood before being exiled to Europe by the Blacklist, The Prowler (1951), a hauntingly despairing amour fou.
@acroce66
Heston and Marvin are fine, while Hackman’s in a film that doesn’t make much use of him, but Shaw’s performance in Jaws is something special.
@acroce66
10+
Perhaps not a great Western for genre purists, it’s nevertheless one of the most charming and compelling buddy films ever made, with a bittersweet nostalgia that gives it some gravitas.
@acroce66
10+
Certainly among Woody Allen’s best films; arguably his best. Cast of the multiple protagonist narrative is outstanding, jokes very funny, and the theme of love’s unpredictability is expertly delivered via surprising twists and turns.
And it’s a bona fide Thanksgiving movie!
@acroce66
10+
Masterpiece merging of horror and disaster genres that’s still startlingly effective. Last of four genuinely great films (Vertigo, North by Northwest, Psycho, The Birds) in a row. What a run!
SCORSESE: A film like Umberto D. Which is on tonight at 4 in the morning on Turner Classic movies
ROSE: What's amazing about that is you know that
SCORSESE: Yeah, I check each day. Just in case. You never know. Some obscure B thing that one night a year from now you want to see
@acroce66
Al and his show were good for some vulgar laughs, but Archie and his show were a superb socio/cultural comedy with perfectly drawn characters, the first of its kind on American TV. And no show since has matched its impact.
@acroce66
10+
Best Hitchcock film that Hitchcock didn’t make. Stanley Donen’s direction is superb, Peter Stone’s script is witty and suspenseful, and Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant are at their magnificently charming best (in spite of the age difference). Supporting cast is aces too.
The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Brings the spirit of Cooper’s book to cinematic life while improving on its plot, characters, and character relationships.
@acroce66
10+
Wonderful and disturbing portrait of suburban white masculinity facing its worst nightmares. Brilliantly done film of Dickey’s novel. And every single member of the cast is superb.
@acroce66
One can argue that Reynolds had more range and was funnier, but Eastwood created a powerful star persona, one that he meaningfully revised as he aged, that was far ahead of anything Reynolds ever achieved.
@acroce66
10+
Spike Lee’s best, because he caught lightning in a bottle in Bed Stuy at the end of the 80’s. It’s amazingly good and it’s still sadly relevant. One of the best movies of the last forty years.
Director William Friedkin, best known for his Oscar-winning “The French Connection” and blockbuster “The Exorcist,” died Monday in Los Angeles. He was 87.
@acroce66
10+
Great cynical and satirical comedy/drama that scores in all departments. Michael Ritchie was a master at this sort of satire in the 70’s.
@acroce66
10+
One of the essential examples of what all that “New Hollywood” fuss was about from 1967-1975. It brilliantly manages to acknowledge movie traditions while being surprisingly and movingly new.
@acroce66
10+
It’s often in bad taste, crude, and rude, but it’s also hilarious and brilliant. Hits much more than it misses. But not for the faint of heart and those easily offended, especially nowadays.
@acroce66
9
The lame sequels almost ruined my memory of what an enjoyable thrill ride the first one is. Was a genuinely new kind of action movie 23 years ago and still packs a punch.
@acroce66
@SawtoothRob
10+
Bona fide coming of age classic. Better than American Graffiti, even better than Mean Streets, and as great as I Vitelloni. Besides which, it was the first date movie for my wife and me.
@acroce66
10+
Frankenheimer’s movie is a work of genius. It’s the best and wackiest American political thriller ever made. He brilliantly brings Condon’s novel to cinematic life. Both funny and horrifying in a way that was well ahead of its time.
@acroce66
10
One of Pacino’s very best performances and no filmmaker has ever been better than the great Sidney Lumet at gritty, warts and all portraits of NYC’s cops and justice system.
@acroce66
Mel Brooks’s performance as the addled governor is just farcically silly stuff, but Sydney Pollack gives a great, hilarious, and nuanced performance in Tootsie that is central to that movie’s plot.
@acroce66
Jaws and Star Wars are great. But the blockbuster, “tent pole” franchise mentality they ushered in came to rule the studio system in the 80’s, and it nearly ruined the output of innovative commercial movies made for adults. American cinema recovered, but the damage remains.
@acroce66
10
They take a story that doesn’t seem suited for a feature film and somehow make it work beautifully. And you don’t have to be a baseball fan to enjoy it (although that helps).
@acroce66
10+
Urban nightmare masterpiece that’s now iconic. Anti-vigilante message is clear as a cleanly polished rear-view mirror, but the ambiguous ending leaves many wondering.
One of the 70’s greatest and one of Scorsese, DeNiro, and Schrader’s best. Everyone involved also stellar.
@acroce66
10+
Terrific adaptation of a modern classic. Taylor and Burton at their very best, Segal and Dennis are also superb, and Mike Nichols’s debut film is one of the main reasons he became a legend. And the B&W cinematography of Haskell Wexler brings it all to great cinematic life.
Although his books got too gossipy, I’ll always be grateful to Donald Spoto for his New School classes on Hitchcock in the 70’s. They were wonderfully enlightening experiences guided by a great teacher for those of us starting to appreciate movies as an art form.
Donald Spoto, a prolific biographer best known for his books on Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and other high-profile entertainment figures, some of which made news with startling claims, has died at 81.
Saw this excellent film Friday night, followed by a lively discussion with the more than half of the audience who wanted to stay and talk about it (even with its 2.5 hours runtime). See it if you can.
@acroce66
10+
Genuine American epic with great performances by three leads.
Length isn’t a problem, as the first two-thirds sets things up perfectly and the final third moves sharply once FBI arrives and trial begins. Moving and monumental. NYFCC got it right.
@acroce66
10+
It’s a superb cinematic rendering of Albee’s play. Taylor is mesmerizingly great and matched by Burton. Segal and Dennis are also wonderful. Mike Nichols’ direction and Haskell Wexler’s cinematography are outstanding.
@acroce66
10
It’s not great high-brow “cinema,” but it knows what it’s about: kick ass action with a lone underdog hero who bravely goes up against a bunch of evil baddies with crowd rousing results. One of the best of its kind.
@mrbrianrowe
It’s going to be a pretty remarkable race in that category among RDJ, De Niro, and Gosling. My money’s also on RDJ, because I think his seriously dramatic performance as a grown up villain who has his reasons is the most unexpected of the three.
@acroce66
Moonstruck is delightful, but have to go with Manhattan for the beauty of its portrait of place, even with its cringe-worthy (then as well as now) relationship between Allen and Mariel Hemingway (who’s actually quite good in her role).
@mrbrianrowe
Blanchett deserved the win, but I thought Bullock gave the performance of her career in Gravity. (Much better than her work in The Blind Side.)
@acroce66
Friedkin has directed films (namely, The French Connection and The Exorcist) that are better than anything DePalma has ever done, but I’d still give the edge to DePalma for the greater consistent quality of his overall filmography.
@acroce66
@qyou185
RIP to a great one. Like Bogdanovich and Coppola, was at the top of the mountain in the 70’s and then lost that status, but kept plugging away and doing fine work. And his commentary tracks and interviews are a brilliant and funny delight. May his memory be a blessing.
My stone cold favourite top 5 classic American film noirs:
KISS ME DEADLY (1955)
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947)
WOMAN ON THE RUN (1950)
NIGHT AND THE CITY (1950)
FORCE OF EVIL (1948)
.
What are yours?
#Noirvember
#NoirvemberChallenge
@acroce66
10+
Terrific adaptation of a superb novel. John Boorman made two American masterpieces, Point Blank and this movie. Great work by whole cast and an unforgettably dark and disturbing story expertly told.
One of the most egregious examples of many last night They do such a shitty job of it lately that it would be better not to do it at all. And I like Lenny Kravitz, but the musical accompaniment should be background not foreground.
Last night the Academy Awards Memoriam segment neglected to include BO HOPKINS, who appeared in the Wild Bunch, American Graffiti, The Day of the Locust, Midnight Express, The Killer Elite, The Getaway, Monte Walsh, The Rockford Files, etc.
@acroce66
Opie has certainly been better over the long term with a more impressively consistent filmography, but Meathead’s run in the 80’s — This Is Spinal Tap, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, and more — holds up as the height of what either has achieved.
@Halcyon270
@nytimes
Maureen Dowd makes one wish there were term limits for columnists, but the next best strategy is to ignore her. She’s been irrelevant for at least the past 15 years.
@acroce66
100+
Masterpiece of the highest order. One of the best Hollywood movies ever made. Billy Wilder was a genius and the cast and crew were all at the top of their game, especially Gloria Swanson, who gives one of the greatest and bravest performances ever captured on film.
@acroce66
Movie is a 7.5 as a pretty good and quite stylish thriller.
But Diane Lane gets a 10+.
Similar to her performance in A Walk on the Moon, she’s sexy and beautiful, of course, but also authentically vulnerable and forgivably wayward in a role that she plays brilliantly.
@DannyDrinksWine
What a pretentious and pedantic prick and poser JLG was. Truffaut continued to tell stories, yes, because he made movies for people to enjoy and to think and to feel. JLG went on to make movies that lectured people about how beneath him they and everyone else were.
What supporting performance in a movie steals the whole show???
I'll start with this example:
T.L. Jones as U.S. Marshal Gerrard in the classic crime movie The Fugitive(1993). 😉😊😊
@acroce66
Extremely close, but Travolta’s superb dancing and his more difficult challenge of portraying an alienated and unlikeable character who nevertheless engages the spectator gives him the edge.
@acroce66
8.5
It sure ain't Washington Irving's story and it sure ain't subtle, but it's a lot of fun nevertheless, with great atmosphere. And Walken is a terrific Headless Horseman.