Loosely inspired by William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, 1956’s Forbidden Planet is regarded as one of the best science fiction films of its era. The story follows the crew of a United Planets starship to the far off planet Altair IV where a scientific expedition disappeared years ago. On arriving at the planet, Commander Adams (Leslie Nielsen) is warned by the soul surviving member of the lost crew not to land.
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AMC Theatres’ release of All The President’s Men in select theaters is timely not only in honoring the passing of Robert Reford but in terms of current events with a corrupt administration hiding its crimes and going on an attack against the press and the First Amendment. Released in 1976, the film follows hungry reporters Bob Woodward (Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) looking into the Watergate break-in and uncovering a story so large it would eventually lead to the resignation of Nixon a year later.
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Universally regarded as one of the best animated films of all time, 1988’s My Neighbor Totoro follows 10 year-old Satsuki Kusakabe (Noriko Hidaka | Dakota Fanning) and 4 year-old Mei Kusakabe (Chika Sakamoto | Elle Fanning) on an amazing adventure after the move to the countryside with their father Tatsuo (Shigesato Itoi | Tim Daly). Shortly after arriving, the girls discover their new home is different finding dust spites in the house. Mei later follows two more unusual characters through the woods where she encounters the slumbering Totoro who more fascinates the young girl than scares her.
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Set in post-WWII Europe, director Carol Reed‘s cinematic masterpiece begins with the arrival of American pulp writer Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) in occupied Austria only to learn the friend he had come to visit on his last dime, Harry Lime (Orson Welles), is dead. Despite everyone he meets telling him he should return home, Holly sticks around the city playing amateur detective hoping to learn more about how and why Harry died.
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I don’t know if 1974’s Chinatown is without doubt the best film for everyone involved, both in front and behind the camera, but one could certainly make the case. Director Roman Polanski and screenwriter Robert Towne come together with a neo-noir staple which provided Jack Nicholson one of his most famous roles as private investigator J. J. Gittes who struggles to find the truth surrounding the death of chief engineer at the Department of Water and Power (Darrell Zwerling), who Gittes was hired to surveil by a woman (Diane Ladd) pretending to be his wife (Faye Dunaway), and uncover how that death plays into a larger conspiracy of the Los Angeles draught and a land scheme which allows 30s Los Angeles to become a major character in the film.
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Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown. Read More »
