Best Film Editing

[4] Around the World in 80 Days is a three-hour-long, episodic adventure that’s high on spectacle and low on story or character. I wager it played better to a 1950s audience interested in seeing a cliche-ridden “It’s a Small World”-like pastiche of world cultures. I wish leading actor David Niven had more to do in his role — it could have really helped the film …

[3] What a shitty Best Picture winner Gigi is. It’s a musical about an unhappy playboy (Louis Jourdan) and an unhappy debutante (Leslie Caron) who fall in love, but then out of love, and back in love, and out, and finally in again. Apparently neither one feels right playing by the rules of Parisian upper-crust society and doing what is expected of them, so they …

[6] Steve McQueen stars as a San Francisco cop charged with protecting a mobster who is about to squeal for a US senator. When the witness is killed, McQueen works around the clock to discern the identity of the killers before the senator has his head. First off, I have to say that was one of the hardest synopses I’ve ever done. Bullitt is a …

[8] Score another point for Ben Affleck. I never much cared for him as an actor, but between this film and 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, the guy has shown us some serious directing chops. Argo is the true story of how the U.S. Government worked with Hollywood to rescue six Americans who escaped the U.S. Embassy during the 1980 Iranian hostage crisis. Affleck plays the …

[7] Hollywood’s most celebrated melodrama is still entertaining today. Vivien Leigh does a remarkable job playing one of the most volatile heroines in film history. Scarlet O’Hara begins Margaret Mitchell’s story damned spoiled, and I’m not sure she ever really learns her lesson, but Leigh renders a subtle transformation while always remaining true to character. My other favorites are Olivia de Havilland (sweet in everything …

[10] Peter Jackson (Dead Alive, The Frighteners) embraces the Herculean task of bringing Tolkien’s supreme fantasy to the silver screen, and hits a home run. The Fellowship of the Ring gets the trilogy off to a strong start, as Frodo Baggins and his companions set off to destroy the One Ring.  Jackson is faithful to the source material while masterfully balancing action, horror, heart, and …

[10] It doesn’t matter whether you think Oswald acted alone or not. Oliver Stone’s JFK is stunning in its craftsmanship and enthralling in its narrative construction. If you’re only casually familiar with the people and events surrounding Kennedy’s assassination and the conspiracy theories about it, brace yourself for a fast-paced, provocative, emotionally compelling story that is sure to make you drop your jaw and raise …

[10] Kevin Costner’s ambitious ode to the American frontier is grand, romantic storytelling at its best. And talk about an underdog. People were calling it ‘Kevin’s Gate’ months prior to release — and why shouldn’t they? A three-hour long western with most of its dialogue in Lakota Sioux? How could such a movie find an audience, much less sweep the Academy Awards?

[10] Steven Spielberg wanted to make a James Bond movie until his buddy George Lucas said, ‘I have a better idea.’ And he did. Lucas created Indiana Jones, a globe-trotting archaeologist who sought treasure for fortune and glory while encountering a variety of adversaries in his travels, starting with the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indiana Jones would become the new name of …

[10] Star Wars needs another review like a wookiee needs Rogaine, but let’s reflect anyway, lest we start to forget its cultural importance and overall awesomeness.  After film reached (still) unparalleled popularity in the late ’30s and ’40s, television came along and the film industry instantly began to shrivel. The dry spell lasted until the mid-70s (perfect timing, mom and dad), when the ‘film school …

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