The Wrestler (2008)
For those of us who remember wrestling in the Hulk Hogan heyday, this is a powerful counterpoint, highlighting the physical and emotional toll of being a wrestling performer.
Constant touring, being away from your family, broken bones, and concussions are only a few of the features of the profession. And most wrestlers aren’t making money, they’re doing it for the thrill of the crowd, so they can occupy a space in someone’s imagination, where they can be the good guy or the bad guy of your dreams.
Mickey Rourke was born for this role, his personal baggage dovetails with the story of Randy “the Ram” Robinson. Despite winning an Oscar for her work in My Cousin Vinnie, Marisa Tomei didn’t get the respect she deserved until her performance as Cassidy in this film.
She’s the mirror of Randy, a stripper hanging on to past glory, afraid to be something else. Like Randy, she’s wrapped herself up in a specific definition of herself and cannot change.
It’s a great film about the difference between who we are and what we do, how this line gets blurred, and the cost of success.
Von Ryan’s Express (1965)
When Colonel Joseph Ryan (Frank Sinatra) is captured during World War II, he becomes the highest ranking officer in an Italian POW camp, where he struggles to win the respect of the mostly British soldiers in the encampment, but eventually plays an integral role in their escape.
Part Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), part The Great Escape (1963), thisworks because of Sinatra’s immense charm. It’s a fun escape film, but also asks serious questions about the nature of leadership.
Bridge of Spies (2015)
When insurance salesman James Donovan (Tom Hanks) is recruited to represent captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel, he initially only plans to provide an adequate defense, but his principles and his burgeoning friendship with Abel compel him to fight the case as long as he can. Because of his association with Abel and the lengths he went to in his defense, when American pilot Francis Gary Powers is captured behind Soviet lines, Donovan goes to negotiate an exchange: Abel for Powers. However, things are complicated when Donovan learns about an American student who is being held prisoner by the East Germans.
Working from a script by the Coen Brothers, Hanks and Spielberg do something very difficult, they make international diplomacy exciting and compelling. It was a little annoying the film never wanted to take sides and insisted on operating in such a gray area with regards to the two spies, but it was great to see a movie which unashamedly shows how dire the situation was in East Berlin in the early 1960s and dared to dramatize the complex political realities behind the Iron Curtain.
In the end, this was a movie about how principled action can lead to positive results. Spielberg’s recent work explores the intersection of politics and real world consequences, the limits of ideals, and the importance of fundamental principles. Spielberg, the wide-eyed storyteller of E.T., and Close Encounters of the Third Kind has given way to a grizzled moralist in Amistad, Munich, and War Horse.
The City of Lost Children (1995)
A mad scientist kidnaps children and steals their dreams. An underwater lair. Clones. Ron Perlman. A daring rescue. A gang of orphaned children turned thieves.
Jean-Pierre Jeunet is one of the most visually striking directors, even his darkest films are infused with whimsy.
One of the first steampunk films, this is a bridge between Jeunet’s earlier darker work in Delicatessen and the pure joy of Amelie. It’s such a unique vision, it’s difficult to watch and not get swept away with wonder.
The Straight Story (1999)
When octogenarian Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) learns his brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) had a stroke, he wants to end their long standing feud. Unable to drive, he decides to travel in his riding lawnmower.
His journey is filled with harrowing close calls and encounters with an odd assortment of characters, reminiscent of Harry and Tonto a quarter century earlier.
It’s a sweet film with an unforgettable turn by Farnsworth, made more remarkable considering he was dying with prostate cancer during production, filling his performance with a poignant urgency.
Based on the true story of Straight’s improbable journey, and unconcerned with the dream landscape of his other work, this is easily David Lynch’s most accessible film.
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)
Documentarian Alex Gibney traces the life of L. Ron Hubbard and his founding of the Church of Scientology, then explores criticisms of the sect and its current leader David Miscavige.
Beyond the usual claims of indoctrination and brainwashing, this film alleges physical abuse and imprisonment for those daring to expose questionable church practices or question its leadership.
Gibney depicts an organization willing to bully and intimidate any former members who speak publicly about their experiences.
Exposing the ways religion has been used and manipulated for the personal gain of a selected few, this film is a must see for anyone interested in a serious discussion of the role of faith in 21st century America.
Alfie (1966)
Serial womanizer Alfie Elkins (Michael Caine) sleeps with numerous married women (including the wife of a friend he meets in a convalescent home). He has a child with a girlfriend, but refuses to marry her.
Later, he convinces one of his lovers to have an abortion to keep her husband from discovering their affair. This event traumatizes both of them.
Made and set during Swinging London, this film asks tough questions about identity and purpose in a value system which devalues fidelity, serving as an excellent deconstruction of the animating principles of the free love movement.
Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood (2019)
As his long running TV western finishes its run, Rick Dalton (Leonardo Dicapprio) spends his days lamenting his stalled career to his friend and stunt double Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), who was blackballed after rumors he killed his wife and an incident with Bruce Lee.
When Roman Polanski and his wife Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) move in next to Dalton, he hopes to manipulate them into jumpstarting his career.
Dalton gets his career back on track after an enlightening conversation with his eight year old co star (played beautifully by Julia Butters) during a guest spot on Lancer.
Booth picks up a hitchhiker, who turns out to be a member of Charles Manson’s infamous family. He takes her back to their base of operations, where he angers the Family when he insists on seeing his old friend and ranch owner George Spahn.
While Booth and Dalton are finding their way, Tate pals around with her celebrity friends at the Playboy mansion (including Mama Cass), then goes to watch herself in The Wrecking Crew.
This is a fun movie crammed with stars: Al Pacino, Luke Perry, Timothy Olyphant, Lena Dunham, Maya Hawke, Margaret Qualley. Sadly, Burt Reynolds was cast as George Spahn, but died before filming his scenes. His replacement, Bruce Dern, did a great job, but Reynolds would have been awesome.
Continuing his recent string of revisionist history films, Quentin Tarantino uses the end of the sixties and the Manson murders as a jumping off point for a meditation on celebrity, identity, and masculinity.
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Toll booth operator Lucy Moderatz (Sandra Bullock) is secretly in love with commuter Peter Callaghan (Peter Gallagher). When he’s mugged, she saves him from an oncoming train and takes him to the hospital. As he slips into a coma, his family mistakenly thinks Lucy is his fiancée.
Enjoying her time with Peter’s loving family and embarrassed to admit the truth, Lucy continues the charade, but complications arise when she falls in love with his younger brother Jack (Bill Pullman). When Peter wakes, Lucy must choose between the truth and the family she loves.
The film launched Sandra Bullock to stardom and features fantastic supporting performances from Peter Boyle, Glynis Johns, and Jack Warden as members of the extended Callaghan clan.
Jon Turtletraub, who would go on to direct National Treasure (2004), does a fantastic job shepherding this vision of the world where love and family are enough to solve all of life’s problems.
Mistress America (2015)
Tracy (Lola Kirke) finds a welcome distraction from her lonely life in her future stepsister and unpredictable free spirit Brooke (Greta Gerwig). Inspired by Brooke’s vitality, Tracy writes a short story about her.
After a series of bizarre events, Brooke and a cadre of her friends read the short story and chastise Tracy’s perceived lack of respect for boundaries and privacy.
Noah Baumbach is a darker version of his friend Wes Anderson. Anderson’s films offer a whimsical, bemused look at a world inherited by offbeat characters. Baumbach’s films feature offbeat characters, but are filled with existential dread and the smell of nihilism.
The film is an insightful look at artistic inspiration and how we define ourselves versus how others define us. Gerwig has become Baumbach’s muse and her collaborations with him are amongst the very best dealing with the ennui of young adulthood in the early 21st century, like a more reasonable and likable version of Lena Dunham’s Hannah.
Mabel and Fatty’s Married Life (1915)
Mabel and Fatty live a life of relative marital bliss, until a newspaper story convinces a paranoid Mabel that a gang of thieves is coming to get her. She barricades herself in her home and calls the police.
There’s a frantic energy once the police arrive and a mini-riot in front of Fatty’s home briefly blocks him from checking on his wife, but otherwise this is a little flat.
Interestingly, many early silent films featured policemen as comic relief. They were ignorant and bumbling, frequently arresting the wrong person. While there isn’t a racial component, there’s a strong suggestion the police are cruel and violent to the poor and working class.
Fatty’s Tintype Tangle (1915)
Upset by her demanding and exacting attitude, Fatty drunkenly confronts his mother-in-law and storms out of the house. While sitting on a park bench, he’s accidentally photographed with another man’s wife. When the offended husband threatens Fatty, he runs home, packs his bags, and flees.
In his absence, Fatty’s wife rents a room in their spacious home to the same couple. A repentant Fatty comes home and once again encounters the angry husband.
Fatty’s drunken rampage is funny and there’s an impressive stunt involving electrical wires, but there are long stretches of set-up for a relatively small payoff.
Released in two parts, it feels like two distinct ideas (Fatty vs. his mother-in-law and Fatty vs. the jealous husband) jammed into an incongruous whole.
This is one of the finest examples of Arbuckle’s unique skill set. His exaggerated mugging always felt genuine; he was surprisingly physical for a comedian of his size; and his films deftly explored the nuances of domestic life and gender roles, something his better remembered contemporaries Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin largely eschewed.
A Night Out (1915)
Two revelers (Charlie Chaplin and Ben Turpin) get drunk and make fools of themselves.
This was one of his Chaplin’s first films for Essanay Studios who ill-advisedly paired him with former vaudevillian, Ben Turpin. The result is a little aimless, but there are occasional glimpses of Chaplin’s comic genius.
Chaplin’s instincts are solid and he turns the slightest jokes into something greater than they would be otherwise, but Turpin, whose comedy relied on cross-eyes and straightforward slapstick, struggles when the scene requires him to do more than a pratfall.
Notably, this was the first film to pair Chaplin with frequent female costar Edna Purviance, who would go on to star in 30 films with him in an eight year period.
A Burlesque on Carmen (1915)
Charlie Chaplin parodies Bizet’s 1875 opera Carmen.
Gypsy Carmen (Edna Purviance) distracts Dan Hosiery (Charlie Chaplin), one of the guards at the entrance of Seville, while a group of smugglers run into the city. He falls in love with her, while she falls in love with a famous bullfighter. Eventually, a jealous Hosiery kills Carmen.
However, this film ends with Hosiery and Carmen demonstrating it was a fake knife, exposing the whole thing as an artifice in a clever bit of metafiction.
Essanay Studios were nervous the film featuring an unproven Chaplin wouldn’t make money, so, in some versions they added a totally unrelated subplot with famed slapstick comedian Ben Turpin. I watched both versions and can say with certainty Chaplin’s shorter version is far superior.
Turpin’s shtick stopped being funny at least half a century ago, while Chaplin’s sublime humor has withstood the test of time.
Unfortunately even the Chaplin only version is too serious. The metafictional end is amusing but doesn’t quite diffuse the emotional weight of their death and instead comes across as flippant.