By John H. Foote (****) Watching Steven Spielberg’s melancholy, mesmerizing Lincoln for the first time, you can’t help but be struck by the extraordinary performance of Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th President of the United States. We hear Lincoln before we see him, speaking in a surprisingly high, reedy voice, instead of the deep, powerful…
By John H. Foote (****) Criterion Blu Ray Release “…in dreams, I walk with you…” – Roy Orbison, “In Dreams” The first time I saw David Lynch’s darkly hypnotic, nightmarish Blue Velvet it felt like I was in someone else’s dream. This haunting, surreal nightmare of a film cannot merely be watched. Like all great works of…
By John H. Foote (**) Sitting shocked and livid with anger, I watched as Richard Attenborough’s film Gandhi (1982) the “biography” of the man who fought for the independence of India from British rule collected eight Academy Awards, including Best Actor (Ben Kingsley), Best Director (Attenborough) and Best Picture. 1982 was a very strong year…
By John H. Foote (****) There is something deeply melancholy about watching this film after the passing of Robin Williams seven years ago, and the fact it includes the shocking suicide of one its promising young men. I slipped the Blu Ray in after having not seen the film since the late nineties. I remember…
By John H. Foote (***) In limited theatres/ Streaming on Disney What is the “it” that some actors possess? That “sprinkled with stardust quality” that makes a movie star out of a normal human being, but also a genuine, transformative actor. Whatever the “it” is, Emma Stone has it. One legendary film critic called it…
By John H. Foote (****) In theatres Actor John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place (2018) remains one of the most extraordinary directorial debuts in film history, a deeply terrifying horror film that used silence to build dread. Few humans are left after an alien invasion in which the aliens quickly wiped out most of humanity, hunting…
By John H. Foote 2. GOODFELLAS (1990) Ten years after his dark masterpiece Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese unleashed the film that has come to be known as his absolute masterpiece, GoodFellas, a journey through the inner workings of organized crime. In the years between the two films, Scorsese focused on the kind of films he…
By John H. Foote (***) Streaming on Netflix Like the rest of the yawning press around me, I did not expect much when I attended the screening for Dawn of the Dead (2004), a remake of the 60s classic from George Romero. But they had the good sense to cast Sarah Polley, and I adore…
By John H. Foote As a companion piece to Alan’s brilliant piece on actresses who, when cast against type, had stunned critics and audiences with their work, I have explored the actors. A note to Alan, my dear cousin and colleague: knowing me, you must know why I did not have the discipline to keep…
By John H. Foote (***) Streaming on Netflix The performances of Mila Kunis and Glenn Close are so astounding in this film, so biting in their visceral honesty and raw power, it is not out of the realm to start talking Oscar for either of them. At least nominations! Is it cruel to talk Oscar…