Thursday, February 26, 2015

My 150 Favorite Movies - #41

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The directorial debut of John Huston, The Maltese Falcon is quintessential film noir at it's noirest. The plot, based on a novel by Dashiell Hammett, concerns a San Francisco private detective searching for the killer of his dead partner, and his dealings with various unscrupulous characters who are all bent on obtaining a priceless statue of a bird. An all-star cast of character actors led by Humphrey Bogart in the lead, includes Sydney Greenstreet (making his film debut), Peter Lorre and Mary Astor as the requisite femme fatale. Chock-full of quotable lines, including "keep on riding me and they're gonna be picking iron out of your liver," "when you're slapped you'll take it and like it," "the stuff that dreams are made of," and my favorite: "I'm a man who likes talking to a man who likes to talk."

Thursday, February 12, 2015

My 150 Favorite Movies - #42

The Ice Storm (1997)

This wonderfully dramatic film feels like a really good novel, in fact, it is based on the novel of the same name, by Rick Moody. Based in the 1970's, it tells the story of suburban Connecticut families dealing with angst-ridden teens, and dysfunctional adults. Directed by Ang Lee, the stars are A++ caliber: Joan Allen, Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver as the adults, Christina Ricci, Elijah Wood, Tobey Maguire and Adam Hann-Byrd as the kids in the story. Hands down, one of the best films about the seventies, as well as one of the best films of the nineties, period.