BIG NIGHT (1996, Tucci/Scott)
Big Night is a lovely 'play' of a movie - small, contained, self-aware and full of charming and nuanced performances. Ian Holm is spastically delightful, and the comic moments from the whole cast often play quietly and powerfully. Two of
RESERVOIR DOGS (1992, Tarantino)
Quick post today - man, it's hard to blog when you're busy! This is the classic less-is-more shot, famous from Tarantino's debut film. I think it's pretty unique moment from Tarantino, as there's not a lot of "less-is-more" when it
THE GOLD RUSH (1925, Chaplin)
Okay, just one more Chaplin post! This is the ur-famous moment from The Gold Rush, a bit so well received that, it is reported, when it first unspooled in Berlin, the applauding opening-night crowd demanded the projectionist rewind the film
PAY DAY (1922, Chaplin)
For a very short time, I was possibly the world's leading expert on Chaplin's work. I was making my silent, 1918-period film War Story, an homage to Chaplin's oeuvre, though with a modern twist (you can see my post on it
THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UGLY (1966, Leone)
Sergio Leono is every bit the master of suspense as Hitchcock. He's one of my all-time favorite directors (possibly my very favorite dead director), because of his boldness, funk, imagination and the cinematic weight his work always displays. In today's
HARD PILL
This is a shot from my dogme-styled feature, a oner that was inspired by the lateness of the day and the large number of actors in the scene, like my theory in the previous post on Willy Wonka. In the