The strong recommendations from my viewing of Rules of the Game for the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book continue with this beautifully made film. Marcello (Marcello Mastroianni) is a journalist who runs all over Rome from evening to dawn collecting tabloid stories alongside his sometimes photographer Paparazzo (Walter Santesso). He’s a…
Tag: great movies – 100 years of film
Belle de Jour (1967) – Luis Bunuel
The first recommendation from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film is this French drama that stars Catherine Deneuve as a housewife, with some intimacy issues, who during the afternoons fills her time by working as a prostitute. Inter-cutting with her daily life, Severine’s…
My Man Godfrey (1936) – Gregory La Cava
William Powell is in top form as a hobo turned butler, Godfrey, in this classic film that serves as the first recommendation for The Rules of the Game from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. This one is a much more delightful romp than Rules of the Game, though it also…
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) – Pedro Almodovar
The next title on the comedy list in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book is this little Spanish gem that I had heard of, but had never seen. Once I got into it, I quite enjoyed it, the first half of the film I found to be more dramatic and set-up,…
The Rules of the Game (1939) – Jean Renoir
The next drama title to be highlighted in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Movies book is the French film Rules of the Game, an examination of passion, etiquette and class. Andre Jurieux (Roland Toutain) has just flown across the Atlantic solo, allowing him to claim a level of celebrity, but all for…
Annie Hall (1977) – Woody Allen
The final recommendation following Manhattan in the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book is the Academy Award winning Annie Hall. And while even now, I don’t understand how this film beat out Star Wars for best picture, I can admit it was pretty good. Except for the fact that I don’t think Woody…
Love and Death (1975) – Woody Allen
The next recommendation from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book following my screening of Manhattan was, Love and Death. Once again, I was pleasantly surprised to the story, but still don’t care for Woody Allen’s acting ability. This time around, Allen takes on the Russians… He’s a neurotic soldier, Boris, in Czarist…
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (1972) – Woody Allen
So the list of recommendations that accompanied my screening of Manhattan continues with the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book. This time, Allen skewers sex with this collection of stories, reflecting the chapter titles of the famous book of the same name. Some of them are a lot of fun, there is a…
Bitter Moon (1992) – Roman Polanski
The final recommendation for Pandora’s Box from the Great Movies – 100 Years of Film book, is this darkly comic study of sex, desire, greed and cruelty from Roman Polanski. Nigel (Hugh Grant) and Fiona (Kristin Scott Thomas) have been married for seven years, and are on a Mediterranean cruise as an anniversary present, and…
Bananas (1971) – Woody Allen
After Manhattan, there were 4 other Woody Allen films to view as recommendations from Great Movies – 100 Years of Film, I’ve already watched Sleeper, so I dove into the next recommendation, Bananas. And I was pleasantly surprised! Allen who wrote the film alongside Mickey Rose, of course stars and directs. He plays Fielding Mellish,…
The Mind Reels 