To open the month, filmin gave us a good batch of Universal classics from all eras and all styles. The collection is not negligible, and we can find great jewels. today you we are going to recommend a few of them so you can have them on your to-do list. Some of them you already have seen, but you can keep them anyway to recover them one of these days.
The three nights of Eve (The Lady Eve, 1941)
Director: Preston Sturges. Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, William Demares
A classic and delightful wacko comedy from a master of the genre as it is Preston Sturges. A more twisted variation of The beast of my girl, where a family of con artists wants to fleece an introverted millionaire bachelor (Henry Fonda) until the daughter (Barbara Stanwyck) develops genuine feelings for him. The scam is soon revealed, giving way to a disappointment that then leads to more entanglements and shenanigans. All fitted in a sophisticated way to shape an essential romantic tape.
See in Filmin | Criticism in Espinof
Five graves to Cairo (Five Graves to Cairo, 1943)
director: Billy Wilder. Distribution: Franchot Tone, Erich von Stroheim, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff, Peter van Eyck
One of the first films as director of billy wilder after his jump to Hollywood, where he introduces us to a war intrigue in Africa during World War II. A British soldier survives a German offensive movement and has to hide in a hotel in the middle of the desert, trying not to be discovered by the Nazis. Wilder shows its characteristic freshness to always maintain a good rhythm in this wonderful film of only 91 minutes.
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Thus Speaks Love (Minnie and Moskowitz, 1971)
director: John Cassavates. Distribution: Gena Rowlands, Seymour Cassel, Val Avery, Timothy Carey, Katherine Cassavetes, John Cassavetes
Another fabulous film John Cassavetes, which benefited from that brief period where the big studios were looking at the emerging independent cinema. This acidic romantic comedy brings together two wildly lonely people, a museum worker in an abusive relationship (Gena Rowlands) and a lonely valet (Seymour Cassel), who They find a strong connection they can’t explain. Cassavetes once again exhibits his ability to show the intimacy between characters and to let his actors squeeze them to the max.
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Trilogy of Back to the future (Back to the Future Trilogy, 1985-1990)
director: Robert Zemeckis. Distribution: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Thomas F. Wilson, Crispin Glover, Elisabeth Shue
Three infallible movies. Adventurous and hilarious science fiction cinema, which it is exemplary in each of its deliveries of how to make a complete blockbuster. Robert Zemeckis and its screenwriter Bob Gale they maintain their comic roots to give freshness to their continuous jumps forward and backwards in time, overflowing with fantasy and charisma in each installment (and also some cheekiness by directly making a western in the third). Also a fabulous portrait of the unrivaled talent of Michael J. Fox.
See in Filmin (Part II) (and III) | Criticism in Espinof (Part II) (and III)
The Oil of Life (Lorenzo’s Oil, 1992)
director: George Miller. Distribution: Nick Nolte, Susan Sarandon, Peter Ustinov, Zack O’Malley Greenburg, Ann Hearn
A unique film in the career of George Miller, mainly because it is the only purely dramatic and “conventional” in contrast to his other more extravagant works. Here we find a melodrama in which two parents go out of their way to try to find a cure for their son’s rare disease. It sounds too standard for him, but tells the story in an unusual way, using a picturesque visual language that at times seems to create Renaissance images. Those decisions by Miller elevate and make more interesting what could easily have fallen into a tabletop drama without more.
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Schindler’s List (The Schindler’s List, 1993)
director: Steve Spielberg. Distribution: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Sagall, Embeth Davidtz
steven spielberg he spent a long time being considered just “the boy from the blockbusters” and his attempts at “serious drama” were slow to be appreciated. But with Schindler’s List there was no room for reluctance. Spielberg makes perfect use of all the cinematographic tools at its disposal to keep an overwhelming story intriguing and pulse-pounding that, on top of that, goes beyond three hours. And you end up immersed in them, thanks to that well-measured narration, an excellent visual language, a remarkable direction of actors and an overflowing empathy in each decision made.
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The President and Miss Wade (The American President, 1995)
director: Rob Reiner. Distribution: Michael Douglas, Annette Bening, Richard Dreyfuss, Martin Sheen, Michael J. Fox, John Mahoney
Relatively forgotten but totally endearing. This romantic and political comedy scripted by Aaron Sorkinswho collaborated again with Rob Reinerenters fully into the struggle to reconcile responsibilities and passions, while drop some of your classic pills on the american ideal to which all political leaders should aspire. It also works as an interesting prequel to The West Wing of the White House, with which it has a number of similarities.
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The village of the damned (Village of the Damned, 1995)
director: John Carpenter. Distribution: Christopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley, Linda Kozlowski, Mark Hamill, Meredith Salenger
John Carpenter tackle this remake of the 1960 classic, where a small seaside town suddenly has a strange occurrence of mass blackouts. Nine months later, all the women in the place end up giving birth to children who then become disturbing and dangerous. An admirable supernatural film about the panic of the new generations that has always been treated as a lesser quality film by the master of terror, but that has a very effective atmosphere and a pretty solid cast.
See in Filmin | Criticism in Espinof
The Big Lebowski (The Big Lebowski, 1998)
director: Joel and Ethan Coen. Distribution: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, David Huddleston, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliott, John Turturro
The cult stoner comedy par excellence, elevated by its way of twisting and satirizing those detective noirs that coen brothers enjoyed in their childhood, as the eternal sleep. Its light-hearted and surreal spirit, with characters larger than life, a story full of hilarious situations that goes around so many turns that you never realize it’s going around in circles, and a Jeff Bridges magnificent have made this the classic of our lives to which it is most pleasant to return.
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)
director: Terry Gillian. Distribution: Johnny Depp, Benicio del Toro, Craig Bierko, Tobey Maguire, Michael Jeter, Ellen Barkin, Christina Ricci
An extravagant and dirty jewel of Terry Gilliamwhich plunges us into a tsunami of barbiturates, fast cars and decadence in the purest Las Vegas style. Johnny Depp He signs one of his best roles as the journalist Raoul Duke, involved in a strange assignment through the desert area in the company of his strange lawyer (Benicio del Toro). a movie where It is not easy to describe what happens, but it puts you on a journey like no other.
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Nottinghill (1999)
director: Roger Michelle. Distribution: Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts, Rhys Ifans, Hugh Bonneville, Emma Chambers, James Dreyfus
The culmination of the nineties romantic comedy, written by a plethoric Richard Curtis that would become an institution of the genre. Hugh grant appears as that charming heartthrob with whom he is so associated and falls in love with a movie star (Julia Roberts) with whom he has to maintain a secret relationship. There are things that have not aged so well – really does he manage to make a living in Notting Hill with a bookstore specializing in travel guides? -, but still a great movie.
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The Green Mile (The Green Mile, 1999)
director: Frank Darabont. Distribution: Tom Hanks, Michael Clarke Duncan, David Morse, Doug Hutchison, Sam Rockwell, Barry Pepper, James Cromwell
One of the best adaptations of Stephen King to the big screen, perhaps even superior to her spiritual sister Life imprisonmentboth of a Frank Darabont sublime. A prison drama with fantastic elements that makes a fabulous exploration of life, the darkness of the world and mortality. Every moment of its lengthy three-hour run is exquisite, and a brilliant Tom Hanks finish turning this into a must-have jewel.
See in Filmin | Criticism in Espinof
The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
director: Joel and Ethan Coen. Distribution: Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Tony Shalhoub, James Gandolfini, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Polito
Historically treated as a minor film, especially coming between releases that have had more glitz and stars, this exquisite noir exercise from the Coens deserves further consideration. An introverted barber begins to devise a devious plan to raise money for a dry cleaning business, and events begin to take strange turns like in any good Coen movie. Everyone involved manages to be at a fantastic leveland the brothers again achieve a fabulous balance between “essence noir” and “everyday life that falls into the absurd”.
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