Email here for additions & corrections.

Ishtar
(May, 1987)
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (OOP)
(Ross, 1976)
The Devils
(Russell, 1974)
The Pirates of Penzance
(Papp/Leach, 1983)
The Fortune
(Nichols, 1975)
-30-
(Webb, 1959)
Betrayal
(Jones, 1983)
Play It As It Lays
(Perry, 1972)
The Outfit
(Flynn, 1973)
Alex in Wonderland
(Mazursky, 1969)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
(Aldrich, 1968)
In The Cool of the Day
(Stevens, 1963)
That Cold Day in the Park
(Altman, 1969)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Brewster McCloud
(Altman, 1972)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)

Reader Submissions
1930's-1950's
The Moon's Our Home
(Seiter, 1936)
Sh! The Octopus
(McGann, 1937)
The Mating Season
(Leisen, 1951)
Bad for Each Other
(Rapper, 1953)
The Phenix City Story
(Karlson, 1955)
Run of the Arrow
(Fuller, 1956)
House of Secrets
(Green, 1956)
Saint Joan
(Preminger, 1957)
Macabre
(Castle, 1958)
The Fiend Who Walked the West
(G. Douglas, 1958
Five Gates to Hell
(Clavell, 1959)
1960's
Key Witness
(Karlson, 1960)
Summer and Smoke
(Glenville, 1961)
The Chapman Report
(Cukor,1962)
Bachelor Flat
(Tashlin, 1962) [on Hulu]
The L Shaped Room
(Forbes, 1963)
The Chalk Garden
(Neame, 1964)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
The Whisperers
(Forbes, 1967)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 1970)
The Landlord
(Ashby, 1970)
Diary of a Mad Housewife
(Perry, 1970)
Tropic of Cancer
(Strick, 1970)
I Never Sang for My Father
(Cates, 1970)
Sometimes a Great Notion
(Newman, 1971)
Marriage of a Young Stockbroker
(Turman, 1971)
The Music Lovers
(Russell, 1971)
Drive, He Said
(Nicholson, 1971)
The Steagle
(Sylbert, 1971)
The Last Movie
(Hopper, 1971)
Made For Each Other
(Bean, 1971)
The Day the Clown Cried
(Lewis, 1972)
Hickey & Boggs (OOP)
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Slither
(Zieff, 1973)
Man on a Swing
(Perry, 1974)
Open Season
(Collinson, 1974)
The Tamarind Seed
(Edwards, 1974)
Law and Disorder
(Passer, 1974)
Homebodies
(Yust, 1974)
Stardust
(Apted, 1974)
Celine and Julie Go Boating
(Rivette, 1974)
1975-1979
Rafferty and the Gold Dust Twins
(Richards, 1975
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1975)
Hearts of the West
(Zieff, 1975)
Welcome to L.A.
(Rudolph, 1976)
W.C. Fields and Me
(Hiller, 1976)
Citizens Band
(Demme, 1977)
Twilight's Last Gleaming
(Aldrich, 1977)
Looking for Mr. Goodbar
(Brooks, 1977)
Girlfriends
(Weill, 1978)
Movie Movie
(Donen, 1978)
The Medusa Touch
(Gold, 1978)
American Hot Wax
(Mutrux, 1978)
Hot Stuff
(DeLuise, 1979)
Scavenger Hunt
(Schultz , 1979)
Players
(Harvey, 1979)
Rich Kids
(Young, 1979)
Nightwing
(Hiller, 1979)
Screams of a Winter's Night
(Wilson, 1979
When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?
(Katselas, 1979
1980's
Resurrection
(Petrie, 1980)
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
Fast-Walking
(Harris, 1982)
Twice Upon a Time
(Korty & Swenson, 1983)
Trouble in Mind
(Rudolph, 1985)
When the Wind Blows
(Murikami, 1986)
Housekeeping
(Forsyth, 1987)
The Glass Menagerie
(Newman, 1987)
Patty Hearst
(Schrader, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Old Times
(Curtis, 1991)
Prospero's Books
(Greenaway, 1991)
City of Hope
(Sayles, 1991)
The Baby of Macon
(Greenaway, 1993)
King of the Hill
(Soderbergh, 1993)
Dadetown
(Hexter, 1995)
SubUrbia
(Linklater, 1997)

Upcoming

January 8

Bitch Slap

Waiting for Armageddon

Wonderful World

Youth in Revolt

January 15

January 22

Drool

Extraordinary Measures

The Girl on the Train

Tuscany Tank

email this story
read comments (16)
post a comment

The Disney publicity guys, a strange and guarded bunch, had an all-media screening last week for Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna. Naturally they didn't invite me. I missed it on purpose in Toronto (I was told that the 166-minute length was unjustified), and naturally assumed I'd catch up with it back here. Nope!

Disney always hedges its bets when they've got a problem movie of any kind, which Miracle clearly is. But it was also a struggle to persuade them to let me see WALL*E, and that was a near-masterpiece.

Honestly? It's getting harder and harder to ignore the similarities between Disney publicity and the Church of Scientology

"Spike Lee loses the battles and the war in Miracle at St. Anna, a clunky, poorly constructed drama designed to spotlight the little-remarked role of black American soldiers in World War II," wrote Variety's Todd McCarthy. "Clocking in at 160 minutes, this is a sloppy stew in which the ingredients of battle action, murder mystery, little-kid sentiment and history lesson don't mix well.

"Nor is it remotely clear who the audience is meant to be; the R rating pretty much rules out younger students, and extensive subtitles will deter action fans, who would be bored anyway. Best B.O. will likely be in Italy, where most of the melodrama takes place."

As soon as I saw that made-up-to-look-older black guy shoot that made-up-to-look-older white guy in the trailer, I said to myself, "That's it...the movie is trouble." I didn't know a damn thing about it, but I knew. Trailers and ads do more to kill interest in movies than bad reviews. If there's something wrong with a movie, the trailers will almost always tell you this.

This May Stick<< previous | next >>NYFF Dreamscape

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 23, 2008 at 1:58 PM

comment #1

Richardson says ...

"DIsney always hedges its bets when they've got a problem movie of any kind, which Miracle certainly is. But it was also a struggle to persuade them to let me see WALL*E, and that was a near-masterpiece."

So, this is a clear sign that the movie is bad, even though the last time they did it, it was Wall-E?

Here's a thought -- and believe me, this is a hypothetical! -- but, MAYbe Disney doesn't like you because you write shit like this about their movies? Maybe if you didn't spend the months building up to the release shitting on so many movies that you haven't even seen yet, you might then be allowed to see them early (because bragging rights matter, of course).

Posted by Richardson at September 23, 2008 2:28 PM

comment #2

BurmaShave says ...

As soon as I saw that Forest Whitaker Jr. looking guy say "Feel that magic" I knew this movie was trouble.

Posted by BurmaShave at September 23, 2008 2:40 PM

comment #3

JD says ...

This movie is shockingly bad. I saw it with four friends and all but one of us thought it was a disaster. Not just bad, embarrassingly bad.

Posted by JD at September 23, 2008 3:20 PM

comment #4

nelson37 says ...

Bet it still gets a rave review from Roger Ebert. If he can give a good review to She Hate Me, he'll probably fawn all over this. And why do I get the feeling Clint Eastwood will soon be laughing his ass off?

Posted by nelson37 at September 23, 2008 3:42 PM

comment #5

Ogami Itto says ...

Has Roger Ebert ever given a bad review to a "serious" film about African Americans? I honestly can't think of an example off hand.

Posted by Ogami Itto at September 23, 2008 5:01 PM

comment #6

BurmaShave says ...

And he has a mixed-race family. Total traitor!

Posted by BurmaShave at September 23, 2008 5:48 PM

comment #7

Mike says ...

Spike's whining about being excluded from this year's Oscar buzz because of his Eastwood comments.

He's out of the running once again because all of his movies are mediocre at best.

Posted by Mike at September 23, 2008 6:25 PM

comment #8

Jay T. says ...

Admit it Jeff... you just don't want to see this movie because you're racist. In fact, anyone who doesn't think any movie made by Spike Lee is the best movie of that given year is also racist. ;-)

Posted by Jay T. at September 23, 2008 6:41 PM

comment #9

Chicago48 says ...

In the trailer: What bank teller carries a gun to the bank with them and shoots a customer?

Posted by Chicago48 at September 23, 2008 7:25 PM

comment #10

D.Z. says ...

'Best B.O. will likely be in Italy, where most of the melodrama takes place.'

Assuming that the Italians don't have an issue with the alleged distortion of history, sure. Anyway, I'm not very hyped by this one, though it looked slightly better on a theater screen than an Internet ad.

Posted by D.Z. at September 23, 2008 7:45 PM

comment #11