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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)
The Fox
(Rydell, 1967)
Thumb Trippin'
(Masters, 1972)
Midas Run
(Kjellin, 1969)
At Long Last Love
(Bogdanovich, 1973)
Outcast of the Islands
(Reed, 1951)
Mike's Murder
(Bridges, 1984)
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)
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)
A Thousand Clowns
(Coe, 1965)
You're a Big Boy Now
(Coppola, 1966)
Dark of the Sun
(Cardiff, 1968)
Skidoo
(Preminger, 1968)
Last Summer
(Perry, 1969)
The Comic
(C. Reiner, 1969)
1970-1974
The Revolutionary
(Williams, 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)
'Doc'
(Perry, 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
(Culp, 1972)
The Carey Treatment
(Edwards, 1972)
Pete 'n' Tillie
(Ritt, 1972)
Love and Pain and the Whole Damn Thing
(Pakula, 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)
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
The Awakening
(Newell, 1980)
Simon
(Brickman, 1980)
God's Angry Man
(Herzog, 1980)
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)
Running on Empty
(Lumet, 1988)
Drowning by Numbers
(Greenaway, 1988)
Haunted Summer
(Passer, 1988)
The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
(Spheeris, 1988)
1990's
Men Don't Leave
(Brickman, 1990)
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

July 30

Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore

Charlie St. Cloud

The Concert

Dinner for Shmucks

The Dry Land

The Extra Man

Get Low

Helen

Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel

Smash His Camera

What's the Matter with Kansas?

Who Killed Nancy

Sumptuous Devastation

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I just got out of a 9 am screening of John Hillcoat's The Road. It's now 11:05 with another movie -- I Am Love -- about to begin at 11:30 so I have ten minutes to review The Road. And I'm not going to make it. Ugly-beautiful photography and highly admirable production design -- two hours of rotted, ash-covered, end-of-the-world remnants captured in ravishing desaturated color -- and who needs it? Okay, Viggo Mortensen and the kid are very good...yes, fine. But what they bring isn't nearly enough.

I read Cormac McCarthy's novel for the beautiful prose, but the movie is quite unnecessary. It really and truly goes nowhere, enhances nothing, offers no poetry of any lasting value and adds nothing to the conversation. Plus it has a lousy story. You can have it. I'll never watch The Road again. You can give me the Blu-ray and I'll never pop it in.

Takes A Lot to Laugh<< previous | next >>"Dumb As A Rock"

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 12, 2009 at 7:44 AM

comment #1

Chase Kahn says ...

I'm feeling kind of a "Blindness" vibe from "The Road" -- only in this case, the latter film is a bit less sharp-edged and unpleasant. Still interested.

"I Am Love" sounded like one of the more intriguing films at Venice, look forward to the reaction.

Posted by Chase Kahn at September 12, 2009 9:12 AM

comment #2

Tom Reagan says ...

It is a shame that The Road is as unpoetic as it is, because I read the script and cried the way I did when I read the book. I thought the script captured the novel perfectly and kept the action moving along. But it seems like on screen it's just unbelievably grim. I was worried when I saw the trailer, because the trailer seemed to make it look like just another routine action film. I guess my worries were correct.

Posted by Tom Reagan at September 12, 2009 9:25 AM

comment #3

actionman says ...

i like grim, apocalyptic movies. bring it on. i'll watch anything by the director of the proposition.

Posted by actionman at September 12, 2009 2:30 PM

comment #4

frankbooth says ...

This may sound odd, but Jackie Brown comes to mind. A young director makes a film or two and is often compared to an author with a similar sensibility. He's attached to adapt a novel by said writer, and it seems like a perfect fit. Everyone is excited.

The movie is made, and hews closely to the source material -- but seems off, somehow, tonally. He's got the words, but not the music. The film is generally dismissed as a failure.

But as time passes, it's appreciated for what it is. A gradual critical reappraisal sets in, and a decade later, it's not unusual to see the film listed as one of the director's best.

This situation reminds me of that one, except for the reappraisal part, obviously. No way of telling at this point. I guess my point is that I'm holding out and hoping The Road is more Jackie Brown than Bonfire of the Vanities.

Posted by frankbooth at September 12, 2009 4:17 PM

comment #5

bildeaux says ...

Just finished reading the book. I can see why it does not make sense to make a movie about it. Loved the book, but not sure I need to see it in movie form.

Posted by bildeaux at September 13, 2009 11:03 AM

comment #6