The Manchurian Candidate Is The Kindest, Bravest, Warmest, Most Wonderful Movie I've Ever Known In My Life

SPOILERS FOR THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE AHEAD

Returning home from War is always a difficult process and that couldn't be truer for Korean War veterans Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) and Captain Bennett Marco (Frank Sinatra). Shaw at least has returned home a hero and with a plush job at a high-profile newspaper to help make his adjustment back to civilian life reasonably easy. Meanwhile, Marco and the other members of the platoon he belonged to begin to have the strangest dreams, ones in which they're all lined up in front a gathering of Communist leaders in order to show off how effectively American soldiers can be brainwashed. In order to demonstrate how deep this brainwashing goes, Shaw kills two of his own men without hesitation as an obedient soldier of enemy forces.

The Fabulous Baron Munchausen is a Glorious Ode to Absurd Animation

As a lover of all things animated, it was a total joy to discover the 1962 Karel Zeman directorial effort The Fabulous Baron Munchausen. Hailing from Czechoslovakia, this highly off-the-wall motion picture beautifully merges live-action and hand-drawn animation in a fluid manner decades before the likes of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? fine-tuned American cinema's approach to this same technique. Though nearly sixty years old at this point, many modern-day movies could stand to take more than a few cues from The Fabulous Baron Munchausen in terms of both merging animation and live-action seamlessly as well as how to take advantage of the stylized opportunities afforded by the medium of animation.

Cleo from 5 to 7 Is Yet Another Quietly Powerful Triumph For Director Agnes Varda

If Spike Lee's 25th Hour was about peoples present being impacted by events from one person's past, Agnes Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7 is a story about how the uncertain future of one individual impacts the present-day lives of other individuals. Whose future turns out to have such an immense ripple effect? That would be Cleo (Corrine Marchand), a woman who we are introduced to as getting her future getting told to her by way of a fortune teller and her tarot cards. What kind of future do these objects foretell for Cleo? Not a good one, which, despite attempts by the fortune teller to twist what the cards have said into something more positive, sends Cleo into a spiral of despair.

"I Shot The Sheriff But I Did Not Shoot The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"

In his forty years as a notable cinematic leading man, Jimmy Stewart had more variety in terms of the types of characters he played and films he appeared than you might expect given how the default version of the guy is the "Aw, shucks" good o'l boy he played in his earliest works, most notably It's A Wonderful Life. But Stewart also played darker roles in Alfred Hitchcock fare like Vertigo and Rear Window that allowed the guys versatility as an actor to shine. Once the 1960's rolled around, he got to do a couple of collaborations with another iconic Hollywood director, John Ford, with one of their efforts being the 1962 motion picture The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Sanjuro Is Both A Sequel To Yojimbo And Yet Another Excellent Akira Kurosawa Movie

Sanjuro marks my sixth foray in the filmography of Akira Kurosawa and each time I view a movie by this guy, it really is an awesome experience. Kurosawa just shows so much skill as a filmmaker, with such great command of his craft, it's just a joy to spend a few hours immersed in something he created. Sanjuro is yet another great example of the kind of high-quality cinema Kurosawa so frequently dabbled in. This feature serves as a sequel to an earlier Kurosawa work Yojimbo, with Sanjuro, like its predecessor, featuring Toshiruo Mifune in a lead role as a heavily experienced samurai. Those expecting simply a retread of Yojimbo, though, will be elated to know there's plenty going on here in Sanjuro to give it its own identity.

Lawrence Of Arabia Seeks To Examine The Humanity Within Figures Of Legend

It may have taken me awhile to finally getting around and watching Lawrence Of Arabia, but I'm actually glad I did it on this particular weekend because it seems like the perfect companion piece to this weekends new summer blockbuster, War For The Planet Of The Apes. There's no hyper-intelligent monkeys or malicious Woody Harrelson in Lawrence Of Arabia, true, but both do have plots revolving around the psyches and inner workings of normal individuals who are propped up to mythic status by those around them. The humanity of a figure of legend is the primary source of concentration in both movies, so it's interesting to watch both of them in such close proximity to one another, though, of course, Lawrence Of Arabia provides plenty to talk about even when separated from those damn dirty apes.

It's Time For A Charming Romantic-Comedy With Blast From The Past

When the nuclear apocalypse comes (and considering Trump's daily tantrums, that may come sooner rather than later), we shall gather around fires and tell tales of the past, before the world came crashing around all of us. It'll be like that scene in Reign Of Fire where Christian Bale and Gerard Butler retell the Star Wars movies to a new group of youngsters in order to spark their imaginations and keep the power of stories alive. Yarns shall be spun and one such tale that shall be passed onto the post-apocalyptic denizens of the future will be the legend of leading man Brendan Fraser, who, for some reason, got abandoned by Hollywood in the 2010's despite showing some very clear talent as a leading man.