Steven Spielberg - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), 3/10

Without using gross oversimplifications often applied to criticism of the film, it is hard to specifically point to how Raiders is “great” despite it being dubbed so by many. It is a spiritual precursor to many films of the eighties and nineties including Spielberg’s own projects that rarely say anything meaningful or worthwhile. The fun quality of the movie is hard to quantify but it is plagued by uninteresting one-dimensional characters, misguided appropriations, and a tragically underdeveloped plot. Some action sequences such as Indy’s acrobatics while driving the truck are well done and impactful, but others largely fall under the category of unnecessary or what now amounts to unsuccessful spectacle. It unfairly loses some of its potency because it has been duplicated many times since, but the blueprint itself is clearly and visibly flawed. There is ironically little to praise and much to cringe about, its inherent nationalism, nostalgia probing, poor acting, and self-praised ridiculousness are entirely non-immersive and hard to watch. It feels much longer than it should considering its brevity, mostly because its indulgence is meant to be shared with the audience rather than what it truly appears to be, which is nonsensical silliness and forced scale. It is too narratively grounded to reach the greatness of Star Wars and too ridiculous to reach any sort of greatness as an adventure genre film. The lack of depth in most of its parts, and consequently as a whole, makes the story itself feel empty when it finally ends, so it becomes appropriately and neatly stacked with the ark among the litter of action films who came before and after.

Hal Ashby - The Last Detail (1973), 5/10

It is astounding that Robert Towne wrote the screenplay for The Last Detail just before Chinatown. There is nothing particularly wrong with The Last Detail, especially in its script, but it is a simple, cute story that precedes an intricate narrative masterpiece, perhaps limited by its source material. It is in contrast elevated by Nicholson, Young, and Quaid, who all bring appropriate energy and warmth to their characters in what amounts to a rather simple comedy topped off by a tragic bon-voyage for the young Mule. The film carries a lighthearted air that gives it a particular appeal, but it fails to communicate anything special or unique. The Marine officer who combats Badass and Mule only to be humbled, for example, feels utterly unnatural and unnecessary, similar to several lengthy sequences during the middle act of the picture. Still a nice little story that lets the trio bounce off of one another and comically entertain for its full length. Nicholson is unsurprisingly the most interesting and funny of the bunch, providing more laughs and shudders than any other by a mile, and further characteristically dominating the screen throughout. Otis Young is great in his supporting role, however, with simple retorts that provide quick entertaining quotables such as “I hate this fuckin' chicken shit detail!”. The Last Detail is worth its time and earns plenty of laughs.

Francis Ford Coppola - The Conversation (1974), 7/10

Coppola’s creation The Conversation provides a more interesting and captivating story than most of his other films that rely on source material, also showing that he works best with his own material. Hackman lives and encapsulates Harry Caul, portraying a properly complex yet understated main character victim to practical paranoia and anxiety. John Cazale and Harrison Ford are outstanding as additional cast, yet Hackman embodies the themes of the film, particularly in his changes from the beginning to sequences like the dream scene or his interactions with Bernie later on in the film. There are plenty of artful, interesting shots that continue the thematic trends set in The Godfather but they have more interesting, nuanced topics to discuss. It is not as grandiose a picture as Coppola’s other heavily praised works, but this is essential to make this story work and supports its effect. The writing is certainly less than perfect, reflecting some of the weaknesses to be repeated by Coppola many times in the future such as a far too long-winded approach to contextualization and tangents, yet the most important pieces of the story are beautifully written and presented such as the opening sequence. Hackman’s performance is simply outstanding and never breaks its marriage with the picture itself or the audience’s perception, creating an outstanding natural feel to his character and the way he interacts with the world around him, including his thematic explorations of relationship, privacy, loneliness, and death. While unfocused at times, The Conversation is one of Coppola’s strongest projects and one of the most pleasantly grounded cinematic examinations of the big questions surrounding modernity.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa - Cure (1997), 8/10

Kurosawa had many happy accidents take place during the production of Cure, making the final product an amalgamation of chance and fate just like its beautifully written story. Moments such as the weather during the beach scene and the second murder, the length of certain takes, or even some of the events that take place were a product of the filmmaking process, showing an adaptability and working fluidity that serve the project well. The plot and the narrative progression of the film are very unique and unsettling, as are Yakusho and Hagiwara's performances. Hagiwara in particular embodies the character of Mamiya so profoundly that it becomes hard to separate his being from the character. Mamiya's understated manipulation and the disproportionately combative responses to his calm demeanor are a large part of what makes Cure work so well, and what makes its character arcs so interesting. His demeanor and dialogue are equal parts disturbing and philosophical, but also add a sort of humor to an otherwise brutal story. The unclear storytelling, particularly in its final sequences, only add to the film's staying power and its broader meaning. This coupled with the juxtapositions of lighthearted presentation with brutal imagery, especially in the first murder of the film, help the picture stand out immediately but develop further beyond the obvious themes quite rapidly. If ever a film begs a second watch, it is surely Cure. Yakusho explains the significance of the film's characters as, "how humans become monstrous when they are in a stress free state". This is a proper summation of the film's main underlying theme and shows how intimately he understands Kurosawa's story and what informed his character. Unlike many other psychological thrillers, Cure takes its time to develop, unfold, and spend time with its story without overstaying its welcome.

Nintendo / Intelligent Systems - Super Metroid (1994), 9/10

Super Metroid (or Metroid III) was one of the most influential and mechanically interesting video games to be produced, further developing and solidifying an entire genre of platformers, to later be dubbed Metroidvania, initially popularized with Metroid for the NES in 1986. What makes Super Metroid particularly successful and timeless, however, is its combination of mechanical complexity, creative game progression including free exploration, including secrets, and its uniquely developed and presented atmosphere. The visuals and art direction are some of the game's most immediately apparent strengths, quickly followed by the game's method of introducing the player to the planet Zebes and its various regions. The game's introduction sets up a story that could be presented entirely within the gameplay, and most of the story develops throughout the gameplay itself, a more effective and powerful mode of presentation. The isolation felt upon arrival at Zebes complements its atmosphere and the player's experiential tutorial. Once the planet is teeming with danger, the journey itself is fairly straightforward in terms of story, but brilliantly crafted in the way the player is introduced to new areas, items, and techniques. The secret areas range from easy to discover to cryptic, as do the additional abilities not explicitly presented through gameplay such as crystal flash, making guides a practical necessity to experience the game to its fullest potential. While it is a sort of weakness in presentation, it does add to the game's replay value, particularly the vast amount of area to explore with non-obvious secrets hidden throughout. The boss fights are generally interesting and properly difficult for their placement, with Ridley outshining Mother Brain as a final boss, but this is appropriate considering Mother Brain's thematic place in the series and the subsequent escape sequence. Super Metroid is clearly one of the best video games beyond the confines of its genre and is properly timeless.

Robert Mulligan - To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), 4/10

To Kill a Mockingbird is a decent novel and its film adaptation follows suit. Gregory Peck embodies the greatness of Atticus Finch’s character, and the children act remarkably well, yet Mulligan does little to build upon the themes of the novel, using practically none of the potential unique to the visual medium. Not only does the film squander its potential, but it falls prey to all of the shortcomings of the literature it portrays, potentially even more so. The contemporary criticism of the novel’s white savior and its very limited, narrow portrayals of women and black characters is impossible to ignore, especially with the film’s additional focus on the trial of Tom Robinson, a character who exists in order to reflect Atticus’ heroism and provide what amounts to cheap tears. Like the novel, the story redeems itself with a shred of historical complexity after Tom’s death, but again the film does very little to explore the potential left lingering in the book. Apart from literally transitioning from page to screen, the film To Kill a Mockingbird is un uncreative and unimaginative interpretation of an overpraised novel. It will continue to persist due to great acting performances, particularly Peck’s, and the novel’s power as a cultural influencer during the early sixties.

Jean-Luc Godard - Vivre sa vie (1962), 8/10

Vivre sa vie reveals its brilliance with time and attention. Godard’s forward-thinking approach to filmmaking and visual storytelling is immediately unique and tells a worthwhile story in creative ways. It is self-aware of this uniqueness but transcends pretension through genuinely ingenious style and a grounded story. The narrative shell of the film is less engaging than the picture itself but provides ample substance, along with an utterly engaging muse, to avoid detracting from its cinematography and philosophical reflections. The believability of Nana’s story and the way her character unfolds complements the style in presentation, and this becomes substantially clearer when returning to the film a second or third time. While some of the dialogue itself is forced, particularly in its second half, this is an exception that becomes permissible in conjunction with the questions being asked by the picture. Particularly the recitation of Poe’s “The Oval Portrait” feels misguided, yet Nana’s dialogue in the café with the philosopher and her breaking of the fourth wall should crowd the narrative but instead feel utterly natural and pointed. Perhaps this is a combination of Karina’s strength in performance and Godard’s already established subversion of visual tradition, but it elevates an already thoroughly engaging picture. The experimentation with perspective and framing in conjunction with a particularly strong screenplay make Vivre sa vie one of the strongest iterations of French cinema.

Roman Polański - Rosemary's Baby (1968), 6/10

Polański submits another successful thriller film with Rosemary’s Baby and what is perhaps one of the more entertaining horror films of the sixties. Mia Farrow is a believably anxious protagonist and her seemingly tenuous grasp on reality creates an interesting cinematic exploration of perception and madness. There are several striking scenes that are genuinely unsettling, especially given the choice to make the villains elderly and somewhat docile outside of their explicitly evil behavior. Even in the final sequence of the film they are presented as ridiculous in their Satanism rather than outright dangerous, only coercing Rosemary with her maternal instinct rather than providing any straightforwardly evil backlash to her just outrage. Some sequences push the narrative forward too slowly and interrupt an otherwise well-paced story such as Rosemary’s visit to Dr. Hill, but these are scattered lulls in an otherwise tightly presented film. The back-and-forth tension, sometimes painfully obvious and other times appropriately subtle, generally flows naturally and pleasantly. The surreal comedy of the ending is only aided by the crawling pace, and is perhaps the greatest brilliance of the storytelling, providing one of the most satisfyingly skin-crawling conclusions in film. The entire picture is unsettling which makes the final peak of insanity even more impactful. The subtle build of the first act is the other crowning achievement of the story, artfully constructed and assembled with a grounded sequence of events before introducing the supernatural, again adding to the impact of its later twists and turns. It is still held back by what makes it a great film, however, in that the entire film’s narrative success teeters on its ending, making subsequent viewings less interesting and giving the picture a sort of cheap hokey quality in retrospect.