Thanks for a fair and balanced review. It was a ground breaking film at the time. I think too many read their supposed dislike of John Wayne and miss the points in the movie itself. Its a great film and gets better each time I watch it. Thanks!

No, actually I don’t think he was BORN with any deformity at all? I heard they all developed starting from the age of two perhaps? Correct me if I’m wrong!

Bardo is a deeply spiritual movie about the experience of a soul after the death. As the title explains, it is a movie about the state of Bardo en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo It completes the circle of Iñárritu movies where he explores the proximity to death, but this time, it goes over the moment of death, however, in a beautiful, poetical/metaphorical way similar to a master such as Kusturica. It beautifully describes the transcendence of a soul, as the soul analyses (lives again) the most important moments of his life: roots, suffering, burdens, conflicts, and accomplishments, with quite a bit of humor at times and elegantly follows the transitional state to the end where it is able to finally cut the ties and rise. It is sublime! 10 out of10!

Honestly I could have watched the scene where the police give updates on the case for three hours. Such a great scene!

This might be the first time I’ve seen a movie and wish I hadn’t seen it. Fucking waste of my time

We aut to remember that once the FLN took power it made very restrictive laws on Women and Alcohol. It is like what happened in many middle east countries with Guerilla organizations taking power and messing the country up.

Genuinely one of the most memorable endings I’ve seen.

I'm not sure why it would be strange for an "Italian Marxist" to root for the common people trying to kick foreign invaders out of their land. Pontecorvo's anti-imperialist, decolonization values are so clear in this film, his body of work, and in his personal life. Pontecorvo grew up under Italian Fascism and was himself a war hero in the resistance against it. Part of the reason why this film is so great is because he brought with him firsthand knowledge of urban, guerilla warfare required in overthrowing an oppressive regime. Later he became a photojournalist, and then worked on political films made by other directors. A notable early film of his regarded the inhuman conditions of a Jewish concentration camp under Nazi rule. You mentioned a lack of logos creates chaos, but logos/philosophy is what drives resistance. Pontecorvo explored these ideas well in the film. Interestingly he was friends with Existentialist philosopher Sarte. And he used Franz Fanon's pioneering work on decolonization as a basis for the themes in the film. Although he treated his Muslim subjects with dignity, this film is pure antifascist, decolonization not a treatise on the glories of Islam. I think the reason that this film is viewed more differently today is because the "War on Terror" reframed decolonization efforts as terrorism, particularly demonizing Muslims. The U.S. military's use of this film for training purposes is a bitter irony, as it perpetuates the very crimes the film critiques. The Abu Ghraib torture photos eerily echo scenes from the film, demonstrating how its message has been perverted to serve imperialist aims. Anyway, philosophy aside, it's a great film.

I have rarely seen any of the modern movies, on purpose. But I did see this one. To answer your question I think what made it so good is that we are actually on the side of a criminal (the star) because he's up against the worst kinds of humans. They're not only criminal, they're dangerous.

Have u seen “The Fountain” b4 seeing this?

The 1930 remake, THE BAT WHISPERS, was also recently released in Blue Ray and is one of the few remaining examples of films made in the wide screen (65mm) process that was briefly popular at the time. Another great silent horror film that was recently released on Blue Ray on the Eureka label is the CAT AND THE CANARY (1927) that was filmed at Universal and directed by Paul Leni, a German film director who directed the film in a true German Expressionist style. This film heavily influenced the "house style" of Universal Horror Films when they began making them in the early 1930s.

Seems like this movie was surely inspired by Louis Feuillades Les Vampires. With the Catsuit, Vampire/Batsuits and the stalking on the roof to break in.

It makes perfect sense that the Nazis loved Metropolis because Freder is how they portrayed themselves: a link between the aristocrats and the working class who could resolve class conflict without either side being oppressed. Early marketing of Fascism presented this exact image, designed to appeal to all classes equally.

I saw "The Bat" and the 1931 talkie remake "The Bat Whispers" on the big screen back in the Eighties, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Roland West. "The Bat" definitely has the origin of the Bat-Signal, but I found "The Bat Whispers" a more dynamic and enjoyable film. It has great camera movement for an early-talkie film. I strongly suggest you watch "The Mark of Zorro" (1921) with Douglas Fairbanks, if you want to see a film that has some of the roots of Batman. You have a guy who is a fop by day and a crime fighter by night, as well as a proto-Alfred and proto-Bat Cave.

Sweet a Blu ray version.

Great film

I saw it when I was 14...my first time understanding what a great movie can be...

This film is so rich.

I’m a Batman fan too, so thanks for this post. Would you do a playlist and critique some animation films like Batman Ninja &/or Gotham by Gaslight?

So was Bruce Wayne as a child leaving the movie theater with his parents semi-autobiographical for Bob Kane???

I like silent films . I like batman. Thanks for the recommendation

Thanks for this. Im always looking for great silent film

Enjoyable film. Glad it's remastered especially since it's the first film of master cinematographer, Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane, Wuthering Heights), though he's uncredited. Have you seen 1930s "The Bat Whispers" -- largely a sound version/remake of "The Bat?" It's also credited as an inspiration for the creation of Bob Kane's Batman.

messias of evil is similar to this movie from the atmosphere and they are both documentarys, because they show the leaders of the world.

I was in the Navy during this time period What makes this a great movie is Buduskis dialog. "Tell the MMA to go fuck himself, I ain't going on no shit detail" is about the most accurate portrait of how us senior petty officers spoke.

Thank you for recommending these 3 movies

My all time favs!!!! Just ordered the books...and in my search there was a third part!!!

From Reddit: "response i got from criterion: “THE FRENCH CONNECTION is a 20th Century Fox film title that we have under license from Disney, its current owners. This is the only version that has ever been available to us for streaming. The question you raise has come up when we have played the film in the past, and according to our licensor, this is a “Director's Edit” of the film.” . It appears this may not at all be Criterion's doing but the licensor's. It's still unfortunate nonetheless. 🙌

Kurosawas Hidden Fortress

I worked at Santa Clara county children’s shelter and divorce is absolutely devastating to children. Also, the dad in this movie was a complete narcissistic asshole

It's been a long time since I last read the novel, but the movie does follow it pretty faithfully from what I do remember. Force 10 was one of my favorite films as a kid, but watching it now... boy, is it flawed. Guns, however, it's not hard to see why it won Best Picture for 1961. Gregory Peck and David Niven steal the show.

this movie and it’s lessons are too on the nose for me. definitely doesn’t belong on the top 250

Selon moi, le meilleur film de Stanley Kubrik. Chaque scène est un tableau en soi.

The long goodbye has everything you might want to admire, in an auteur made early seventies movie. Who couldn't resist a film sold by the director as... 'A satire in melancholy'. Yet there's a reason it flopped and that reason still perpetuates. It isn't that interesting or more importantly, Gould's just not that interesting. Elliott Gould as the lead is 'smarmy' cool, which feels sadly inauthentic. Just lazy, rather than inscrutably, beaten and worn down. By whatever it is that relentlessly tires fictional private dicks down. He may be a walking-talking anachronism, but if the actors charisma, is plastically counterfeit and fake... then the entire movie will echo his charmlessness. He's no Alain Delon, Robert Mitchum or Humphrey Bogart. He's... Elliot "I play everything in the same slow-witted key" Gould. The film becomes pure 'surface style' and if you wanted to peek, under its hood... there's no engine, no beating heart. It promises a lot and all of the praise must stem from critics that, can see through Gould's presence to something elusive and tangental. Something glinting 'knowingly' somewhere else on screen? Whatever it is... if this film wasn't in the canon of... 'directed by Altman'. No one would still be talking about it.

This is one of those movies that everytime I watch it I am seeing for first time. I love it. I wich it was longer.

The women nextdoor to Marlowe work by dipping candles and selling them from a shop. This is revealed in the film by some of Marlowe’s lines to Harry.

Two points left out: Deborah Kerr & Sister Ruth are also both shown out of nun drag. Dressed as civilians both are striking REDHEADS but different types: Deborah is Demure but Sister Ruth is intense & wears scarlet red lipstick as her eyes convey a lost/haunted look. A big part of the mood /atmosphere is the background sound: from a light breeze to unrelenting howling squalls. The isolated convent is located on remote mountain perch. The ongoing shrieking gust are enough to drive one mad and/or go over the edge...

I love this movie, just watched it, first time watching one of his movies. Once they got to the zone it's like the ending of 2001 space Odyssey, a complete trippy dream sequence expertly shot.

****SPOILER WARNING****The sudden ending really caught me off guard, I was still recovering from the scene prior that built up to him walking to Ellie, and just the way he had ascended was so quick and out of nowhere that I kinda started laughing while crying still. It was just so bizarre to me; my husband and I were kinda just sitting there in an awkward silence. But I do have to give Brendan Fraser credit for his amazing portrayal of this character. The way he displayed his shame and humility for himself really pulled me to empathize with Charlie, and really had me rooting for him to change, but I knew this was essentially a horror film, so in the back of my mind, I knew what was coming but still wanted him to desperately change his lifestyle. I thought the cinematography and setting was realistic for someone of the sort, the whole time I couldn’t help but think, “damn he would feel so much better if he opened a fucking window and let some light in the apartment.” I truly did pity him. But I have to agree with others opinions on other characters, I thought Ellie was overly harsh, and didn’t seem realistic as a resentful person. She seemed a bit over the top. It was clear that Liz was supposed to be the enabler, she did that part well, I don’t really have anything to say about the acting portion.

I just watched in on KZbin for first time love it

This movie has 'class concerns' because the writers took inspiration for the Transformers IDW comics. The whole premis of that series was that Cybertron was a dystopia, where bots were put into different classes/castes based on their altmodes. Low class bots had no chance to leave their caste and move up the hierarchy, and they were treated very badly. These low caste bots didn't even had proper names, hence they were called by their factory number. This is where Megatron's D-16 naming, and low caste miner bot origins came from. In that series Megatron rose up, built a faction to abolish the caste system, and to take down the corrupt government. He ultimately got corrupted, chose revenge over justice, and becme a tyrant himslef. (this is the modern interpretation of Megatron's charcater, can see it several continuities Aligned/TFP/IDW/Earthspark)

I love the 80s

03:04 Until 1950, none of the films showed Sun directly... People believed that doing so would ruin the film. The world saw Sun films for the first time in Akiro Kurasawa's 'Roshamanathone', which was released in August 1950

There are many deep themes in the movie, that go beyond mere satire, and are still relevant in 2024. To list just a few: The absurdity of war and deterrence strategies Technological determinism and loss of human control over systems Leadership, agency and bureaucratic failure Human fallibility and irrationality Nihilism and existential powerlessness Masculinity and power dynamics Ethical implications of survival and eugenics And ultimately, fragility of modern civilization

You described the movie very well and touched on many positive points. This has been one of my favorite movies for many years. Although I don't watch it a lot, I just watched it recently and found it just as good as last time I watched it many years ago. I cannot tell you the name of any of the actors, and to me, that tells you it was a very good movie. Honest, no agenda, great scenery, real history. I won't insult the actors by saying they were "no-namers", but I will applaud them for doing a superb work of art and history. The brutal violence of real history was hinted and shown, but the barbarity was not overdone or glorified. Gauntlets were run by prisoners, fully naked, and totally defenseless. Somewhat glad that naked part was left out. Again, a great movie and a favorite.

I'm one of those people that actually takes the time to write constructive reviews on Letterbox. It's a quick and efficient way for me to express my creative output. The challenge is just finding the well written reviews in the first place.

Movie is trash

I saw the 3rd when I was a teenager in the 50ies and there is one scene that was made up to shock the audience but in a very clever way and that is where Trevor H. takes J.C to the babies ward , one can imagine what a sight it is because the camera shows only the bedside and that teddy bear hung on it.