The Criterion Collection
Essays
Apr 18, 2011 — An Eagle for an Emperor, a Gyrfalcon for a King; a Peregrine for a Prince, a Saker for a Knight, a Merlin for a Lady; a Goshawk for a Yeoman, a Sparrowhawk for a Priest, a Musket...
Jan 18, 2011 — By 1963, when he started filming Shock Corridor on a rented soundstage, Samuel Fuller had come ruefully and puckishly to view himself as a “Lindy,” a diminutive for Charles Lindbergh designating a prostitute who, like the famous aviator, operates solo,...
Dec 7, 2010 — In 1981, it seemed to me that a new era of fantastic cinema was upon us.
Essays
Feb 9, 2010 — You can’t keep a good woman, or a great movie about a good woman, down. By all accounts, goodness in the real Lola Montez reflected the vagaries of character, not talent. She was, as Cosmo Brown says of Lina Lamont...
Nov 2, 2009 — The following, written in 1986, is from the first treatment for Wings of Desire. And we, spectators always, everywhere,looking at, never out of, everything!—Rilke, “The Eighth Elegy” At first it’s not possible to describe anything beyond a wish or a...
Aug 21, 2006 — A key Gen-X comedy about postgraduate angst, Noah Baumbach’s debut feature is an uproarious union of wit and trauma.
Jul 8, 1991 — James Bond: “Do you expect me to talk?” Goldfinger: “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!” Goldfinger, arguably the best of all the Bond films, features an outrageous plot with a very realistic sense of danger. The third James...
The envelope-pushing musician, producer, and filmmaker grabs Brazil, Rushmore, and Jellyfish Eyes (but takes a pass on Salò).