Shutter Island hit me with a schizophrenic irony from it's very opening: Leo DiCaprio shuffling off a bout of seasickness that screams off comparisons to his stilted performance in Titanic, garbed in 1950s shamus rags that directly calls to mind Orson Welles' Hank Qinlan. The film soars and dives thoughout its run time, often within the same scene. A good film, but certainly not great. Perhaps will improve with age.

Before I watched Herzog's revamp (no pun intended... or perhaps a small pun) of Murnau's original, I wasn't completely sold that it could be more than a remake. Now I'm scratching my head in total amazement, befuddled, bewildered and simply outraged that I waited so long to see it. Kinski doesn't even have to try being creepy.. and Herzog could film him reading a phone book and it would still be a classic.

F for Fake solidifies Orson Welles as a visionary filmmaker who broke down cinematic boundaries, treading new and interesting ground that deserves further study and criticism. Like Welles needed to prove anything. Still... this visual essay is unlike anything I've seen before. Editing and structure are disjointed and only in the artisan hands of Welles does this fractured "tale" become a work of actual art.

I can't say that I've seen a better film. What Make Way For Tomorrow lacks in style, it makes up for in rich and layered substance. There's absolutely nothing that pops in this film. The acting and direction are amazingly understated. Performances straddle the edge of the sentimental without leaping into it. It's perfect. We need more films like this. Props to Criterion for releasing it. It shant be forgot.

Hardly a great film, I must say that Richard Kelly's The Box has to be one of the most interesting Richard Matheson adaptations I've ever seen. Matheson has never really been represented well on screen... and even though "Button, Button" is only a few pages and contains a wildly different conclusion, I feel that The Box represents Matheson's mind-bending spirit adequately. A great companion piece to Donnie Darko.

This is easily the best film I've seen all year... disturbing with prolonged moments of utter depravity. I won't call "Martyrs" brilliant, but it's dangerously close. There are elements in this film that recalled the best moments from... dare I write, "2001 A Space Odessey?" I won't watch this again for some time... it lingers with the viewer long after its conclusion. This is pure cinema... the reason we love film. Highly recommended!

The second best Chandler adaptation out there... (Altman's The Long Goodbye being the best) The Big Sleep is a shock to the system.. with a classic plot that still leaves viewers scratching their heads. When Falkner and Leigh Brackett wrote the script, even Chandler couldn't fully explain the plot intracacies. Lauren Bacall smolders... Bogart IS the knight with dirty armor. A noir classic... directed by Howard Hawks, who I don't think ever produced a bad film.

Possibly Bergman's greatest cinematic endeavour. The Virgin Spring should be seen by more people.