Summer of Film #24 of 100
The Jacket, starring Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley, suffers from two problems: First, it had a trailer that gave too much up. If you’ve seen the main trailer for this one then you know what happens well into the second act. For many films this may not be a problem, but for a deliberate movie like The Jacket that revels in its mysteries, it is fatal. There were no mysteries for me. Second, it is a movie in the category of already well-made, iconic films such as 12 Monkeys, Frequency and Dead Again, assuming you’ve seen those. And even if you haven’t seen them, I would recommend them before I would this one. And once you’ve seen them, The Jacket wouldn’t seem all that special anyways since it adds nothing new.

The story involves a Gulf War vet (Brody) who suffers from amnesia and is falsely accused of murder. He is pronounced insane and is placed in a asylum where Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson), who must be a close relative of Dr. Crane of Arkham asylum , conducts dubious research on inmates. Inexplicably, this experimentation (which involves the titular jacket) allows Brody to see his own future- of course, leaving out the parts that would render the rest of the film pointless. He meets a girl in his future who has a link to his past- and in the tradition of the great movies mentioned before, they solve a mystery of the past through the future, and yet making sure that the future remains inevitable.

Like I said before- 12 Monkeys, Frequency and Dead Again.

Summer of Film #23 of 100
If people in the future ask, “Who was Steven Spielberg?” the answer is this: He is the man who made Jurassic Park and Schindler’s List in the same year. And maybe after this year, you will be able to say he’s the guy who made The War of the Worlds and Vengeance (or the Untitled 1972 Munich Olympics Project) in the same year. But that remains to be seen. Read More »

Summer of Film #22 of 100
Alfred Hitchcock, like Spielberg in modern times, had the ability to take any material and change it into a ‘Hitchcock-movie’ with his craft. Many times the material was mediocre- where the movie was the MacGuffin – but he would dazzle you with his craft so that if you weren’t paying attention you would think the craft was the movie. Read More »

Summer of Film #21 of 100
Was 48 Hrs original in its time? It is hard to say- it has not aged well. The pace, action and humor expected of a film like this has risen to a level so frenzied that while 48 Hrs doesn’t feel like a bad film, it feels incomplete. We feel there are many action sequences, many more jokes and a lot more of a climax still to come; which is probably while a sequel was made. Read More »

Summer of Film #20 of 100
I know, I know. I’m cheating. This is not a movie and it has no place among movie reviews, much less among the revered 100 for the summer of film. But consider this- I spent 13 hours watching what is better than 99% of all films and I believe two things because of that. One, I deserve credit for the time I spent. Two, for those of you hiding under a rock- yes, you under the rock there- who have never been recommended The Sopranos yet; this is for you. A recommendation. Read More »

Summer of Film #19 of 100
There is a sensibility that made-for-TV movies and the Hardy Boys novels share. There is a sensibility that the best of the Hardy Boys novels share with pulp Hitchcock. And there is a sensibility that Hitchcock shares with The Twilight Zone. If you’ve seen Twin Peaks, you probably have an idea of what I’m talking about- though maybe not entirely. Read More »

Summer of Film #18 of 100
I almost feel like apologizing and explaining myself for adding this film to the list- especially after Monsieur Ibrahim and before Blue Velvet , but I won’t. Read More »

Summer of Film #17 of 100
Paris in the ‘60s. I wasn’t born yet in the ‘60s and so I surely wasn’t in Paris then. Neither do I know anyone who was. And yet, I know exactly how it was. The Patricia Franchini wore a yellow t-shirt as she sold the New York Herald Tribune. In a small apartment, another American, Paul was having his last tango in Paris. In another apartment three teenagers thought their ideas of truth, beauty, sex, love and cinema could change the world and maybe they did. Further down the street a lady named Irma La Douce has an ex-cop in love with her, but that seems to be going nowhere.

Probably on the same street, Rue Bleue, lives a boy named Moses, Momo to his friends. He doesn’t live alone, but he might as well, since his mother left when he was young and his father comes home late in the evening only to complain about the food Momo has cooked. But none of this seems to bother him much; probably because he is sixteen and the prostitutes who line up across the street and the pretty girl next door interest him more. Read More »

Summer of Film #16 of 100
Paul Thomas Anderson is a genius and Boogie Nights is his the only ticket to greatness he needs. That he followed it up with two of my favorite films of the last decade- Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love is only icing on the cake.

Boogie Nights is the Scorsese-movie, the Godfather, the Goodfellas, the Casino- the one epic that defines a time, place and a parallel society forever. Scorsese did it for old Vegas in The Casino; Copolla did it for the mafia for eternity with The Godfather and now PTA has done it for the 70s porn industry in one sweeping gesture. Read More »

Summer of Film #15 of 100
Did somebody at New Line actually watch Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners and say- “I think they’re right. Let’s give him $300 million and let him make his Lord of the Rings“. I think so; it’s that good a movie, though not exactly the way the LOTR are. Read More »