Author Archives: Mark DuPré

About Mark DuPré

Retired (associate) pastor at a Christian church. Retired film professor at Rochester Institute of Technology. Husband for nearly 50 years to the lovely and talented Diane. Father to three children and father-in-law to three more amazing people. I continue some ministry duties even though retired from the pastoral staff position. Right now I'm co-writing a book, co-writing a serious musical drama, and am half-way through writing (on my own a month-long devotional.

2018 Oscar Noms—First Thoughts

Posted on January 28, 2018 by Mark DuPré

I love Oscar season. Each year is fascinating for different reasons. While genuinely good work gets recognized (and some good and great work gets ignored), the other factors that figure into the nominations, and then the final awards, change each … Continue reading →

Posted in Film-Related Articles | Tagged 2018, Aaron Sorkin, All the Money in the World, Allison Janney, Amy Adams, Blade Runner 2049, Brooklyn, Call Me By Your Name, Christopher Nolan, Christopher Plummer, Daniel Kaluuya, Darkest Hour, Denzel Washington, Dunkirk, Frances McDormand, Gal Gadot, Gary Oldman, Get Out, Greta Gerwig, I Tonya, J.K. Simmons, Jake Gyllenhaal, James Franco, James Ivory, Jordan Peele, Judi Dench, Kevin Spacey, Lady Bird, Laurie Metcalf, Leslie Manville, Margo Robbie, Mary J. Blige, Molly's Game, Mudbound, Octavia Spender, Oscars, Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread, Rachel Morrison, Richard Jenkins, Ridley Scott, Roger Deakins, Roman J. Israel Esq., Sally Hawkins, Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, The Big Sick, The Disaster Artist, The Post, The Shape of Water, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Winston Churchill, Wonder Woman, Woody Harrelson | Leave a comment

Phantom Thread

Posted on January 23, 2018 by Mark DuPré

Phantom Thread is exquisite. That’s neither a compliment nor a criticism, but just a description. It follows the story of a 1950’s London fashion designer described early on in the film as “too fussy.” That’s one way of describing him. … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Allison Janney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York, Inherent VIce, J. Alfred Prufrock, Judith Anderson, Laurie Metcalf, Lesley Manville, Mrs. Danvers, Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread, Pretty Woman, Radiohead, Rebecca, Reynolds Woodcock, The Master, There Will be Blood, Vicky Krieps | Leave a comment

Three by Boyer: Liliom (1934), Algiers (1938), and Love Affair (1939)

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Mark DuPré

Charles Boyer was thought of as retro and a subject of satire when I was young. He was somewhere between the worlds of my parents and grandparents, and most of us knew that he was the model for Pepé Le … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Algiers, An Affair to Remember, Carousel, Cary Grant, Casablanca, Charles Boyer, Charles Farrell, Deborah Kerr, Ecstacy, Ekstase, Fritz Lang, Gene Lockhart, Hedy Lamarr, Hungary, Irene Dunne, James Wong Howe, Jean Gabin, June Lockhart, Liliom, Michael Curtiz, One Way Passage, Pépé le Moko, Pepé le Pew, Rita Wilson, Rogers and Hammerstein, Sleepless in Seattle, Tom Hanks, Victor Garber, Walter Wanger | Leave a comment

2018 Golden Globe Thoughts

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Mark DuPré

Ah, yes, the relatively meaningless Golden Globes. Well, since the shelf life for interest in this first awards show of the season is so very short, I must needs get my thoughts out rather quickly. Again, the Golden Globes only … Continue reading →

Posted in Film-Related Articles | Tagged Allison Janney, American Crime Story, Christian fundamentalism, Christopher Darden, Christopher Nolan, Daniel Kaluuya, Dunkirk, Elizabeth Moss, evangelicalism, Frances McDormand, fundamentalism, Gary Cooper, Gary Oldman (Dark Hour), gene kelly, Get Out, Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globes, Guillermo del Toro, High Noon, I Tonya, James Franco, Lady Bird, Laurie Metcalf, O.J. Simpson, Old Testament, Oprah, Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Seth Meyers, singin' in the rain, The Disaster Artist, The Handmaid's Tale, The Martian, The Shape of Water, This is Us, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Time's Up | Leave a comment

Darkest Hour

Posted on January 4, 2018 by Mark DuPré

What I recently wrote about the 1961 film Two Women (https://film-prof.com/2017/12/31/two-women-1960-1961/) could just as easily applied to Darkest Hour—that the main point of interest was the central performance, but that the evolution of the director’s style was also worth noting. Darkest … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Anna Karenina, Atonement, Ben Mendelsohn, Best Actor, Christopher Nolan, Churchill's Secret, Cinderella, Clemmie Churchill, Darkest Hour, Downton Abbey, Dunkirk, Gary Oldman, Joe Wright, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Pip Torrens, Pride and Prejudice, Romola Garai, Samuel West, Stephen Dillane, The Crown, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Two Women, Winston Churchill, World War II | Leave a comment

Two Women (1960/1961)

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Mark DuPré

Two Women is fascinating for two reasons. One, it is the film that brought Sophia Loren her Academy Award for Best Actress, the first for a foreign-language performance. (Since then, there have been awards for Roberto Benigni for Life is … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Angelina Jolie, Benicio Del Toro, Bicycle Thieves, Breathless, Catherine Zeta Jones, Cesare Zavattini, Charlize Theron, dubbing, Elizabeth Taylor, French New Wave, Godfather Part Two, Ingrid Bergman Grace Kelly, Jean-Paul Belmondo, La Vie en Rose, Life is Beautiful, Marion Cotillard, Miracle in Milan, Natalie Portman, neorealism, neorealist, New Wave, Penelope Cruz, Rachel Weisz, Robert De Niro, Roberto Benigni, Scarlet Johansson, Shoeshine, Sophia Loren, Traffic, Two Women, Umberto D., Vittorio de Sica, Vivien Leigh | Leave a comment

Lady Bird

Posted on December 29, 2017 by Mark DuPré

Lady Bird, for those my age, has nothing to do with a former president’s wife. It’s the story of a high school girl, beautifully acted, focusing on her relationship with boys and with her mother, also beautifully acted. In some … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged A Doll's House Part 2, Atonement, Brooklyn, Call Me By Your Name, Greta Gerwig, Lady Bird, Laurie Metcalf, Manchester by the Sea, Nicholas Hedges, Roseanne, Saoirse Ronan, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Timothée Chalamet | Leave a comment

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Posted on December 11, 2017 by Mark DuPré

The film just received a slew of Golden Globe nominations, which is always both a compliment and something producing a mild guffaw to those familiar with the Globes’ history. But in this case, it seems the nominations are mostly deserved. … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Caleb Landry Jones, deus ex machina, Fargo, Frances McDormand, Golden Globes, In Bruges, John Hawkes, Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea, Martin McDonagh, Peter Dinklage, Sam Rockwell, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Woody Harrelson, Zeljko Ivanek | Leave a comment

Quick Hits: Blade Runner 2049 and Thor: Ragnarok

Posted on November 25, 2017 by Mark DuPré

Blade Runner 2049 Both these films—but especially Blade Runner 2049—deserve much more analysis than I provide here. But the first has been written about endlessly, and contains enough filmic (and literary) references to support a doctoral thesis. Like its predecessor, … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Newer films | Tagged Arrival, Avengers, Blade Runner 2049, Cate Blanchett, Chris Hemsworth, Denis Villeneuve, Harrison Ford, Loki, No Country for Old Men, Roger Deakins, Ryan Gosling, Skyfall, Thor: Ragnarok, Tom Hiddleston, True Grit | Leave a comment

When Knighthood was in Flower, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, and The Crowd

Posted on November 12, 2017 by Mark DuPré

My voyages back into the cinema of yesterday have brought me to a few fascinating places lately. In chronological order of their initial release, I saw: When Knighthood Was in Flower (1922), Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) and … Continue reading →

Posted in Film Reviews, Older Films | Tagged Ben-Hur: a Tale of the Christ, Charlton Heston, Citizen Kane, Eleanor Boardman, Henry VIII, Intolerance, James Murray, Jean-Luc Godard, King Vidor, Mae Marsh, Marion Davies, Mary Tudor, Ramon Navarro, Susan Alexander Kane, The Big Parade, The Crowd, The Jazz Singer, The Thin Man, two-strip Technicolor, When Knighthood Was in Flower, William Powell | Leave a comment