Category Archives: Film Reviews

Film reviews and analyses. Most recently published is in front.

One Way Passage: A Tour Through Yesterday

Posted on September 6, 2015 by Mark DuPré

After recently watching a “minor” work of the great British team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, “I Know Where I’m Going”, my wife asked me how I enjoyed the 1945 film, most of which was set in the rugged … Continue reading →

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The Two Great Film Anniversaries You Probably Didn’t Hear About

Posted on September 5, 2015 by Mark DuPré

2015 is the one-hundred-year anniversary of two monumental events in the history of cinema. The fact you’re not hearing about them is two-fold: one is especially technical and most folks aren’t interested, and the other is being tragically choked out … Continue reading →

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Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Mark DuPré

Somewhere in the middle of loud action, threatening dinosaurs and pixilated activities in films ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, Tom Cruise managed to release the latest film in the Mission Impossible series. Rogue Nation is one of the … Continue reading →

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Quick Takes: Inside Out, Ant-Man, Out of the Past

Posted on August 15, 2015 by Mark DuPré

Been busy with the publication of book number two and the continuation of book number three! So here are some quick takes on what I’ve been seeing. Inside Out Pixar’s latest success in a long string of successes. Great vocal … Continue reading →

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Jurassic World

Posted on August 5, 2015 by Mark DuPré

Jurassic World has two things going for it—state-of-the-art special effects and Chris Pratt. It’s also got a completely unoriginal plot line with cliché subplots, and is often poorly directed. And it’s the biggest moneymaker of the year, which is worth … Continue reading →

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The Garden of Allah (1936)

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Mark DuPré

Such a curiosity! The film is visually stunning, stolid, lumpy and howlingly unbelievable. But it’s worth a look for several reasons. The story is so out of our time as to be worthy of archeological study. A young woman who … Continue reading →

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Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Posted on July 12, 2015 by Mark DuPré

If you somehow managed to cross The Fault in Our Stars with Juno, you might get something like Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. That’s neither a compliment nor an insult, just something of a description. Me and Earl … Continue reading →

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Judgment at Nuremburg and A Man for All Seasons: The Cinema of Conscience

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Mark DuPré

When I teach my students about editing, I make sure to point out that it has a dual power—to both contrast and compare. Classic scenes of violence cut with scenes of a holy rite (The Godfather, Part One) or violence … Continue reading →

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Far from the Madding Crowd

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Mark DuPré

Far from the Madding Crowd is the newest cinematic incarnation of the Thomas Hardy novel, but it perhaps fits most comfortably somewhere between a top-of-the-line Masterpiece Theatre production and the recent slew of Jane Austen films. That’s not a criticism, … Continue reading →

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Avengers: Age of Ultron

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Mark DuPré

The latest installment in the Marvel universe film world is such a box office phenomenon (already at more than $1 billion internationally) that it seems inconsequential or trifling to attempt a real analysis of the thing. Yet on we trudge…. … Continue reading →

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