Edward Copeland's Tangents

"Watch how Communist Poland feels VERY nervous about its seizure of power."
Oliver Quest

"Anatomy of relationships (or maybe "anatomization" is a better word) in high style. Nowhere can you see Fassbinder's influences Sirk and Sternberg (more clearly) than here."
Jim Emerson

"Dersu Uzala is a wonderful portrait of friendship and how it survives in a harsh wilderness."
Jeffrey Hill

"A simple story as moving as it is beautiful, about a friendship forged through shared adversity."
Wagstaff

"'Never will nobody know anything like this again' is the last line of dialogue.(Of course, the bureaucrat isn't totally wrong.) Funny, and brilliant, and poignant. That one-shot dream sequence of the absurd hillside climbing parade is too good. He's not a flashy formalist like, say, Tarkovsky, but that isn't the point of film for him, and, all that aside, his movies ARE rigorous."
Ryland Walker Knight

"It's really interesting to think how this would have worked out if Jackie Chan had followed through on the offer to be in it."
Bob Westal

"The cold, bleak setting for this Spaghetti Western is a reflection of its cynical view of the world. It's a haunting and thoughtful action movie, taking a bit from No Name on the Bullet and styling it into something much darker."
Neil Sarver

"Sergio Corbucci's astonishing (film) is the equal to any of Sergio Leone's more universally recognized Italian Westerns, and one of the great movies of the '60s. ... Featuring one of Ennio Morricone's most powerful scores, Corbucci's snowbound film is a masterful genre bending exercise that has grown fresher and more relevant with each passing year."
Jeremy Richey

"It's the original Diner and it's not as misogynist as later Fellini films."
Meier Vermes

"The Siren thinks Martine Carol's marionette quality helps rather than hurts the film, emphasizing Lola as someone to whom history just happened — like other mortals who never slept with composers or kings."
Campaspe

"The Siren wants to rewatch this one, as she suspects the scathing picture of a society rebuilt on false dreams is as relevant as ever. Entirely worthy of Fassbinder's idol Douglas Sirk."
Campaspe

"The opening shots of mummified human remains, as my friend said to me afterward, is like the secret of vampire lore unlocked. 'We all die, and these are the stories human beings tell ourselves to help us make sense of the fact that we die.' There's nothing left but for me to agree."
Dave McDougall

"You can't miss the story the heroine tells her son about an island. The waves make the strangest sound."
Oliver Quest

"... undoubtedly one of the most magnificent, influential and heart-wrenching family dramas ever made. Luchino Visconti's brilliant and daring film manages to perfectly bring together every element that made neorealism an incredibly important and vital movement. It is a celebration as well as a farewell to what could be the most influential period in the history of cinema."
Kimberly Lindbergs

"Wertmueller fuses the freakish absurdity of her mentor (Fellini) with her own chauvinistic callousness; the result is unforgettable and terrifying."
Odienator

"I fucking love this movie!"
Ben Wolff

"Takeshi Kitano's inexplicably funny, terrifying and elliptical gangster movie is all about the decptive lulls, the digressions, diversions, and the stoic faces of a group of gangsters that sit quietly, all between sudden acts of savage violence. Kitano's movie has a peculiar rhythm all its own — volumes are spoken in the few extra seconds he lets a take run after a shock, or a laugh, or a shot to the head."
Dennis Cozzalio

"Pulls off the almost impossible task of being light as air and full of melancholy."
L. Stevens

"A film that builds and builds and builds and builds... until the final edit, a moment of sublime, impossible loss — and beauty."
Dave McDougall

"You know what this list lacks — culinography (i.e., food/cooking porn). I would have preferred Eat Drink Man Woman, maybe, but this one's pretty great too. Babette's Feast is not as good, but it's still the, er, 'hottest' food porn if you catch my drift."
Bob Westal

"A film like no other film I have ever seen, with images I will never forget. Plus, just a great story."
Tripp Burton

"A panoramic view of the tumult of Chinese politics and history viewed through the prism of one family's struggle. Zhang Yimou has created a visually stunning film that creates a sense of epic sweep and grandeur, without ever losing sight of the small-scale human drama that gives the story its impact. A tremendous feat of showmanship, featuring superlative performances by Ge You and Gong Li."
Josh R

"Of all the films banned in China that span the hell of its civil wars and cultural revolutions, To Live is the best."
Jeffrey Hill

"I will never forget that ending. It might still give me nightmares."
Tripp Burton

"Unfairly maligned as the weak link of the series. This was my favorite of the three."
Jesse Cunningham