TheBrownees 2022
TheBrownees 2022. Zero Calories. Exquisite taste! My ten favorite movies/actors of 2021 are listed alphabetically in five categories.
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Category: My Favorites
54 Queer Films Made Under the Hays Code (1934-1967)
Hitchcock had a preference for casting gay actors in gay parts: Judith Anderson, Farley Granger, John Dall, or Anthony Perkins.
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Queer Cinema Comes Out: 27 Queer Films from 1967-1976
With the death of Hays code in 1967, Queer Cinema was ready to come out of the closet. 1967-1976 can be seen as Queer Cinema’s Stonewall.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actors (Part 1)
Douglas, Grant, Stewart, Robinson, Muni, Cagney, Brando, Nicholson, Pacino and DeNiro. The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actors.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actors (Part 2)
Malkovich, Mitchum, Dean , Bogart, Cotten, Voight, Perkins, Nolte, Sutherland and Irons. The Best of the Best of 10 of my favorite actors.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actors (Part 3)
Hoffman, Damon, Law, Seymour Hoffman, Ledger, Gyllenhaal, Depp, Hackman, Mason and Hanks. The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actors.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actors (Part 4)
Harvey, Fonda, Newman, Sinatra, McCrea, Scott, Lancaster, Preston, Léaud and Lemmon. The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actors.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actors (Part 5)
Tracy, Finch, Holden, Penn, Marinelli. Mastroianni, Andrews, Peck, Redford and Beatty. The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actors.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actors (Part 6)
Laughton, Guinness, Price, Harrison, Harris, O’Toole, Burton, Donat, Finney and Bates. The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actors.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actors (Part 7)
Courtney, Welles, Widmark, Young, Hayden, Calhern, Jaffe, Sanders, Caine, Trintingant and Macmurray. The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actors.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actors (Part 8)
The Best of the Best Of Ten of My Favorite Actors. Olivier, Richardson, Gielgud, Everett, Day Lewis, Firth, Oldman, Grant, Jennings and Hurt.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actors (Part 9)
The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actors, Part 9. Rains, Webb, Coburn, Kennedy, Gable, Cooper, Morley, Griffith, Russell, and von Stroheim.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actors (Part 10)
The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actors, Part 10. DiCaprio, Depardieu, Auteuil, Lonsdale, Wilson, Garfield, Ryan, Lorre, Waltz, and Woods.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 1)
Close, Bening, Moore, Watts, Adams, Blanchett, Winslet, Stewart, Chastain and Streep. The Best of the Best of ten of my favorite actresses.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 2)
Mulligan, Swinton, Fanning, Sévigny, Kidman, Davis, De Havilland, Sullivan, Leo, and Davis. Best of the best of ten of my favorite actresses
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 3)
Ronan, Weaver, Pfeiffer, Davis, Rampling, Christie, Hepburn, Kerr, Arthur, Wood. The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actresses.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 4)
Collette, Stanwyck, Dern, Bergman, Swank, Fontaine, Russell, Novak, Monroe, Metcalf. The Best of the Best of the favorite actresses.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 5)
Swanson, Anderson, Leigh, Hepburn, Mc Teer, Leigh, Lane, Lansbury, Crawford, Linney. The best of the best of ten of my favorite actresses.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 6)
Reed, Wyman, Smith, Taylor, Bancroft, Fonda, Redgrave, Mirren, Dench and Dunne. The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actresses.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 7)
Kelly, Wright, Loy, Ritter, Turner, Remick, Turner, Witherspoon, Reynolds and Walter. The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actresses.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 8)
Page, Bujold, Dunaway, MacLaine, Winger, Simmons, Rogers, Day, Garland and Minnelli. The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actresses.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 9)
The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actresses. Part 9. Tierney, Huston, Black, Smith, Anspach, Cher, Keaton, Saint, Denevue, Binoche.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 10)
The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actresses. Ullmann, Andersson, Rogers, Sarandon, Davis, Jackson, Snodgress, Baker, Garson, Spacek.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 11)
The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actresses. Masina, Ashcroft, Johnson, Harris, Huppert, Adjani, Miou-Miou, Baye, Azema and Seyrig.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 12)
The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actresses Part 12. Weisz, Stone, Coleman, Stanley, Connelly, Portman, Ryder, Keener, Mortimer, and Diaz.
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Top 10 of My Favorite Actresses (Part 13)
The Best of the Best of Ten of My Favorite Actresses. Part 13. Dunst, Gainsbourg, Schygulla, Johansson, Hall, Scott Thomas, Lupino, Oberon, Fitzgerald, and Winkler.
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Which 7 Films Did Hitchcock Make That Were “Perfect”?
Seven films in which every shot, every camera move, every editing sequence is perfect. Four of the seven movies star either Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart.
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My 50 All-Time Favorite Horror Movies
Here are my 50 all-time favorite horror movies from 1934 to the present.1. Psycho | 2. Midsommar | 3. The Exorcist | 4. The Shining | 5. Alien…
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The Best Films Directed by Elia Kazan
Because of his naming names at the HUAC, what you think of Elia Kazan’s oeuvre depends on whether you can separate the artist from the art.
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The Best Films Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
All twenty JLM films rated to coincide with a retrospective at the Criterion Collection. This includes his masterpiece “All About Eve”.
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Films Directed by Sidney Lumet
Why did a great director make so many bad movies? How could the man who made “Dog Day Afternoon” make 24 unwatchable films?
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Ranking Martin Scorsese’s 25 Feature Films
One masterpiece (“Taxi Driver”). Seven near masterpieces including “Raging Bull”, “Innocence” and “Irishman”. Let’s hope he never stops.
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Woody Allen’s Oscar-Nominated Works
This is a good time to take a look at what is truly an incredible list: Woody Allen’s record-breaking sixteen Oscar Nominations for Best Original Screenplay.
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Best Final Movie Made by a Great Director
Although Charles Laughton made only one and, therefore, final film, based on this film alone, he is of the Great Directors.
Number One: Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (Sidney Lumet: 2007). Number Five: Family Plot (Alfred Hitchcock: 1976).
Drama and Camp: The Fate of Mildred’s Daughter is Sealed
The amazing gift of “Mildred Pierce” is that, like “Baby Jane”, it plays as drama and camp simultaneously with no dichotomy involved.
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Fox Noir on The Criterion Collection
Fox Noir: Welcome to the world of the femme fatale and multiple flashbacks. Otto Preminger’s “Laura” with Clifton Webb is the crown jewel.
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Nicholas Musuraca: Master of Chiaroscuro
Nicholas Musuraca was a master of chiaroscuro. “The Spiral Staircase” was influenced the German Expressionist Cinema of the early 1920s. He photographed William Holden in Rouben Mamoulian’s adaptation of Clifford Odets “Golden Boy” with Barbara Stanwyck and Adolphe Menjou (above). It was Holden’s first starring role.
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Douglas Slocombe: Master Cinematographer
England’s master cinematographer of the sixties, his black and white lensing on Bryan Forbes’ “The L-Shaped Room” and Joseph Losey’s “The Servant” marks one of the high points of British cinema.
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Eleanor Perry: One of The Great Screenwriters
Eleanor and Frank Perry’s last movie together was their best, a wonderful adaptation of Sue Kaufman’s “Diary of a Mad Housewife”.
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The French Critics Adored Seberg
Unlike their American counterparts, the French critics, among whom were the brightest stars of the New Wave, in particular Truffaut and Goddard, were full of praise for the film.
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La Nouvelle Vague at the Criterion Collection
I have confined myself to rating thirteen films from the height of La Nouvelle Vague. This was before Jean-Luc Godard, in particular, seemed to loose his joy in making movies.
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Dodsworth (1936) Film Review
“Dodsworth”: William Wyler’s masterpiece, the best movie ever made about the fear of growing old. It was Wyler’s first Oscar nomination.
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Rebecca (1940) Film Review
“Rebecca”, marked the arrival in Hollywood of the man who was, or would eventually become, the greatest director in the history of cinema.
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The Maltese Falcon (1941) Film Review
The performances are there to savor with the great Mary Astor doing a superb turn as Bridget O’ Shaughnessy and the gay triumvirate bringing up the rear!
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Shadow of a Doubt (1943) Film Review
Alfred Hitchcock, the cinema’s greatest director, made seven perfect films in which every shot, every camera move, every editing sequence is, well, perfect.
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Double Indemnity (1944) Film Review
“Double Indemnity” is the best of the three great film noirs of 1944, the others being “Laura” and “The Woman in the Window”. The three leads are superb as is Wilder’s direction.
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Laura (1944) Film Review
“Laura” is one of the classic film noirs. Gene Tierney is born and Clifton Webb becomes a star in his fifties. Haunting Raksin score.
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Gilda (1946) Film Review
Feast your eyes on Vidor’s stylish direction, Rudolph Mate lush black-and-white cinematography the Jean Louis gowns and, of course, Rita Hayworth as Gilda.
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Notorious (1946) Film Review
The term “MacGuffin” originated by Angus MacPhail for film, adopted by Alfred Hitchcock, and later extended to a similar device in other fiction. The MacGuffin here is the Uranium in the cellar.
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Rope (1948) Film Review
The story, which is based on the Leopold and Loeb case is irresistible. Granger and Dall are perfection and Jimmy Stewart is also amazing.
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Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) Film Review
In “Kind Hearts and Coronets”: Alec Guinness has fun playing all eight (or nine) of the unfortunate D’Ascoynes, including Lady Agatha D’Ascoyne. The photograph shows Dennis Price with Joan Greenwood who plays that little minx Sibella.
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Strangers on a Train (1951) Film Review
Hitchcock reverses himself here, having gay actor Farley Granger play the straight character and straight actor Robert Walker play the gay character.
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Niagara (1953) Film Review
The buildup to Monroe’s superstardom started here. The magnificent widescreen technicolor cinematography if by Joseph MacDonald.
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Rear Window (1954) Film Review
Stewart, Kelly, and Ritter are all magnificent. Kelly, looking radiant, gets to deliver one of the big screen’s all-time sexy lines.
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Vertigo (1958) Film Review
Anchored by an incredible performance by James Stewart as Scotty Ferguson a private detective and ex-cop who suffers from vertigo (fear of heights) after a coworker fell to his death, and Kim Novak is spectacular in the dual role of Judy/Madeleine.
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North by Northwest (1959) Film Review
Eva Marie Saint gives Grace Kelly in “Rear Window” a run for her money as Hitchcock’s most elegant leading lady and the chemistry between the two leads is more palpable than in any Hollywood picture before or since.
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Psycho (1960) Film Review
Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates made him immortal while, at the same, time, ending his career in Hollywood. A masterpiece.
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David and Lisa (1962) Film Review
In fact, many of Theodore Isaac Rubin’s beliefs have now fallen out of favor. Despite the film’s sensitive moments, it often seems dangerously simplistic and naive.
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The L-Shaped Room (1963) Film Review
Writer/director Bryan Forbes lovely and faithful adaptation of the Lynne Reid Banks novel boasts Leslie Caron’s greatest performance.
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The Servant (1963) Film Review
A savage indictment of the waning British class system, it’s one of the most chilling films ever made. Winner of Best Screenplay of 1964 from the NYFCC.
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The Best Man (1964) Film Review
“The Best Man” boasts three outstanding performances: Henry Fonda, Cliff Robertson and pre-code star Lee Tracy who returns to the screen.
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Seven Days in May (1964) Film Review
A peak entry in the American political thriller genre, the film boasts four of the greatest performances of the sixties.
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The Swimmer (1968) Film Review
With a near-great performance by Burt Lancaster as the title character who “swims his way home” through his “river” of backyard swimming pools…
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Last Summer (1969) Film Review
..but it is Hershey who is really stunning as the manipulative Sandy. Then, into their lives wanders Rhoda (Oscar nominee Cathy Burns)…
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Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) Film Review
Starring a luminous Carrie Snodgress, the last movie that director Frank Perry and his screenwriter wife Eleanor made together is their best.
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There Was A Crooked Man (1970) Film Review
Hume Cronyn and John Randolph are our happy and well-adjusted gay couple. Yes, they fight and bicker all the time. However, they are clearly madly in love with each other.
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The Great Gatsby (1974) Film Review
Directed by Jack Clayton, from an adaptation by Francis Ford Coppola, this was the third film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age masterpiece.
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Jeanne Dielman (1975) Film Review
In “Jeanne Dielman”, a feminist masterpiece, the everyday details of a caring mother contrast with her life as a prostitute.
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Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) Film Review
Weir, who showed, like Hitchcock, that horror can be visited upon us on the brightest and most beautiful of summer days.
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The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999) Film Review
“Ripley”, Minghella’s masterpiece, boasts Matt Damon’s best performance plus stunning turns by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jude Law.
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Take Shelter (2011) Film Review
It boasts a tremendous performance by Michael Shannon as a quiet man, raising a family, who has horrific nightmares and daytime visions of a meteorological disturbance followed by a feeling that we (the Earth) are being visited by something alien.
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Under The Skin (2014) Film Review
Guys with erect penises walking downward into a transparent ooze, confused, as Scarlett walks on another level above them.
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