2022 Emmys: Limited Series Winners.
The winners in the Limited Series category, were EXACTLY as forecast with “The White Lotus” taking Best Limited Series.
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Category: Apple TV+
“Mrs. America”, Cate Blanchett, and Chantal Akerman.
Blanchett then slowly hangs up the phone and returns, defeated, to the kitchen. In un hommage à Akerman, the camera frames her in medium shot
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Two of the Best of 1964
“Seven Days in May”, directed John Frankenheimer, then at his absolute peak and “The Best Man” beautifully directed by Franklin J. Schaffner.
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2011. “Take Shelter”. Horror Masterpiece.
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
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2014. Under the Skin. Horror Masterpiece.
Guys with erect penises walking downward into a transparent ooze, confused, as Scarlett walks on another level above them.
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1935. The Bride of Frankenstein. 30s 40s
Director James Whale’s masterpiece is as close to Susan Sontag’s definition of high camp as the movies can deliver.
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1935. Top Hat. 30s 40s
The Best of the Astaire-Rogers movies. Cinematography: David Abel. Production Design: Carroll Clark/Van Nest Polglase. Songs: Irving Berlin.
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1936. Dodsworth. 30s 40s
“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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1935. Sylvia Scarlet. 30s 40s
Both gay and trans, Sylvia/Sylvester set the bar impossibly high for years to come. One of the great financial disasters of the 1930s, it resulted in Hepburn being labelled box office poison.
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1939. The Women. 30s 40s
Every character in the movie, and every animal featured, was female. Great work by Crawford, Russell, Shearer and Mary Boland.
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1939. The Wizard of Oz. 30s 40s
She captured everyone’s heart, gay or straight. There is something vulnerable yet confident about her. And then there is that incredible voice!
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1941. The Maltese Falcon. 30s 40s
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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1941. The Man Who Came to Dinner. 30s 40s
Monty Wooley delights as the impossibly pompous Sheridan Whiteside in William Keighley’s wonderful adaptation of the Kauffman/Hart play.
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1944. Double Indemnity. 30s 40s
“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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1944. Laura. 30s 40s
“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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1945. The Picture of Dorian Gray. 30s 40s
Albert Lewin directed his masterpiece, a superb adaptation of Oscar Wild’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” with a beautiful Hurd Hatfield.
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1946. Gilda. 30s 40s
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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1946. Night and Day. 30s 40s
In Warner Bros. fictionalized biography we get a heterosexual Porter (Cary Grant) who is happily married to wife Linda (Alexis Smith).
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1948. Red River. 30s 40s
1948 was the year of Montgomery Clift. In addition to Hawkes “Red River” there was Fred Zinnemann’s “The Search” and William Wyler’s “The Heiress”.
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1948. Rope. 30s 40s
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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1949. Kind Hearts and Coronets. 30s 40s
In “Kind Hearts and Coronets”: Alec Guinness has fun playing all eight of the unfortunate D’Ascoynes, including Lady Agatha D’Ascoyne..
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1949. Adam’s Rib. 30s 40s
Marvelous acting by Judy Holliday, Jean Hagen, Hope Emerson, Tom Ewell and, as Amanda’s “gay best friend”, David Wayne.
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1950. All About Eve. 50s 60s
Bette Davis in her greatest role with some of the best lines ever written. Both Addison and Eve are gay and he blackmails her.
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1950. Caged. 50s 60s
“Hype the New Fish”. Innocent Eleanor Parker spends time in a women’s prison. With Hope Emerson and Agnes Moorehead.
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1950. Young Man with a Horn. 50s 60s
Lauren Bacall is Kirk Douglas’ young man with a horn’s society wife who is also a closeted lesbian. Bacall is very good in a risque role.
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1951. A Streetcar Named Desire. 50s 60s
The best play to film adaptation of all-time with two oft he greatest performances: Vivien Leigh as Blanch DuBois and Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski. ,
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1951. Strangers on a Train. 50s 60s
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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1953. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. 50s 60s
It’s Howard Hawks again, this time adapting the Jule Stein/Leo Robin Broadway smash “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”. With Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe.
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1953. Niagara. 50s 60s
The buildup to Monroe’s superstardom started here. The magnificent widescreen technicolor cinematography if by Joseph MacDonald.
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1954. Johnny Guitar. 50s 60s
A Western with two female leads is that rarest of cinematic jewels and, under Nicholas Ray’s direction, both Crawford and McCambridge play to the gallery.
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1956. Tea and Sympathy. 50s 60s
One of Deborah Kerr’s most sympathetic performances. Both she she and John Kerr (no relation) originated their roles on the Broadway stage.
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1957. Bonjour Tristesse. 50s 60s
The vision of an independent, sensually elegant and furiously modern woman imposes itself on us. She looks at us with her deep gaze, breaking the fourth wall, as her narration begins.
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1957. Funny Face. 50s 60s
“Funny Face“, the 1957 musical romantic comedy directed by Stanley Donen, boasts Audrey Hepburn’s most charming screen performance
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1958. A Touch of Evil. 50s 60s
Yes, that is Mercedes McCambridge as the unnamed lesbian gang leader getting her kicks while watching Janet Leigh getting roughed in Welles’ other masterwork.
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1958. Auntie Mame. 50s 60s
Gay director Morton DaCosta (his real name) directs like he is still in the theatre – he did better in his second and final visit to Hollywood with “The Music Man”.
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1958. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. 50s 60s
Richard Brooks respectable adaptation of the Tennessee Williams play opens with Brick (Paul Newman) pining and drinking in his bedroom for the memory of his best friend (read lover) Skipper.
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1959. Suddenly Last Summer. 50s 60s
The movie is risible, its few pleasures come from Hepburn’s regal (but very nasty) mother who will do anything to protect her son’s memory.
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1959. Pillow Talk. 50s 60s
Hudson’s characters has a gay alter ego named “Rex” and supporting actors Tony Randall and Nick Allen are constantly brushing off the gay ceiling.
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1959. Ben Hur. 50s 60s
If you believe Gore Vidal it was all because of a lover’s spat. Wyler and Boyd were in on the ruse, and Boyd played his scenes that way, but Heston was not.
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1960. Psycho. 50s 60s
Anthony Perkins’ Norman Bates made him immortal while, at the same, time, ending his career in Hollywood. A masterpiece.
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1960. Spartacus. 50s 60s
The Kirk Douglas/Stanley Kubrick epic has not aged well but the supporting cast,, particularly Laurence Olivier and Peter Ustinov, make it worth seeing.
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1961. A Taste of Honey. 50s 60s
Although he was playing a teenager, gay actor Murray Melvin was almost thirty when he made “A Taste of Honey” with Rita Tushingham.
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1961. The Children’s Hour. 50s 60s
Not having the courage of his convictions, what started out as bravery ended in cowardice and it’s a shame.
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1962. Advice and Consent. 50s 60s
Preminger always liked to be cutting edge and he was with “Advise and Consent” a beautifully written, acted and directed movie.
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1962. Whatever Happened Baby Jane? 50s 60s
Both of Hollywood’s grande dames Bette Davis and Joan Crawford are in top form with Davis getting the showier role as faded child star Baby Jane Hudson.
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1962. That Touch of Mink. 50s 60s
In between the Rock Hudson movies “Lover Come Back” (1961) and “Send Me no Flowers” (1964), Doris Day paired up with Cary Grant.
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1963. The Servant. 50s 60s
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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1963. The Haunting. 50s 60s
As a chic Greenwich village lesbian named Theo, whose couture is designed by Mary Quant, Claire Bloom is a knockout in Robert Wise’s 1963 movie “The Haunting”
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1965. The Loved One. 50s 60s
Great fun was had by all adapting Evelyn Waugh’s 1948 short satirical novel about the funeral business in Los Angeles
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1966. Persona. 50s 60s
Two of the world’s greatest actresses under the gaze of one of the greatest movie directors the world has ever known.
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1967. Reflections in a Golden Eye. 50s 60s
John Huston’s favorite of all his movies. Brando does something amazing with his closeted gay character who is married to Elizabeth Taylor.
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1968. The Swimmer. 50s 60s
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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1968. No Way to Treat a Lady. 50s 60s
“Dorian”, Gill’s hairdresser persona is, of course, gay with a classic sibilant-rich delivery. In the movie’s best scene, just as he is caressing the neck of his intended victim Miss Belle Poppie…
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1968. The Detective. 50s 60s
However, the awful script by Abby Mann – “Judgement at Nuremberg” – and the mediocre direction by Gordon Douglas put the kibosh on everything
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1968. 2001: A Space Odyssey. 50s 60s
In Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey”, HAL 9000 is the psychotic gay computer abord Discovery One. HAL is in love with Dave and quickly dispatches with copilot Frank.
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1968. Rachel, Rachel. 50s 60s
Highly regarded at the time of its release (NYFCC awards going to Newman as Best Director and Woodward as Best Actress), it seems a bit underwhelming today
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1969. Midnight Cowboy. 50s 60s
John Schlesinger’s American debut is only X-rated movie to win Best Picture. It boasts two great performances courtesy of Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffmann.
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1970. There was a Crooked Man. 70s 80s 90s
A 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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1970. The Boys in the Band. 70s 80s 90s
As we saw in the 2020 remake, Mart Crowley’s play “The Boys in the Band” has stood the test of time beautifully.
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1970. Performance. 70s 80s 90s
There will always be an argument as to who was the real auteur behind the camera.
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1971. Death in Venice. 70s 80s 90s
Visconti’s best idea was changing Aschenbach’s profession from a writer to a composer opening up the movie to the Mahler Adagietto .
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1971. The Garden of the Finzi Continis. 70s 80s 90s
“The Garden of the Finzi Continis” is based on the semi-autobiographical novel by gay Italian writer Giorgio Bassani who is played in the film by Helmut Berger.
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1971. Sunday Bloody Sunday. 70s 80s and 90s
In “Sunday Bloody Sunday”, Murray Head plays a free-spirited bisexual who is having simultaneous relationships with Glenda Jackson and Peter Finch.
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1972. The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant. 70s 80s 90s
A landmark in both New Queer Cinema and the New German Cinema, Fassbinder’s examination of the dynamics of a lesbian love triangle was shot in der wunderkind’s apartment.
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1972. Cabaret. 70s 80s 90s
Based on the 1966 Broadway musical “Cabaret” by Kander and Ebb which was adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s The Berlin Stories” (1945).
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1974. The Great Gatsby. 70s 80s 90s
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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1975. Picnic at Hanging Rock. 70s 80s 90s
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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1975. The Rocky Horror Picture Show. 70s 80s 90s
It is, of course, a GROUP EXPERIENCE with those inspired zingers going back to the screen, composed by a generation of audience members over the years.
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1975. Dog Day Afternoon. 70s 80s 90s
Pacino is magnificent. With Michael Corleone in The Godfather movies, “Dog Day Afternoon” is his defining role.
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1976. Ode to Billy Joe. 70s 80s 90s
Why did Billy Joe McAllister jump off the Tallahassee Bridge? The answer, according to director Max Baer, is because he slept with a man.
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1976. Carrie. 70s 80s 90s
Brian De Palma’s masterpiece and one of the GREAT HORROR MOVIES with tremendous performances from Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie. The unforgettable score is by Pino Donaggio.
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1999. The Talented Mr. Ripley. 70s 80s 90s
“Ripley”, Minghella’s masterpiece, boasts Matt Damon’s best performance plus stunning turns by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jude Law.
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Andrea Arnold’s Day in the Life of an Industrial Dairy “Cow.”
.With no narration and no musical score, Luma’s mooing following her separation from her babies is heartbreaking.
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Was It Really What She Said?
.The greatest movie critic of her generation. Pauline wrote the most incisive and respectful response. It was a gorgeous review of “Blade….
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Franz Rogowski astonishes us again in “Great Freedom”.
On the other hand, Meuse directs some of the most beautiful and heartfelt scenes ever captured between two men in love.
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Happening (L’évènement) is an Abortion Drama Made for Our Times.
The weeks pass and Anne begins to “show'”. Time is running out. Any attempt at a back street abortion is becoming increasingly dangerous.
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With “Hit the Road” a Star is Born.
The film begins with one of the most memorable opening scenes in recent memory. It’s a glorious and inventive piece of true cinema magic,
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“Official Competition” is fun before it wears out its welcome.
Cruz is fantastic and is obviously having the time of her life milking her experiences with all of those difficult-to-work-with auteurs that she has crossed paths with over the years
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Mark Rylance shines in The Outfit.
Thee first half of the film is by far the most nuanced. It relies on Rylance’s near-great, subtle performance to convey the smallest details.
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Two young actresses dazzle in “Petite Maman”.
In the sweetest time-travel movie ever made , the remarkable twin actresses Joséphine and Gabrielle Sanz play best friends (and more).
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Another young actress astonishes in “Playground”.
Make the camera a major character in the movie, living “down there” with the students and never rising above their level.
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“The Tale of King Crab” enthralled me.
The directors are extremely cine-literate. However, their references never seemed forced and I basked in their cinematic vision.
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“Flee” Will Leave You Spellbound.
I left “Flee” with that “floating-on-air feeling” that you get after seeing something really special. After seeing a masterpiece.
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“Parallel Mothers”: Almodovar’s Crowning Achievement.
Now, ” Live Flesh” has dropped to the number two position. “Parallel Mothers” is the new movie at the top of my treasured Almodóvar catalog.
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“All the Old Knives” is Tedious in the Extreme.
(the actors) are utterly defeated by Pedersen’s pedestrian direction. As for an actual denouement? There isn’t one.
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“Benediction” Fails to Win Our Approval.
Davies’ dialogue is irritatingly precious and the scenes begin to resemble tableaux vivants with Sassoon disappearing into the background.
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David Cronenberg’s Latest Offering is a “Crime” Against His Audience.
Things have gotten worse with his latest offering “Crimes of the Future”. They are so bad, that he has reused the title of his second movie.
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“The Duke” is a fitting coda to the career of the late Roger Michell.
Michell is content to sit back and hand the film over to Broadbent. If you are a Broadbent fan, as I am, you are in for a good time.
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Elvis is excessive, even by Baz Luhrmann Standards.
The narrative is actually the most interesting part of the movie since i is told by the devil incarnate himself, Colonel Tom Parker.
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“Flux Gourmet” is Tiresome and Lacking in Ideas.
Only Makis Papadimitriou, a writer who has been hired to document the institute’s proceedings in both images and words, gains our sympathy.
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“I Love My Dad” has Patton Oswalt but little else.
However, “I Love My Dad” is saved by another impressive performance by Oswalt, a comedian with major acting chops who is willing to go to the emotional core of his sometimes despicable character.
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Has Alex Garland Lost His Mojo?
We realize that what we are watching is not a puzzle but a pretense. A pretense that leads to a final sequence so obvious as to be laughable.
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Lena Dunham’s Sharp Second Feature Stick’s with You.
Dunham’s dialogue is smart and clever. Froseth takes on the role with relish. An Alice who has disappeared down some erotic portal.
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“X” Delivers, But There’s a Better Movie Buried Within.
Brittany Snow sings Stevie Nick’s “Landslide”, one of the best songs ever written about aging.
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Leos Carax’s French movie musical “Annette”.
“Annette” is the Halley’s comet of cinema. A movie so bad, it only occurs once, or at most twice, in a person’s lifetime.
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“Belfast” Never Quite Finds the Right Tone!
“Belfast” Never Quite Finds The Right Tone! Branagh, nevertheless, gets wonderful performances from Balfe, Dornan, Dench and Hinds.
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CODA is an Improvement on the French Original.
There is Ruby/Emilia’s gorgeous voice. Every time she sings it’s a treat. And you’re willing to overlook a lot of small faults when she roars
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“C’mon C’mon”. Wish I Could Have Liked You More.
However, I never felt the scenes between Jesse and Jonny were for real whether they were in LA/ in New York or New Orleans.
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Finland’s Hitchcock-Like “Compartment No. 6” is Oscar Shortlisted.
The leading actors are good together but, we eventually loose interest.
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“Cyrano” Begins with a Thrill. Ends with a Thud!
“Cyrano” Begins with a thrill. Ends with a thud! However, the movement of the actors during these opening scenes are thrilling.
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Joshua Leonard Sweet and Whimsical “Fully Realized Humans”.
Joshua Leonard Sweet and Whimsical “Fully Realized Humans”. Some very funny scenes involving the purchasing and using of a dildo.
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David Lowery’s Enthralling “The Green Knight”.
David Lowery’s enthralling “The Green Knight”. Alicia Vikander does double duty as a peasant girl, and the mistress of a mysterious household
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“Licorice Pizza” and the Gay Stereotype.
“Licorice Pizza” and the gay stereotype. Here is a mincing queen with movements so exaggerated he could have Tourette’s syndrome.
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Michael Sarnoski’s Engaging “Pig”.
Michael Sarnoski engaging “Pig”. The porcine scene-stealer keeps our interest in the early scenes but then it is all Cage.
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Jasmila Zbanic’s Evocative Quo Vadis, Aida?
Jasmila Zbanic’s evocative Qui Vadis, Aida? For two hours, you watch as she frantically tries to get her husband and sons to safety..
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Andrei Konchalovsky’s Searing “Dear Comrades”.
Andrei Konchalovsky’s searing “Dear Comrades”. Her daughter does not share her mother’s views and is dissatisfied with her lot in life.
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The Little Things (John Lee Hancock): Forensics and Violence.
John Hancock’s The Little Things pays homage to Hitchcock’s Psycho. However, it’s a sleazy piece masquerading as a whodunit.
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Oliver Hermanus Gay Coming-of-Age “Moffie”.
Oliver Hermanus gay coming-of-age “Moffie”. He must keep this a secret from everyone even with all the horsing around in the group showers.
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Christian Petzold’s Hypnotic “Undine”.
In Christian Petzold’s “Undine”, the atmosphere is so seductive and the two leads are so effective that you fall easily for it’s charms.
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