In retrospect, the movie's patently phony, playing autism as no more than an extended, manipulative plot device. Hoffman's dogged Method determination is laid at the altar of a Cruise's shitty character. This has aged badly.
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Love Story 1970
Thoroughly dated, schmaltzy midbrow romance that's (somewhat) elevated by the unexpected bit of spark that McGraw brings to her character. Could have done without incessant bombardment of the maudlin main theme and O'Neal's fake tears. Remarkable what the actor would do in capable hands (Bogdanovich, Kubrick) because he ain't cutting it here.
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The Cranes Are Flying 1957
This is film as catharsis - not just a purely emotional one but the even more rare kind that comes from seeing something so artistically complete on screen. The balance between melodrama, the sentimentality of a good kind - the one that speaks to our basic common experiences as human beings - and the creative means to express those is as moving as in any film ever made. There are so many small beautiful moments and big, bold brush strokes…
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Seven Samurai 1954
"Seven Samurai" is an immense, awe-inspiring piece of cinema that has the breadth of scale, the depth of detail, all the intelligence and the wit you'd want in a movie. Surely one of the most universally loved, imitated and referenced yet never fully matched films ever made - all of that for ample reason. I feel sort of sheepish singing its praises - what can I add to the veneration "Seven Samurai" gets?
Above all, "Seven Samurai" is beautifully constructed…
