Popular reviews

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  Review by Patrick Willems ★★★★★ 25

  (Saw in 70mm)

  When Lawrence blew out that match I gasped

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  Review by k(arst)en ★★★★½ 1

  filmed entirely at the Indiana Dunes

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  Review by davidehrlich ★★★★½ 3

  how is a colonialist epic about a tormented sadist with a twinkle in his eyes so universally beloved?" ... best not to answer that.

  what i find most amazing about Lean's masterpiece is that such a politically thorny, morally vague 228-minute film about a man's grand-scale psychic collapse has become such a celebrated movie, regarded as a treasure by EW and the the intelligentsia alike.

  i should probably say a little something about the 4K DCP presentation, but... i'm sleepy. maybe later.

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  Review by demi adejuyigbe ★★★★½ 10

  had accidentally-then-purposefully avoided knowing anything concrete about this movie for years so i could go in blind– i am shocked to learn that it’s essentially Dune. sat in the theater like “hold up. isn’t this the plot of Dune? it’s not 1:1, but Dune is definitely inspired by this right?” and then the man’s eyes glow in the night! extremely Dune-coded. will never know for certain though because i cannot read and will never learn.

  what an honor to watch this in 70mm! i was expecting a historical epic and a great character piece but i was not expecting it to be so… heartbreaking? the scene where Lawrence partakes in a siege genuinely upset me, and recolors so much of the…

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  Review by cookie ★★★½ 6

  they played the extended cut which included all the gay sex scenes

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  Review by Jim Cummings ★★★★★ 4

  It's a wonderful fuck you to everybody who glorifies the complicated dead. England lionized and propagandized this bizarre imperialist and David Lean made his fascination and co-opting of the Arab rebellion seem literally insane, dangerous, and stupid, which in itself is awesome.
  The craftsmanship is amazing. The scope is insane. There are moments that feel like desert science-fiction. When they introduce Ali, it feels like something out of Nausicaä.
  It's a wonderful middle finger to people around the world who made him a hero, and David Lean comes in and says, "He was - the most shameless exhibitionist since Barnum & Bailey."
  White dude in the desert surrounded by impassable historic stone monuments and he's singing "I'm the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo" into them. That was us.
  Great. Wild.

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  Review by Larry ★★★★★ 34

  Today was the day...

  ...that I finally conquered Lawrence of Arabia.

  I'm only 51 years late to the party. How did I manage to miss out on this golden gem of cinema? Well, I honestly couldn't tell you. I've been swept away by other great films throughout the years, I have always been short of time and my backlog grows and grows with every day. It's sad that a monumental film like this got pushed so far back but my mindset was always "I'll watch that soon. I HAVE to watch that soon."

  Repeat that for a few years and you get why I'm only just now seeing Lawrence of Arabia here in May of 2013. But I'm glad I…

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  Review by Josh Larsen ★★★★½ 11

  I like sand. It's coarse, rough, and mesmerizing. And it gets everywhere.

  www.larsenonfilm.com/lawrence-of-arabia

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  Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★★ 10

  Getting swept up in riding the vast, beautiful whirlwind of revolutionary history and warrior myths just in time for the political realities of colonial empires and the vulnerabilities of our mortal bodies to gradually and brutally deflate it. Obviously not really a brave or original take to say that this is one of the most striking, jaw-dropping pieces of spectacle film ever crafted that somehow never loses the subjective, psychological intimacy it has with its characters while doing so. Probably the most brilliantly edited film ever, right? Finally getting to see this on 70mm film was a dream come true.

  [70mm]

  Full discussion on episode 35 of my podcast SLEAZOIDS.

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  Review by siobhan ★★★★★ 2

  alright maybe 4 hour movies DO have rights

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  Review by Jake Cole ★★★★★

  Four glorious hours of camels walking in extreme long shot. Oh, and also a pretty devastating subversion of the white man's burden narrative, in which a man hates his own people and tries to go native, but is always reminded he cannot, no matter his accomplishments. Another epic on the subject would have ended in a blaze of glory. This one stops in a pool of self-contempt. Almost makes one look forward to the release of Lawrence's death seen in the film's opening.

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  Review by Sally Jane Black ★★★★ 9

  Something about my parents' massive television renders everything so crystal clear. I assume it's one of those high def formats that I can't keep rack of, 1080p Blu-ray with 10K megapixels and a 3D surround sound and dreamatorium, that sort of thing. I've no idea. The television is bigger than your apartment. It's disgusting, but holy fuck, it makes bad movies look good and good movies look great and movies like this look like... your preferred cliche of what looks good. The depth you get, the visual depth, the clear, clean colors, the details you pick out, it's too real, so vivid that it breaks down your suspension of disbelief, because it shows the edges of the sets when there…