They don’t make them like this anymore.

It is an oft-repeated and tired saying that glorifies the past and belittles the achievements of the present yet, in the case of David Lean’s sweeping, Lawrence of Arabia, it is entirely true. Whilst epic films are still produced today few can match the scale, artistry and majesty of this larger than life tale of a narcissistic British army officer and his conflicted loyalties during the Arab Revolt. At just shy of four hours, Lean takes the audience on a grand journey that manages to juggle the personal travails and wider issues of an entire nation.

What makes this stand above nearly every other epic is that the film perfectly balances these small…

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…

One of the grandest epics ever produced on film celluloid, Lawrence of Arabia isn't just a film but a journey of a man's life & his love for a nation, and even with its nearly 4 hours of runtime, it manages to keep the viewers completely glued to their seats, thanks to the sheer magic of David Lean's stellar direction, breathtaking cinematography, stunning production design, spectacular score & Peter O'Toole's dominating performance.

Set during the First World War, Lawrence of Arabia follows the life of a controversial British figure named T. E. Lawrence and covers his experiences in the Arab Peninsula where he was sent to investigate the progress of Arab revolt against the Turks but later leads them in winning their…

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…

After erasing The Wizard of Oz from my list of films I was ashamed to have never seen, I decided to move right into another one: Lawrence of Arabia.

I'm almost overwhelmed by how brilliant a picture this is.

So I had a rough weekend. This isn't meant to elicit compassion or well wishes, I'm not on my death bed or anything, but it started with a trip to the emergency room after an infection spread through the entire left side of my face like something out of a horror film. The positive side of this is that for three straight days I have barely moved and essentially watched movies constantly, which is something I always love to do. The…

**Part of the Best Picture Project**

What is a perfect film?

It really hard to pin it down in specifics what makes a perfect film. It's a whole bunch of things really.

First of all, a perfect film needs a great story. Great stories come in all shapes and sizes. For example, it could be a 4 hour film that paces itself beautifully towards the finish line. A big giant conflict with little beautifully realized subplots that arise and develop the character as he goes on throughout the film to resolve the bigger one by dealing with the smaller ones, until he reaches the end of his journey.

Next, in that narrative, there should be a character that is equally…