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Summer with Monika 1953
Great early Bergman, too rarely revived. I believe this was the film that got Bergman noticed in America, primarily because nudity and sexual frankness were not allowed in American films. Collegiate audiences, seeking titillation, went to art theaters to see midnight shows. The smart ones came away with a deepened understanding of what film language can be and what stories film can tell—and a Hardin for Bergman that ripened quickly as he began to craft masterpieces. Summer With Monika may…
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John Wick: Chapter 4 2023
The Citizen Kane of action movies. Makes Die Hard look like My Dinner With André.
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Bananas 1971
Pure anarchist comedy a la the Marx Bros. Wild gags revealing Allen's background as a brilliant young TV sketch comedy writer, many of the gags unforgettable (although more than a few are also extremely dated). But the film is more than the sum of its memorable and often hilarious gags. There's also a genuine story arc, and despite the constant comic overstatement, the characters are touching, and real. It might be Allen's first great comedy. It's certainly the movie the surrogate Allen's fans are thinking of in Stardust Memories when they tell him they love his movies -- "particularly the early, funny ones." Great movie.
