Podcasts – Steven Benedict: Recent Episodes
Steven Benedict
Steven Benedict is a well-known radio broadcaster, college lecturer, writer, producer, and director of films and documentaries.
For my final podcast, I look at how Steven Spielberg effectively remade his first feature, Firelight to deliver a message of hope.
The post 401. Close Encounters of the Third Kind appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In January 1954, Francois Truffaut wrote a landmark essay on film criticism. Five years later, he put his theory into practice and cinema never been the same since.
The post 400. The 400 Blows appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The gangster genre is dominated by men, but in Martin Scorsese's The Irishman the most important position is held by a woman who utters barely a dozen words.
The post 399. The Irishman appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Rome Open City began filming as Auschwitz was liberated and Roberto Rossellini's film marks a crucial step in the creation of art in the wake of the Holocaust.
The post 398. Rome, Open City appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Puzzling audiences ever since it premiered at Cannes in 2001, David Lynch's dark masterpiece seems to address the abuse of women in the film industry.
The post 397. Mulholland Dr. appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With this modernist masterpiece, Michelangelo Antonioni told a story that abandoned its initial plot. Booed at Cannes, it paved the way for a new cinematic form.
The post 396. L’Avventura appeared first on Steven Benedict.
It is said a film is made three times; writing, filming and editing. In which case, editor Walter Murch deserves enormous credit for this masterpiece.
The post 395. The Conversation appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Like many Fellini films, Amarcord is a contradiction; an account of his youth yet a complete fabrication, a vivid realisation of the past, but also a dream.
The post 394. Amarcord appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Four years after the advent of sound in cinema, Charlie Chaplin insisted on making a silent movie the entire plot for which hinged on not being able to see.
The post 393. City Lights appeared first on Steven Benedict.
This French masterpiece avoids all the clichés of American prison films while at the same time bearing an uncanny similarity to a 1960s' Japanese action picture.
The post 392. Un prophète appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Twenty-one feature films, $14b at the worldwide box-office and 15 Oscars. If you ever wondered about the secret of Pixar's success, read their mission statement.
The post 391. WALL•E appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In Agnes Varda's classic, Corrine Marchand plays one woman; happy Cléo and anxious Florence, walking about Paris in real time awaiting her medical results.
The post 390. Cléo from 5 to 7 appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Whether it be ethically, legally, politically, geographically or even chemically, Michael Mann's multi-Oscar nominated picture is about crossing the line.
The post 389. The Insider appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In adapting Wajdi Mouawad’s play, Denis Villeneuve used two time lines to push the past against the present and ask if suffering is the only outcome of war.
The post 388. Incendies appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The Palme d'Or winner in 1949, Carol Reed's masterpiece drew on covert sources and unexpected styles and techniques to deliver a melancholic mystery.
The post 387. The Third Man appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Master auteur, Abbas Kiarostami forged his career by defying conventional film grammar to successfully find new ways of presenting the human condition.
The post 386. Ten appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Originally titled Whore's Gold, Clint Eastwood's Oscar-winning western exposes the psychosis, bigotry and misogyny at the heart of the genre's mythology.
The post 385. Unforgiven appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Matteo Garrone's adaptation of Roberto Saviano's book on the Neapolitan camorra smacks down the innumerable movies that have marketed the Mafia mythology.
The post 384. Gomorrah appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Forget Vertigo. Alfred Hitchcock's greatest film is Notorious. With his usual McGuffin, he wrapped a paranoid love story inside an espionage thriller about genocide.
The post 383. Notorious appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Asghar Farhadi's Oscar-winning divorce drama delivers a story that is specific to a particular time and place yet also manages to resonate on a universal level.
The post 382. A Separation appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Almost seventy years young, this masterpiece offers up for our modern age unexpected and pertinent meaning.
The post 381. Singin’ in the Rain appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Kenji Mizoguchi's masterpiece owes a great debt of gratitude to Kazuo Miyagawa's luminous, shimmering cinematography.
The post 380. Ugetsu Monogatari appeared first on Steven Benedict.
This 60s' American classic mixes avant-garde with mythology to examine male identity, intimacy, sexuality and trauma.
The post 379. Midnight Cowboy appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Cristian Mungiu won the Palme d'Or for his unflinching drama about a single day in the lives of two young women.
The post 378. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Mindhunter marks the fourth time David Fincher has depicted serial-killers. Far from resorting to tired clichés, with the second season he has again broken new ground.
The post 377. Mindhunter appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In Carl Theodor Dreyer's silent masterpiece, the story isn't so much told through the Saint's eyes as it is read on her face.
The post 376. The Passion of Joan of Arc appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With his Palme d'Or winning debut, Steven Soderbergh made a modern classic as well as a how-to manual for film students.
The post 375. sex, lies, and videotape appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Few film songs come anywhere near the layered meanings of Falling in Love Again, sung by Marlene Dietrich in Josef von Sternberg’s The Blue Angel.
The post 374. The Blue Angel appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Superficially, Cast Away asks whether modern man can survive alone on a desert island. But Robert Zemeckis' best film is really about destiny vs. free will.
The post 373. Cast Away appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Robert Bresson's masterpiece is a perfect example of less is more; natural acting, minimal music, off-screen sounds and restricting yourself to a 50mm lens.
The post 372. A Man Escaped appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Tom Wolfe's superb account about the early days of NASA's space program needed filmmakers who shared a daring similar to the maverick pilots.
The post 371. The Right Stuff appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Nostalgia originally had nothing to do with the past but rather a desire to return home. Cinema Paradiso resonates with the feeling that cinema is your home.
The post 370. Cinema Paradiso appeared first on Steven Benedict.
If small details are the important, this is really about a woman's quest for significance and a man's need for a make-over.
The post 369. North by Northwest appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Perhaps the greatest ever film about an artist, Andrei Rublev steadfastly refuses to show its subject painting let alone him holding a brush in his hand.
The post 368. Andrei Rublev appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How do you make a film about a sociopath who murders his entire extended family and still get the audience to root for him?
The post 367. Kind Hearts and Coronets appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Widely regarded as the greatest war picture ever made, Elem Klimov's Come and See takes its title from The Book of Revelations to deliver a vision of hell.
The post 366. Come and See appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Released to ecstatic reviews in 1998, Steven Spielberg's film soon suffered a backlash. Twenty-one years on it has finally come of age.
The post 365. Saving Private Ryan appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How did Wolfgang Petersen manage to get audiences to care about a bunch of Nazi sailors trying to destroy the British fleet in the North Atlantic?
The post 364. Das Boot appeared first on Steven Benedict.
No matter how cinematic, all films are nothing more than a form of writing that borrows from other forms of writing. Which is why Arrival comes in code.
The post 363. Arrival appeared first on Steven Benedict.
There are several good reasons to watch Bernardo Bertolucci’s controversial drama. Not all of them make for palatable viewing.
The post 362. Last Tango in Paris appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What if science-fiction were not a literary genre but a political and ideological theory. If so, Alex Garland uses Ex Machina to show us how he sees the world.
The post 361. Ex Machina appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Ari Folman's animated documentary is different from many other films about trauma. But it is only in its final moments that it reveal its most telling truth.
The post 360. Waltz with Bashir appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Five years in the making, David Lynch's film is one of the most compelling, bewildering, original, disturbing and influential debuts in all of cinema.
The post 359. Eraserhead appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Bong Joon-Ho embraced every cliché of the serial killer genre to examine masculinity, institutional repression and national identity.
The post 358. Memories of Murder appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In adapting Stephen King's best-seller, Stanley Kubrick drew on a genre other than horror and used a new motif that he would repeat for the rest of his career.
The post 357. The Shining appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Michael Haneke asks audiences difficult questions yet never provides easy answers. When he calls his film Hidden, can we expect anything different?
The post 356. Hidden appeared first on Steven Benedict.
If such an inscrutable character sits at the heart of John Le Carré's labyrinthine plot, how is the adaptation such a lucid film?
The post 355. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The vampire genre is ripe with themes; sexuality, feminism, xenophobia, disease, yet Let The Right One In broke new ground.
The post 354. Let The Right One In appeared first on Steven Benedict.
For a film that requires so many special effects in order to create the feeling of weightlessness, how did Alfonso Cuarón still keep Gravity so grounded?
The post 353. Gravity appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Alfonso Cuarón has long flirted with the neorealist style. His latest masterpiece, Roma illustrates cinema is not about what you show, but how you show it.
The post 352. Roma appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Ever since its release in 1995, Heat has been held as the greatest ever heist movie. But it has another, completely different film living and dying inside of it.
The post 351. Heat appeared first on Steven Benedict.
An exposé of life in East Germany under the Stasi, The Lives of Others still frustrated survivors of the totalitarian regime.
The post 350. The Lives of Others appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Science-Fiction operates in many ways; fantasy, allegory, romance, satire and speculative. Another is prophecy. Twenty years on The Matrix seems eerily prescient.
The post 349. The Matrix appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Of the four adaptations of Octave Mirbeau's controversial novel, Luis Buñuel's version is by far the most faithful… and radical.
The post 348. The Diary of a Chambermaid (1964) appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Many great auteurs use similar styles to explore similar themes as lesser filmmakers. The only real difference is that great auteurs are more consistent and precise.
The post 347. Full Metal Jacket appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Most films about childhood are often nostalgic. Louis Malle's masterful auto-biopic is about loss of an unfathomable kind.
The post 346. Au revoir les enfants appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Sofia Coppola's off-beat romance deftly explores isolation, miscommunication and the superficiality of modern media.
The post 345. Lost in Translation appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Krzysztof Kieślowski avoids all the clichés of doppelgängers, doubles and lookalikes to deliver a meditation on freedom.
The post 344. The Double Life of Veronique appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Going into production, Gladiator had nothing near a finished script yet one simple change to the start of the story turned it into the greatest opera ever filmed.
The post 343. Gladiator appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Despite its title, Cold War is not an espionage thriller. Instead, Pawel Pawlikowski loosely based it on his parents' lives. But it's not a biopic either. So what is it?
The post 342. Cold War appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Ever wondered where snow comes from? That and other wonders - and horrors - live inside Tim Burton's classic.
The post 341. Edward Scissorhands appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Writing, producing, directing and starring in his own films Jacques Tati was a true auteur, influencing the likes of David Lynch, Tim Burton and Wes Anderson.
The post 340. Mon Oncle appeared first on Steven Benedict.
While Cormac McCarthy’s acclaimed novel broke genre convention, the Coens’ adaptation is a study in audiovisual chaos.
The post 339. No Country for Old Men appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Once “too revolutionary”, Dziga Vertov's avant-garde masterpiece is now felt in Man on Fire, Ratatouille and Inception.
The post 338. Man with a Movie Camera appeared first on Steven Benedict.
This western gives fresh examinations of celebrity and post-traumatic stress disorder.
The post 337. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Films about writers are tricky propositions but you can roughly divide the genre into two eras; pre- and post-Mishima.
The post 336. Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Yes, Daniel Plainview is unlikable. But where is it written that characters have to be nice? They only have to be interesting.
The post 335. There Will Be Blood appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Fairytales transcend not just generations but cultures. Which may explain why La Belle et la Bête exists in so many guises and confronts so many issues.
The post 334. La Belle et la Bête appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When a film breaks with tradition, it is often rejected by audiences. Which may be why Zodiac was not initially recognised as the groundbreaking masterpiece it is.
The post 333. Zodiac appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Intersectionality, hyperlink cinema and cinema diaspora are some terms you can apply to Monsoon Wedding. Another is #MeToo.
The post 332. Monsoon Wedding appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Joel and Ethan Coen sometimes pit their characters against forces of nature. But Llewyn Davis faces a uniquely historical storm.
The post 331. Inside Llewyn Davis appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Werner Herzog's hallucinatory telling of a Conquistador's search for El Dorado etches a landscape of greed on the human face.
The post 330. Aguirre, the Wrath of God appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Less a sequel and more a cloak that wraps itself around the original, it has a son haunted by the memory of his dead father.
The post 329. The Godfather Part II appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Long before it was revered as a masterpiece, F.W. Murnau's radical reimagining of Bram Stoker's classic vampire novel had to be saved from the furnaces.
The post 328. Nosferatu appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Regarded as the greatest gangster picture of them all, the passing years continue to reveal new layers and meanings in Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece.
The post 327. The Godfather appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Pather Panchali translates into English as Song of the Road, but the production was so arduous and fortuitous it should be called Song of Miracles.
The post 326. Pather Panchali appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Upon its release, Munich was attacked for historical inaccuracy, political naivety and moral equivalency. But it is one of Spielberg's greatest works.
The post 325. Munich appeared first on Steven Benedict.
This drug fuelled tale of two youths and an older woman in search of a mythical beach is really about social connectivity.
The post 324. Y Tu Mamá También appeared first on Steven Benedict.
While mostly remembered for John Travolta's dancing, his white suit hides misogyny, racism, homophobia and gang rape.
The post 323. Saturday Night Fever appeared first on Steven Benedict.
As the title to Edward Yang's masterpiece indicates, Yi Yi is a series of doubles; narrative, thematic, visual and aural, that deliver a subtle family portrait.
The post 322. Yi Yi appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What makes a classic film? The plot’s originality, director’s vision, or the star’s magnetism? Paradoxically, any, all, yet none of the above. It's the audience.
The post 321. Die Hard appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Cries and Whispers was Ingmar Bergman's fourth colour film but with a palette of just black, white and red, he still painted deep emotions and vivid dreams.
The post 320. Cries and Whispers appeared first on Steven Benedict.
For all its groundbreaking effects and narrative innovation, this owes a debt to a romantic fantasy and a Soviet propaganda film.
The post 319. 2001: A Space Odyssey appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Sergei Eisenstein devised montage for black and white and silent film. How have sound, colour and digital extended his theories?
The post 318. Battleship Potemkin appeared first on Steven Benedict.
First seen as a critique of Thatcherism, this now lives in the era of MeToo and Time's Up.
The post 317. The Cook the Thief his Wife & her Lover appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In The Marriage of Maria Braun, Rainer Werner Fassbinder mixed Hollywood melodrama, historical drama and political indictment.
The post 316. The Marriage of Maria Braun appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Max Ophuls' adaptation of Stefan Zweig's novella is more than a romance; it explores memory, delusion and the meaning of art.
The post 315. Letter from an Unknown Woman appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Elio Petri's bitterly satirical Oscar winner from 1970 cuts a stark picture of today’s political leaders.
The post 314. Investigation of a Citizen above Suspicion appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Critics have long called Robert Altman's 1971 picture a revisionist western. Truth is, the western has always been revising itself.
The post 313. McCabe & Mrs. Miller appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Often called the greatest thriller Hitchcock never made, Les Diaboliques is based on a book written to catch the attention of the Master of Suspense.
The post 312. Les Diaboliques appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Reviled upon its release and long out of circulation, the influence of Michael Powell's Peeping Tom is now to be found in the most unexpected places.
The post 311. Peeping Tom appeared first on Steven Benedict.
There has never been a more iconic and influential hairstyle in all of cinema than 'the black helmet' sported by Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box.
The post 310. Pandora’s Box appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Alec Guinness, Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom may star, but Katie Johnson gives one of cinema's greatest comedic performances.
The post 309. The Ladykillers (1955) appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Precious few films celebrate the joys of riding a bike. Haifaa Al Mansour's Wadjda is more than just a celebration; it is a dissection of an entire culture.
The post 308. Wadjda appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Upon its release, it seemed that Easy Rider typified the spirit of the nineteen-sixties. But it really should be viewed as the first film of the seventies.
The post 307. Easy Rider appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Many films enjoy exaggerated reputations, but it is almost impossible to underestimate the beauty, truth and importance of Vittorio De Sica's Bicycle Thieves.
The post 306. Bicycle Thieves appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Rear Window, Vertigo, Blowup, Weekend, the Zapruder film and The Conversation are all to be seen and heard in Brian De Palma's Blow Out.
The post 305. Blow Out appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How did a blasphemous, homosexual, Marxist, atheist manage to make the greatest film about the life of Jesus Christ?
The post 304. The Gospel According to Matthew appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Originally titled A Girl, a Photographer and a Beautiful April Morning, Michelangelo Antonioni's Palme d'Or winner is still as enigmatic fifty years on.
The post 303. Blowup appeared first on Steven Benedict.
William Shakespeare, Sigmund Freud, Ingmar Bergman and John Cassavetes are just some of the disparate influences on view in Thomas Vinterberg's masterpiece.
The post 302. Festen appeared first on Steven Benedict.
We are told we watch horror films because they offer a vicariously thrilling, and thus safe experience. I don’t believe that. I believe horror films are instructive.
The post 301. Alien appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Described as the most evil film ever made, Henri George Clouzot's masterpiece resembles Hemingway, Hitchcock, neo-realism and Casablanca.
The post 300. The Wages of Fear appeared first on Steven Benedict.
David Cronenberg's adaptation of George Langelaan's short story is appropriately, a fusion of Icarus, Prometheus, Frankenstein and Beauty and the Beast.
The post 299. The Fly (1986) appeared first on Steven Benedict.
While Paolo Sorrentino’s film follows in the footsteps of Federico Fellini and Michelangelo Antonioni, its quest arrives at a very surprising answer.
The post 298. The Great Beauty appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Francois Truffaut once claimed ‘cinema’ and ‘Britain’ were incompatible. Powell and Pressburger proved him wrong.
The post 297. A Matter of Life and Death appeared first on Steven Benedict.
This film lasts seventeen minutes, features mutilation, insects and dismemberment. Yet it is one of the most influential ever made.
The post 296. Un Chien Andalou appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Jonathan Demme’s film is a classic because its Little Red Riding Hood plot mines the moral depths of its central characters.
The post 295. The Silence of the Lambs appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In ancient Greece, all violence took place off stage. How can filmmakers show the violence of the Holocaust without exploiting the memory of the victims?
The post 294. Ida appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Kubrick's controversial film remains relevant because of the Ludovico Technique's conversion therapy: Pray Away the Gay.
The post 293. A Clockwork Orange appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Released in 1950, Max Ophuls' adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's scandalous play is a landmark exhibition of theme and style operating in perfect harmony.
The post 292. La Ronde appeared first on Steven Benedict.
For thousands of years, drama theorists from Aristotle to Robert McKee have been telling writers that plot is everything. But is that all there is to drama?
The post 291. Does Plot Matter? appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In adapting Karen Blixen's short story, Gabriel Axel chose to omit the politics and focus on the religious parable. But really, it works best as a recipe for life.
The post 290. Babette’s Feast appeared first on Steven Benedict.
This hit from 1944 delivered one of the all-time classic Yuletide songs - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - as well as redefined the musical genre.
The post 289. Meet Me in St. Louis appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With his Palme d'Or winning masterpiece, Jacques Demy wove more than a musical. He delivered a socially relevant story worthy of tragic opera.
The post 288. The Umbrellas of Cherbourg appeared first on Steven Benedict.
As the US embraced Reaganomics and Hollywood found the formula for the modern blockbuster, Warren Beatty embarked on a project examining the origins of American communism.
The post 287. Reds appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The impact of Gillo Pontecorvo's masterpiece is so great that it extends far beyond cinema and into terrorist organisations, as well as the US Pentagon.
The post 286. The Battle of Algiers appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Woody Allen's romantic drama draws from unusual sources; the Great American Songbook, Italian opera and Russian literature.
The post 285. Hannah and her Sisters appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Long thought to be a satire on bourgeoise marriage, Luis Buñuel's masterpiece is really a study of the traumas suffered by a sexual assault victim.
The post 284. Belle de Jour appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With Frank Pierson's Oscar-winning script, Sidney Lumet's thriller is a masterclass in breaking the basic rules of screenwriting.
The post 283. Dog Day Afternoon appeared first on Steven Benedict.
All countries have troubled histories they would rather forget. The Leopard is a masterpiece that admits to those troubles as well as the failure to fix them.
The post 282. The Leopard appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Taxi Driver was written in ten days by first-time screenwriter, Paul Schrader as a means to exorcise his festering, masochistic, narcissistic anger.
The post 281. Taxi Driver appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The influence of Fritz Lang's Metropolis extends far beyond sci-fi and can be seen in films are varied as Casablanca, An American in Paris and The Birds.
The post 280. Metropolis appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Is Hitchcock's Vertigo really the greatest film ever made? Certainly, it is a compilation of his many themes and tropes, as well as a critique on cinema itself.
The post 279. Vertigo appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Reviled and banned upon its release, then feared lost forever, Jean Renoir's masterpiece stands today as a victory for liberalism.
The post 278. The Rules of the Game appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Are classics always instantly recognized? If ever there were proof that critics cannot assess a film’s merits on a single viewing, it is Ridley Scott's masterpiece.
The post 277. Blade Runner appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When it comes to making movies about making movies, many directors choose to venerate the medium. Not Jean-Luc Godard. He treats it with contempt.
The post 276. Le Mépris appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When we think of American cinema in the seventies, all too often we all too quickly think of the great directors. But what of the cinematograph-auteurs?
The post 275. Deliverance appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Francois Truffaut created the auteur theory, and with Day for Night he delivered a tribute to the art form without which he felt his life could not make sense.
The post 274. Day for Night appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The plot to Miller's Crossing is so complex, it's hard to even figure out where and when it is set. And that's before we discuss the meaning of Tom Reagan's hat.
The post 273. Miller’s Crossing appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Fellini's masterpiece is often described as a film about not being able to make a film. But really it is about responsibility, liability, lying, loving and living.
The post 272. 8 1/2 appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What makes for a great opening? Character? Conflict? Poetry? Hopefully, more than something we’re supposed to just listen to.
The post 271. Great Openings – Part Four appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When great art heralds great change, it often experiences a difficult birth. Bonnie and Clyde is a seminal moment in American film that almost never happened.
The post 270. Bonnie and Clyde appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What makes for a great opening? Character? Conflict? Poetry? Hopefully, more than something we’re supposed to just listen to.
The post 269. Great Openings – Part Three appeared first on Steven Benedict.
All boring films are alike; every great film is great in its own way. Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk belongs not just to the latter but amongst the greatest ever made.
The post 268. Dunkirk appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What makes for a great opening? Character? Conflict? Poetry? Hopefully, more than something we're supposed to just look at.
The post 267. Great Openings – Part Two appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The Oscar-winning Thelma & Louise was released in 1991 to a storm of controversy. Did it warrant it then and does it hold up to scrutiny now?
The post 266. Thelma & Louise appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What makes for a great opening? Character? Conflict? Poetry? Hopefully, more than something we're supposed to just look at.
The post 265. Great Openings – Part One appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Despite being labelled fascist and an insult to Britain, if... won the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1969. Almost half a century later, it still retains much of its power.
The post 264. if…. appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Why did Edmond Rostand base his play on a real-life historical figure, only to turn his writing talent into a tragedy?
The post 263. Cyrano de Bergerac appeared first on Steven Benedict.
There is only one time to tell Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale. Right now. Which means always.
The post 262. The Handmaid’s Tale appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Terrence Malick's first feature is not just one of the greatest debuts in the history of American cinema, Badlands also succeeded in redirecting screen violence.
The post 261. Badlands appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari's influence is so great it reaches far beyond horror and into sci-fi, thrillers, and historical romances.
The post 260. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari appeared first on Steven Benedict.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, George Lucas was an avant-garde filmmaker whose sole interest was in making highly experimental short films.
The post 259. THX-1138 appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Animation is not a genre, and not all cartoons are for children. So how did Hayao Miyazaki deliver a classic family film with so much adult content?
The post 258. Spirited Away appeared first on Steven Benedict.
It is incorrectly assumed that Steven Spielberg turned Stanley Kubrick's dark story into another of his child-friendly fantasies.
The post 257. A.I.: Artificial Intelligence appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Jean-Pierre Melville's masterpiece is so influential, even if you haven't seen it... you have seen it because you've seen dozens of films influenced by it.
The post 256. Le Samouraï appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Before it was adapted into a film, Cabaret was a memoir, a short story, a play and a Broadway musical. Released in 1972, it now serves as a history lesson.
The post 255. Cabaret appeared first on Steven Benedict.
5 Oscar nominations, 4 Cesar wins, 2 BAFTAs and over $170m at the global box office. So why does Amélie still manage to polarise audiences?
The post 254. Amélie appeared first on Steven Benedict.
If you need three things to make a good film; a good script, a good script and a good script, how did Nicolas Roeg make a masterpiece from just fourteen pages?
The post 253. Walkabout appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Once considered avant-garde, freeze-frame is now common place in every genre. Here are some of landmark and innovative uses of the technique.
The post 252. Freeze-Frame appeared first on Steven Benedict.
David Lean's enduring masterpiece is a rare breed; an epic but also a portrait that refuses to explain its enigmatic subject.
The post 251. Lawrence of Arabia appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Once considered avant-garde, slow-motion is now the mainstay of every action film. Here are some of the best and most innovative uses of the technique.
The post 250. Slow-Motion appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Once dismissed as The King of Kitsch, this masterpiece proved Pedro Almodovar was really a laureate of liberalism.
The post 249. All About My Mother appeared first on Steven Benedict.
All films begin at a keyboard. But whether the film is about screenwriters, journalists, novelists or composers, how does cinema depict the art of writing?
The post 248. Writers appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Ernest Hemingway hated what Hollywood did with his novels. The only film of his work he liked was this classic adaptation of his celebrated short story.
The post 247. The Killers (1946) appeared first on Steven Benedict.
If the dream sequence is a crutch for many dull thrillers, horrors and mysteries, what makes a good one? One that challenges and stretches cinematic language.
The post 246. Dreams appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Orson Welles is often referred to as a glistening talent who wasted his early promise. Touch of Evil, the last film he made in America, proves otherwise.
The post 245. Touch of Evil appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The world is so noisy, we unconsciously filter out all that we don't want to hear. Much of film sound operates in the same way.
The post 244. Great Sounds – Part Three appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The world is so noisy, we unconsciously filter out all that we don't want to hear. Much of film sound operates in the same way.
The post 243. Great Sounds – Part Two appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The world is so noisy, we unconsciously filter out all that we don't want to hear. Much of film sound operates in the same way.
The post 242. Great Sounds – Part One appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Philip K Dick was haunted by many dark visions of the future. None more frightening than his alternate-history from 1962.
The post 241. The Man in the High Castle appeared first on Steven Benedict.
John Huston's film of Dashiell Hammett's classic novel was the third adaptation. How did he succeed where others had failed?
The post 240. The Maltese Falcon appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Is Krzysztof Kieslowski's trilogy only about liberty, equality and fraternity? Look again and you'll find it also addresses fate, coincidence and co-existence.
The post 239. Three Colors appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What makes for a great shot? Beauty? The lens? Lighting? Combine them and you have more than just an image.
The post 238. Great Shots – Part Three appeared first on Steven Benedict.
On the surface Yasujiro Ozu's examination of family life in post-war Japan may sound simple, but what he delivered is one of cinema's supreme achievements.
The post 237. Tokyo Story appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What makes for a great shot? Beauty? The lens? Lighting? Combine them and you have more than just an image.
The post 236. Great Shots – Part Two appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In a career that spanned over sixty years, forty films and a dozen masterpieces, Persona is the most unusual film in Ingmar Bergman's canon.
The post 235. Persona appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What makes for a great shot? Beauty? The lens? Lighting? Combine them and you have more than just an image.
The post 234. Great Shots – Part One appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In terms of genre, few films are as influential film as Fritz Lang's M. Where would The French Connection, LA Confidential and Se7en be without it?
The post 233. “M” appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Best known for his crime dramas, Martin Scorsese's adaptation of Edith Wharton's romantic novel is one of his most incisive works.
The post 232. The Age of Innocence appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon is celebrated for asking what is truth. Which is more than a little ironic, because that's not what it is really about.
The post 231. Rashomon appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Roman Polanski's masterpiece is often called film noir. But lacking a dark look and a femme fatale, it's not. It's a very rare Hollywood breed; a true tragedy.
The post 230. Chinatown appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Few films are as layered as The Conformist. But whether you see it as an exercise in style, character study, or philosophical thesis, it's a flat out masterpiece.
The post 229. The Conformist appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Orson Welles is celebrated for Citizen Kane but it was this adaptation of Booth Tarkington's novel that defined his career.
The post 228. The Magnificent Ambersons appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Blue is the Warmest Color generated controversy with its love scenes. But at three hours long, there's more to it than that.
The post 227. Blue is the Warmest Color appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Robert Altman's best films capture cultures in transition. Nashville marked the moment politics and celebrity intermingled to create space for Donald Trump.
The post 226. Nashville appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Like many other cult classics, the French thriller Diva was almost still born. Rejected by the French critics and public, it only got a second lease of life in the US.
The post 225. Diva appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Orson Welles' debut feature is now a quarter of a century old. Have we been taking its greatness for granted or is it time for reappraisal?
The post 224. Citizen Kane appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Guillermo del Toro says he is "in love with monsters." In Pan's Labyrinth, set in the Spanish Civil War, he uses them to navigate history and the world.
The post 223. Pan’s Labyrinth appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In adapting Peter Moffat's original BBC series, Criminal Justice how did Steven Zaillian and Richard Price turn it from a legal thriller into a social drama?
The post 222. The Night Of appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Science-fiction sometimes predicts the future. Released a decade ago, Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men grows more prophetic as the years go by.
The post 221. Children of Men appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Adapted from Paolo Lin's non-fiction novel, director Fernando Meirelles cast non-actors to capture life, death and everything in-between in Rio's favelas.
The post 220. City of God appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With its progressive attitude toward gender and sexuality, is Alan J Pakula's 1971 film more a character study than it is a psychological thriller?
The post 219. Klute appeared first on Steven Benedict.
An unknown author, a director not known for action, and only one actor fluent in the language. How did this film succeed?
The post 218. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What makes for a great scene? Performance? Conflict? Dialogue? Visuals? Music? Combine them and you have atomic weight.
The post 217. Great Scenes – Part Three appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What makes for a great scene? Performance? Conflict? Dialogue? Visuals? Music? Combine them and you have atomic weight.
The post 216. Great Scenes – Part Two appeared first on Steven Benedict.
What makes for a great scene? Performance? Conflict? Dialogue? Visuals? Music? Combine them and you have atomic weight.
The post 215. Great Scenes – Part One appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Like the novel, Revolutionary Road so probed its subject audiences stayed away. Their loss. It is Sam Mendes' best film.
The post 214. Revolutionary Road appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Orson Welles was one of cinema's true geniuses but was he correct in claiming that two things cinema couldn't honestly depict were prayer and sex?
The post 213. Cinema Sex appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Beauty, Gangster, Hustle, Psycho, Sniper. With so many films using "American" in their title, is the appellation losing its significance?
The post 212. American … What? appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Chodleros De Laclos’ novel has inspired plays, operas and ballets. But none match the debauched panache of Stephen Frears' film.
The post 211. Dangerous Liaisons appeared first on Steven Benedict.
If writers are told to write from experience, is Charlie Kaufman's adaptation of Susan Orlean's non-fiction book not really Kaufman's autobiography?
The post 210. Adaptation. appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Thirty-five years old, Spielberg's classic was inspired by more than just the Saturday matinee serials he watched as a child.
The post 209. Raiders of the Lost Ark appeared first on Steven Benedict.
William Friedkin's Oscar-winner may be a gritty thriller but it owes an enormous debt to a classic of 19th century American literature.
The post 208. The French Connection appeared first on Steven Benedict.
"Show me the money." "Shut up, you had me at hello." For such a quotable film, Jerry Maguire's most important line is "Fewer clients. Less money."
The post 207. Jerry Maguire appeared first on Steven Benedict.
We like to think of ourselves as modern and sophisticated, but is the humour of Blazing Saddles too outrageous for anyone in Hollywood to make it today?
The post 206. Blazing Saddles appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When released in 1996, Fargo was seen as the Coen brothers' breakthrough film. As the years roll by it has increasingly become a lynch pin in their canon.
The post 205. Fargo appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The films that really changed the course of cinema are often ones few people have seen.
The post 204. The Most Influential Films Ever Made – Part Two appeared first on Steven Benedict.
While cinema has a moral duty to bear witness to history, the problem is that to witness something you have to see it. How can you show the Holocaust?
The post 203. Son of Saul appeared first on Steven Benedict.
He died in 1616 but the fact that over four hundred films have been made from his plays shows how much The Bard knew about human nature.
The post 202. #Shakespeare400 appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The films that really changed the course of cinema are often the ones few people have seen.
The post 201. The Most Influential Films Ever Made – Part One appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Francis Ford Coppola’s radical adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novella is one of the most astonishing achievements in the entire history of cinema.
The post 200. Apocalypse Now appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Mention Se7en and chances are talk will lead to the head in the box. But while that makes the ending so unforgettable, it’s also the film's biggest problem.
The post 199. Se7en appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In his Poetics, Aristotle wrote that drama needs a unity of space, time and action. How does cinema deal with such restrictions?
The post 198. Reel Space/Time – Part Two appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In his Poetics, Aristotle wrote that drama needs a unity of space, time and action. How does cinema deal with such restrictions?
The post 197. Reel Space/Time – Part One appeared first on Steven Benedict.
David Lynch’s shocking and mesmerising look at suburbia’s underbelly also showed he could turn popular music into a nightmare.
The post 196. Blue Velvet appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Critics often chide Steven Spielberg for inappropriate optimism and not knowing when to end his films. They should reconsider Minority Report.
The post 195. Minority Report appeared first on Steven Benedict.
This Oscar winning adaptation of Woodward and Bernstein's book is one of the great masterpieces of American cinema.
The post 194. All The President’s Men appeared first on Steven Benedict.
James Cameron took a risk in tackling a sequel to Ridley Scott's Alien. But his follow-up added other elements to the sci-fi/horror: action, adventure and all out war.
The post 193. Aliens appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Emily Brontë's novel has been filmed over 25 times. Is there a line between radical interpretation and reckless desecration?
The post 192. Wuthering Heights appeared first on Steven Benedict.
GoodFellas is more than just a breathless tale of middle-management in the Mafia. It's one of Martin Scorsese’s many films in which he seeks enlightenment.
The post 191. GoodFellas appeared first on Steven Benedict.
One of the most original screenplays to ever emerge from Hollywood, this seriously funny comedy ponders the very meaning of our existence.
The post 190. Groundhog Day appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Blighted with massacres since Biblical times, the word genocide was not coined until 1944. How has cinema faired in depicting it?
The post 189. Genocide in Cinema appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Major Tom, Ziggy Stardust or The Thin White Duke. Who was David Bowie is the wrong question to ask. Much better to ponder on what he made and why.
The post 188. David Bowie appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Originally pitched as a simple story of revenge, under Alejandro Inarritu's direction The Revenant became a journey of spiritual release.
The post 187. The Revenant appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Spotlight is more than just an investigation into the child abuse scandals that riddled Boston's Archdiocese. It is an examination of the institutions we create.
The post 186. Spotlight appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The story of Gerry and Giuseppe Conlon is one of injustice, but it is also a unique retelling of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio.
The post 185. In the Name of the Father appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The rom-com goes back to 300BC. Since then, four major categories have emerged with Ron Reiner's classic being one of the best.
The post 184. When Harry met Sally… appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In adapting Emma Donoghue's award-winning novel, Lenny Abrahamson extends a cinematic tradition established by French master, Robert Bresson.
The post 183. Room appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Made in 1944, Gaslight is an Oscar-winning melodrama concerning madness and murder. The film itself is guilty of attempted homicide.
The post 182. Gaslight appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Mixing social history, European art film and a British melodrama, Wong Kar-wai delivered a masterpiece of aching beauty.
The post 181. In the Mood for Love appeared first on Steven Benedict.
To call David Lynch a surrealist is to misses the point. This masterpiece proved he is one of cinema's great humanists.
The post 180. The Elephant Man appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Steven Soderbergh's drama is fifteen years old but came of age the instant it was released because it dared to reimagine the war on drugs.
The post 179. Traffic appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Once dismissed as parochial and passé, the influence of David Lean's classic can be seen in such unlikely places as The Third Man, The Godfather and Carol.
The post 178. Brief Encounter appeared first on Steven Benedict.
This film has two men talking. However, its strength lies in the way it uses sound to tell us one thing while showing us another.
The post 177. The King’s Speech appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How do you make a film relating your experiences of the Islamic Revolution in Iran? If you're Marjane Satrapi you use animation to tackle the subject.
The post 176. Persepolis appeared first on Steven Benedict.
It may have been controversial when it was released twenty years ago, but if ever there were a need for such a film it is right now.
The post 175. The People vs. Larry Flynt appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How well did Philip Kaufman succeed in adapting Milan Kundera's 'unfilmable' philosophical love story?
The post 174. The Unbearable Lightness of Being appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How do you make a film about a character who can neither move nor speak, but can only blink his left eye?
The post 173. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Divorce is traumatic enough we hardly need to laugh at it. But this deliciously dark comedy brought career highs from all involved.
The post 172. The War of the Roses appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Adapting James Grady's straight forward thriller, Sydney Pollack delivered a commentary on dehumanising institutions.
The post 171. Three Days of the Condor appeared first on Steven Benedict.
John Ford made so many great westerns, he is synonymous with the genre. But that doesn't mean he always got everything right.
The post 170. My Darling Clementine appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When a filmmaker enters the realm of autobiography, the result is all too often soaked in nostalgia. Bruce Robinson's Withnail & I is fermented in fine wine.
The post 169. Withnail and I appeared first on Steven Benedict.
He was called The Master of Suspense (a title he coined himself), but for all the thrills did Alfred Hitchcock not make rom-coms wrapped inside mysteries?
The post 168. Rear Window appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Jonathan Glazer's film is one of the most assured debuts in cinema history. But the film has another entrance that also stands with the best of them.
The post 167. Sexy Beast appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When it comes to America's military intervention in South East Asia, David Puttnam's Oscar winner is the anomaly. Less a war picture, it's more a love story.
The post 166. The Killing Fields appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Is it possible to put a new twist on a formula as old as the rom-com? Getting Amy Schumer to write the script and Judd Apatow to direct certainly gives you a head start.
The post 165. Trainwreck appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Adapted from Loren Singer's poorly reviewed best seller, Alan J. Pakula's conspiracy thriller is a classic of assured pacing and paranoia.
The post 164. The Parallax View appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Inside Out may reveal the the emotional turmoil going on within a young girl's mind, but a closer look will show you the secret workings inside Pixar Studios.
The post 163. Inside Out appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Whether it be theatre, film or TV, all stories need good plots and performances. But what elevated True Detective Season 1 to the status of classic was its structure.
The post 162. True Detective appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Until 1964, Stanley Kubrick had suffered years of set-backs, disappointments and frustration. But he made his reputation with this satire on nuclear war.
The post 161. Dr. Strangelove appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Asif Kapadia's extraordinary documentary makes for uncomfortable viewing, not least because he doesn't only focus on the flaws of the tragic singer.
The post 160. Amy appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With content pretty much always the same, what elevates one concert movie above others is not just the quality of the music, it is also the film’s form.
The post 159. The Concert Film appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How can Howard Hawks' adaptation of Raymond Chandler's labyrinthine detective novel be heralded as a classic when it is impossible to follow?
The post 158. The Big Sleep appeared first on Steven Benedict.
For all the fun stories and anecdotes about how the shark didn't work, none of them help explain how Steven Spielberg managed to deliver a masterpiece.
The post 157. Jaws appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With six Oscars, five WGAs, a DGA and the Palme d'Or, Billy Wilder’s career was so blazing you’d be forgiven for saying, “Well, somebody’s perfect.”
The post 156. The Apartment appeared first on Steven Benedict.
If jazz really is the authentic American art form, why are there so few great jazz movies? No matter, at least there are dozens of great jazz soundtracks.
The post 155. Jazz in Film appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Sidney Lumet hadn't read Barry Reed's novel when he brought it to the screen. Instead, he let David Mamet's masterful screenplay be his guide.
The post 154. The Verdict appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Christopher Nolan's time-warping mind-bending classic left many audiences very confused. But the director left more than enough clues to make sense of it.
The post 153. Memento appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Most action films are fuelled by testosterone. But Fury Road has so much estrogen coursing in its engines, let's call it Mad Maxine.
The post 152. Mad Max: Fury Road appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Nicolas Winding Refn's film focuses on Ryan Gosling's nameless getaway driver. But its best scene involves a vehicle of an entirely different kind.
The post 151. Drive appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With this Oscar winning classic, David Lean stopped being an 'English filmmaker' and became an 'international star director'.
The post 150. The Bridge on the River Kwai appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How did New York's Peter Bogdanovich make a masterpiece set in small town Texas when he had never set foot in the state?
The post 149. The Last Picture Show appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Some of the best films have so much plot they are very difficult to sum up. Others give you too little. Barry Levinson's classic serves you french fries and gravy.
The post 148. Diner appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Of all the genres, the courtroom is perhaps the one most beset by clichés. So is there any evidence for a few masterpieces?
The post 147. The Case for the Courtroom Drama appeared first on Steven Benedict.
There have been four adaptations of Jack Finney's novel. But what new angle could you bring to the classic sci-fi allegory?
The post 146. Invasion of the Body Snatchers appeared first on Steven Benedict.
To make a masterpiece about greed, media manipulation and McCarthyism, you hire a director whose background is in comedy.
The post 145. Sweet Smell of Success appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The Searchers is both a cinematic monument and an extremely unsettling depiction of the racism that lies at the heart of America's own mythology.
The post 144. The Searchers appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The legend has endured for 500 years and Hollywood has filmed it a dozen times. But Errol Flynn is still the only Robin Hood.
The post 143. The Adventures of Robin Hood appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With Ferris Bueller, John Hughes forged an icon of teenage freedom. But pay close attention and the film is not about Ferris.
The post 142. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Sergio Leone's masterpiece doesn't only reference American westerns. He also drew inspiration from an English film.
The post 141. Once Upon a Time in the West appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How do you make a film about Marxism, sexual oppression and Nazis? Set the whole thing in an Argentinean prison.
The post 140. Kiss of the Spider Woman appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Repulsion was Roman Polanski's first film he made after defecting from communist Poland. Its depiction of mental disintegration is also his first masterpiece.
The post 139. Repulsion appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When Paddy Chayefsky set out to write Network, his aim was to satirise the medium that had given him his start. What he gave cinema was a tragic opera.
The post 138. Network appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Earning 5 Oscar nominations and $600m around the globe, the success (and controversy) of Fatal Attraction should be squarely laid at the feet of its producers.
The post 137. Fatal Attraction appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Clint Eastwood's latest film has earned 6 Oscar nominations and is breaking box-office records. But does it deserve all the controversy it is generating?
The post 136. American Sniper appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With 5 Oscar nominations, Damien Chazelle's dynamic debut is about jazz, right? Think again. Think it is about an abusive teacher? Think again.
The post 135. Whiplash appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The publicity will tell you that Foxcatcher is about wrestling. But like all great directors, Bennett Miller uses his subject as a metaphor for something else.
The post 134. Foxcatcher appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Alejandro Iñárritu's brilliant new film pretends to be about an actor trying to escape his comic-book alter ego. But really it's about our need to escape our own egos.
The post 133. Birdman appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Joan Crawford's portrayal of martyred mother Mildred Pierce is the stuff of legend. It not only won her an Oscar but provided her with a career defining role.
The post 132. Mildred Pierce appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Nature sank the luxury liner, but as his $200m production spiralled out of control it was James Cameron who proved himself to be unsinkable.
The post 131. Titanic appeared first on Steven Benedict.
If you want to change television, stop people watching it. That is just one of the many tricks behind this great adaptation of Michael Dobbs's best-selling novels.
The post 130. House of Cards appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Released in 1996, Trainspotting was accused of promoting drug abuse. But really, it was a much needed shot in the arm for British cinema.
The post 129. Trainspotting appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Although Wim Wenders' picture won the Palme d'Or at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival, a lot of American critics thought little of it. Has time proven them wrong?
The post 128. Paris, Texas appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Without question, Mike Nichols was one of America's most feted entertainers. But how did he manage to break new ground and tell such compelling stories?
The post 127. Mike Nichols appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In a career featuring several masterpieces, Raging Bull is considered Martin Scorsese's greatest achievement. But what did he achieve in making it?
The post 126. Raging Bull appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Out of Sight is about second chances and it helped the three main players; Steven Soderbergh, George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez to relaunch their careers.
The post 125. Out of Sight appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Just how do Disney keep making such enormous hits? The elements of Frozen give away a very big clue: films for women about women supporting women.
The post 124. Frozen appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Because The Terminator is not about a cyborg but a resilient woman, James Cameron's landmark film presented him as a unique feminist.
The post 123. The Terminator appeared first on Steven Benedict.
It took Jonathan Glazer over ten years to bring Under the Skin to the screen, but with that long gestation he might just have delivered the film of the decade.
The post 122. Under The Skin appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Adapted from Gillian Flynn's best-selling thriller, David Fincher's film keeps its most surprising twist until the final shot. And it's not what you think.
The post 121. Gone Girl appeared first on Steven Benedict.
It's called The Fabulous Baker Boys, but it was Michelle Pfeiffer's Oscar nominated performance that earned the film its adjective.
The post 120. The Fabulous Baker Boys appeared first on Steven Benedict.
You can divide Hollywood rom-coms into two eras; before and after Annie Hall. The film also marked the arrival of one of America's most individual artists.
The post 119. Annie Hall appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Just how long does it take to write an Oscar-winning screenplay? In the case of Witness, it was 13 years. But how many drafts did it take and how many writers?
The post 118. Witness appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to launch their acting careers, the studio wanted Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.
The post 117. Good Will Hunting appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When it was released, Fight Club was rubbished by critics and rejected by audiences. Now it's regarded as a masterpiece. So what changed people's minds?
The post 116. Fight Club appeared first on Steven Benedict.
David Lean's film of Boris Pasternack's Nobel Prize Winning Novel whittled the sprawling epic down to a simple love story. Was it successful?
The post 115. Doctor Zhivago appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Robin Williams was a force of nature the likes of which cinema had never seen. But what drove him to those incredible heights and then to the ultimate depth?
The post 114. Robin Williams appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Neil Jordan won an Oscar for his script, but only after every studio had turned him down saying his story was uncommercial, offensive and the characters unsympathetic.
The post 113. The Crying Game appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Belonging to a tradition that dates back to Rebel Without a Cause, Richard Linklater's early masterpiece also owes some debt of gratitude to Robert Altman.
The post 112. Dazed and Confused appeared first on Steven Benedict.
20 years after its release, it is startling to see how original Pulp Fiction still is. Ironic considering it was inspired by and borrowed from so many other films.
The post 111. Pulp Fiction appeared first on Steven Benedict.
A box-office flop in 1994, Frank Darabont's adaptation of Stephen King's novella is proof that some films deserve a second chance.
The post 110. The Shawshank Redemption appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Heaven's Gate was such a flop, it sank a studio. But in the years since its release, its reputation has been growing. Is it the masterpiece some people claim?
The post 109. Heaven’s Gate appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince the world he didn't exist. Is this the greatest heist movie ever made?
The post 108. The Usual Suspects appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Wes Anderson may share his surname with other directors, but there's no mistaking his films for anybody elses.
The post 107. The Grand Budapest Hotel appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Tootsie tackled 1980s' chauvanism by disguising a man as a woman. Hilarious as it was, the tradition can be traced as far back as Homer's Illiad.
The post 106. Tootsie appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Is this film about amnesia or is it about déjà vu? Either way, Charlie Kaufman's script which focuses on memory is a true original.
The post 105. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Based on Jim Thompson's grimey story about smalltime criminals, Stephen Frears' film was robbed when it didn't win a single Oscar from its four nominations.
The post 104. The Grifters appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The 1960 adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel was already so revered, was Anthony Minghella wise to try a new version?
The post 103. The Talented Mr. Ripley appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Most movies about moviemaking are little more than trite tributes. Are there any that go beyond the surface of the silver screen?
The post 102. Movies about Movies appeared first on Steven Benedict.
He has made only 3 feature films, but with each of them being a masterpieces Steve McQueen is now one of the world's leading filmmakers.
The post 101. 12 Years a Slave appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Gravity was one of last year's biggest hits ($650m). But how much of that is due to critics giving it 98% approval? Is word of mouth more valuable?
The post 100. Critics or Crickets appeared first on Steven Benedict.
He may make blockbusters, but Christopher Nolan's tastes lean more to art house cinema. So what are his films really about?
The post 99. Christopher Nolan’s Mementos appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Peter Weir: 6 Oscar nominations, no wins. No other living director has been so denied the statuette. Does it matter?
The post 98. Peter Weir – Master and Commander appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Lyrical language and elliptical plotting can work in a novel, but not necessarily in cinema. Does The English Patient succeed?
The post 97. The English Patient appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Aaron Sorkin's script is lauded as dazzling. But a script is more than just dialogue, and that's why Sorkin's is so great.
The post 96. The Social Network appeared first on Steven Benedict.
A lot of people don't like this because it beat Saving Private Ryan to the Best Picture Oscar. Is the prejudice justified?
The post 95. Shakespeare in Love appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Oliver Stone's JFK was lambasted by both the political left and right for its factual inaccuracies. But since very few can agree on the facts, is it a good movie?
The post 94. JFK appeared first on Steven Benedict.
If it was originally called The Man Who Came To Play and took place in a Las Vegas casino, how did the story end up taking place in Vietnam during the war?
The post 93. The Deer Hunter appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Originally called The Bride and The Wolf, Moonstruck is as much about irritability, irrationality and mortality as it is about romance. Is that what makes it so good?
The post 92. Moonstruck appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Writer-director, Jane Campion made history in 1993 when she became the first woman to win the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
The post 91. The Piano appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Producer Irwin Yablans originally called it The Baby-Sitter Murders, and put up $325,000. Under John Carpenter's direction, Halloween made over $70m.
The post 90. Halloween appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The Truman Show may credit its story as an original screenplay, but it is uncannily similar to several sci-fi TV shows from as far back as the 60s.
The post 89. The Truman Show appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With Steve McQueen in the title role, a legendary car-chase and a score by Lalo Schifrin, Peter Yates' Bullitt still oozes as much cool now as it did in 1968.
The post 88. Bullitt appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Great filmmakers have recurring themes and styles, but Anderson is unique because he continually explores new themes and styles.
The post 87. The Master, Paul Thomas Anderson appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Akin to a 70s' conspiracy thriller, Michael Clayton is also a character study with strong turns from George Clooney, Tilda Swinton and Tom Wilkinson.
The post 86. Michael Clayton appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The studios didn't like the script and no one wanted to play the heroic Treasury Agent, Eliot Ness. So how did The Untouchables turn out to be such a success?
The post 85. The Untouchables appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Regarded as a poet of cinema, Terrence Malick's films have rarely connected with audiences. Has he been ahead of his time or is he now running out of it?
The post 84. Days of Heaven appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Kathryn Bigelow did not just make history when she became the first woman to win an Oscar for directing. She also made a landmark war film.
The post 83. The Hurt Locker appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How do you cast a movie star in a story about a Princess who does not want to be a Princess? You cast an unknown. Ladies and Gentlemen, Audrey Hepburn.
The post 82. Roman Holiday appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Ian McEwan's novel was always going to be a tough nut to crack, but Joe Wright and Christopher Hampton delivered a modern classic of a tragic tale.
The post 81. Atonement appeared first on Steven Benedict.
This 1939 children's classic, starring Judy Garland is one of Hollywood’s most enduring pictures. But is there more to it than a pair of ruby slippers?
The post 80. The Wizard of Oz appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When is a remake not a remake? When is a re-imagining not a reboot? And most pertinent, when are any of them ever any good?
The post 79. Remakes or Mis-takes? appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, George Lucas built his own cinema empire. But American Graffiti, made in his hometown is his masterpiece.
The post 78. American Graffiti appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Stanley Kubrick's most awarded film is the one that Martin Scorsese says was his best. Ridley Scott worships it. So why is it so seldom seen?
The post 77. Barry Lyndon appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With a story based around ABBA songs, and a stage musical that had rung up over $1b in sales, Mamma Mia! was always going to be a hit.
The post 76. Mamma Mia! appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How much does the Pentagon help Hollywood? Is Hollywood just the Pentagon's mouthpiece?
The post 75. The Military-Entertainment Complex appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When it comes to history, we are told that Hollywood always make mistakes. But could it be that it's the historians who get it wrong?
The post 74. Hollywood’s History Lesson appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The very definition of 'landmark film', without it would there be no Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story or even Avatar.
The post 73. Who Framed Roger Rabbit appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The students of Welton College carried their English teacher around the yard, shoulder high. Is this a fair reflection of school, or is it another Hollywood fantasy?
The post 72. Dead Poets Society appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With young audiences off from school, Hollywood knows there is more money to be made in the summer than at any other time.
The post 71. The Summer Blockbuster appeared first on Steven Benedict.
"Here's looking at you, kid." Casablanca has more quotable lines than any other movie, but it's the visual design that gives the film its thematic resonance.
The post 70. Casablanca appeared first on Steven Benedict.
All industries need profits to survive. So why do so many Hollywood films castigate wealth and capitalism?
The post 69. Money, Money, Money appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When it comes to cinema, many people consider black & white as old. Yet the same people also consider it beautiful. Surely black & white is more than that?
The post 68. Black & White appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Based on a 1971 best-selling novel that was inspired by a real-life case of demonic possession said to have occurred in 1949, is this really the scariest film ever made?
The post 67. The Exorcist appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Ken Kesey's story of social oppression was inspired by the CIA program, MKUltra. Did the film retain the novel's rage?
The post 66. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Before the Devil wore Prada, there was Working Girl, a fairytale in New York about big hair, big shoulder pads and even bigger dreams.
The post 65. Working Girl appeared first on Steven Benedict.
007 is more than just dry martinis, guns, gadgets and product placement. His best contribution to cinema is the Set-Piece.
The post 64. James Bond & the Art of the Set-Piece appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How important is a film's title? Would this film have been such a huge hit had it been called Girls In Big White Dresses?
The post 63. Four Weddings and a Funeral appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Some films generate controversy, but Alan Parker's Angel Heart was creating quite a stir even before it was released. Was it worth the trouble?
The post 62. Angel Heart appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Released in 1955, The Night of the Hunter was greeted with scorn by critics and ignored by audiences. How wrong they were.
The post 61. The Night of the Hunter appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When Amadeus was initially released the trailer was given a near saturation run on MTV, presenting the composer as the punk of his day.
The post 60. Amadeus appeared first on Steven Benedict.
By no means the first teen-drama, The Breakfast Club is not just a landmark film for teenagers. It's essential viewing for adults and teachers as well.
The post 59. The Breakfast Club appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Jane Austen's readers zealously protect her novels from filmmakers. Does their pride prejudice or benefit the films?
The post 58. Jane Austen in Film appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With 4 Oscars and over $548m at the box-office, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid remains the most popular western ever made.
The post 57. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Originally, surrealism set out to shock. But it has become such a normal element in cinema, has it lost its original power?
The post 56. Surrealism in Cinema appeared first on Steven Benedict.
How did this film, adapted from Annie Proulx's acclaimed short story and initially categorized as 'the gay cowboy' movie, go on to gross over $180m worldwide?
The post 55. Brokeback Mountain appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The Graduate has long been regarded only in terms of Benjamin Braddock’s affair with Mrs. Robinson. But what does it tell us about Elaine Robinson?
The post 54. The Graduate appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Brazil is Terry Gilliam's masterpiece. But when he first showed it to the studio, they didn't know what to make of it. So they decided not to release it.
The post 53. Brazil appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Originally intended to run at four and a half hours, Sergio Leone's gangster epic suffered greatly at the hands of its distributors.
The post 52. Once Upon a Time in America appeared first on Steven Benedict.
James Fenimore Cooper's novel has been adapted to the cinema screen nine times. How does Michael Mann's version fare?
The post 51. The Last of the Mohicans appeared first on Steven Benedict.
LA Confidential is adapted from James Ellroy's highly regarded crime novel that spans seven scandalous years in the life of Los Angeles.
The post 50. LA Confidential appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Half a century old, how well is John Frankenheimer's adaptation of Richard Condon's best-selling conspiracy thriller holding up?
The post 49. The Manchurian Candidate appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Alfred Hitchcock was not the only person who could adapt Daphne Du Maurier's work to the screen. In fact, you could argue Nicolas Roeg did it best.
The post 48. Don’t Look Now appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Edith Head was one of cinema's greatest costume designers. Here we discuss her work and explore the relationship between fashion and film.
The post 47. Fashion in Film appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Four actresses received Oscar nominations for their performances in All About Eve. Great script, great acting... but a great movie?
The post 46. All About Eve appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Steven Spielberg is one of Hollywood's most influential filmmakers ever, so what accounts for his phenomenal success?
The post 45. Spielberg & Friends appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The origins of Rob Reiner's great movie have long been disputed. Here we try to unravel who really wrote the novel on which it is based.
The post 44. The Princess Bride appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The Bourne Trilogy was a shot in the arm to the action genre and each new installment raised the expectation as to what an action picture can do and say.
The post 43. The Bourne Trilogy appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Despite his many box-office successes, critics did not hold Tony Scott in high regard. With the sad news of his death, we offer a re-evaluation of his work.
The post 42. Tony Scott appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Humphrey Cobb’s novel was not shown in France for three decades and despite the passing years, it still has the power to shock.
The post 41. Paths of Glory appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Blake Edwards' adaptation of Truman Capote's novella has an enduring appeal but is far removed from its literary source.
The post 40. Breakfast at Tiffany’s appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Sunset Blvd. tasted like very black coffee when it was released in 1950 and if anything, Billy Wilder's classic tale has only darkened over the years.
The post 39. Sunset Blvd. appeared first on Steven Benedict.
On its release in 1952, High Noon was seen as an allegory for the McCarthy witch-hunts, but as each new year passes older themes continue to emerge.
The post 38. High Noon appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Robocop is now a quarter of a century old. With a remake soon to be released, we ask is Paul Verhoeven’s original beginning to rust?
The post 37. Robocop appeared first on Steven Benedict.
James Ivory, Ismail Merchant and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala had been collaborating for decades when, in 1986 they delivered this mini-gem.
The post 36. A Room with a View appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Nora Ephron left behind a formidable legacy of films. While most of them were romantic comedies, her impact was wider than just one genre.
The post 35. Nora Ephron appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Spike Lee's joint was the hottest movie of 1989 and marked him as a major director. The years since have not diminished its power.
The post 34. Do The Right Thing appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece stands as a landmark western, announcing as it did the beginning of the end to the quintessential American genre.
The post 33. The Wild Bunch appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The Fab Four's legacy is legion; their songs have lived for over half a century. But how has their music fared on the silver screen?
The post 32. The Beatles on Film appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Double Indemnity boasts some pedigree; Billy Wilder directing a script he co-wrote with Raymond Chandler that they adapted from a book by James M. Cain.
The post 31. Double Indemnity appeared first on Steven Benedict.
In the Heat of the Night was one of the landmark films of late 60s' Hollywood, confronting head on the bigotry of the Deep South.
The post 30. In the Heat of the Night appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The Coen Brothers won the Palme d'Or at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival with this sardonic look at Hollywood. But is that what it is really about?
The post 29. Barton Fink appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Max Steiner's credits include some of the most popular films of all time. And while his influence is still heard today, his mentors echo down from the 19th century.
The post 28. Max Steiner appeared first on Steven Benedict.
A surprise hit in 1981, Chariots of Fire was nominated for 7 Oscars including Best Picture, Original Screenplay, Score and Costume Design. Does it still have legs?
The post 27. Chariots of Fire appeared first on Steven Benedict.
A landmark of British cinema from 1947, this frightening psychological drama involves a group of English nuns living high in the Himalayas.
The post 26. Black Narcissus appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The original Scarface was released in 1932. In 1983, Brian De Palma directed Al Pacino in an update scripted by Oliver Stone. Are 'remakes' always bad?
The post 25. Scarface appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Voice-over is often used to seal up the cracks in a story. But used well, it can enhance a story and make sure that it is told in a way that is uniquely cinematic.
The post 24. Voice-Over in Film appeared first on Steven Benedict.
When a great novel is adapted to the screen, due reverence can be ruinous. Did Robert Mulligan's film of Harper Lee's do it justice?
The post 23. To Kill a Mockingbird appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With so many faiths being practiced in America, Hollywood knows better than to show people praying. As a result, 'religion' is found in some unexpected places.
The post 22. Religion in Film appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Oscars are awarded to the 'best' of each year, but is excellence the real reason why the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was first established?
The post 21. The Oscars appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Rosemary's Baby was controversial before it was made. Inspired by a real-life Satanist, a sinister aura has hung around it ever since its release in 1968.
The post 20. Rosemary’s Baby appeared first on Steven Benedict.
The first trailer dates from 1912 and ever since then, they have been carefully refined to make sure that they attract the right audience.
The post 19. Trailers appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Cameron Crowe was 16 when he went on tour with the likes of Led Zeppelin, The Who and Iggy Pop. But in recounting the tales, Crowe turned to a most unusual source.
The post 18. Almost Famous appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Sideways is more than just a funny, sad and honest study of encroaching middle-age and desperation. It's also about the search for the perfect Pinot Noir.
The post 17. Sideways appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Quentin Tarantino exploded onto the screen 20 years ago and in the time since, he has had but one crucial collaborator; his editor Sally Menke.
The post 16. Reservoir Dogs appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Synchronized sound arrived in 1927. But the theaters were far from silent before that and perhaps something was lost with the coming of the new technology.
The post 15. Silent Cinema appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Based on a short story no one would publish, It's a Wonderful Life is a seasonal favourite with a surprisingly dark tone.
The post 14. It’s a Wonderful Life appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Oliver Stone spent over a decade trying to make a film based on his experiences in Vietnam. Financed on a shoestring, Platoon won four Oscars including Best Picture.
The post 13. Platoon appeared first on Steven Benedict.
'Dirty Harry and the homicidal maniac. Harry's the one with the badge.' With a tag-line like that, no wonder the film has been the subject of controversy.
The post 12. Dirty Harry appeared first on Steven Benedict.
From Toy Story and Finding Nemo to Wall-E and Up, Pixar Animation seem to have the midas touch. What is the secret behind their success?
The post 11. Pixar Animation appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Robert Altman was one of the great mavericks of American cinema. But even iconoclasts have to stand for something, so what did Altman believe in?
The post 10. Robert Altman appeared first on Steven Benedict.
With over 400 film scores, Ennio Morricone has worked across many genres and with many of directors, yet has maintained his own inimitable sound.
The post 9. Ennio Morricone appeared first on Steven Benedict.
This adaptation of Henry James's novella has influenced a host of chillers from Rosemary's Baby and The Shining, to The Others and Shutter Island.
The post 8. The Innocents appeared first on Steven Benedict.
A Broadway smash, West Side Story may have borrowed its plot from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet but the film itself drew inspiration from somewhere else.
The post 7. West Side Story appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Robert Rossen took Walter Tevis' little read novel and turned Fast Eddie's character from a pool shark into a metaphor for a broken artist hoping to find redemption.
The post 6. The Hustler appeared first on Steven Benedict.
As far back as World War II, Hollywood cinema has assisted in promoting American foreign policy. How has it responded to the 9/11 atrocities?
The post 5. Terrorism in Film appeared first on Steven Benedict.
John Boorman's first film in America brought a very distinctive and European look to the hardened Hollywood gangster genre.
The post 4. Point Blank appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Under Rob Reiner's direction, William Goldman's script excised all of the supernatural elements of of Stephen King's short story and became a surprise hit in 1986.
The post 3. Stand By Me appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Sidney Lumet left behind a body of work comparable to the likes of Scorsese, Coppola and Altman. So why wasn't he given them same recognition?
The post 2. Sidney Lumet appeared first on Steven Benedict.
Credits used to simply announce the names of those involved. But then someone came up with the idea of making them part of the story itself.
The post 1. Credits appeared first on Steven Benedict.