Gene Hackman just turned 90 (!!), which seems like an opportune moment to look back on his career—or more specifically, his role as one of the essential figures of the New Hollywood. Hackman appeared in a full two dozen movies from 1967 to 1976, including some of the most important films of the movement. Although…
The Academy Awards are just around the corner, and we will watch them—hopefully this year’s show will be a good one. Truth be told, it rarely is, but they can feature some special moments: deeply moving speeches (usually these involve tributes to mentors and inspirations, as opposed to agents and children), incidents of genuine spontaneity…
Buck Henry left us this week. He was a person of considerable accomplishment, as detailed in a fine New York Times obituary and this terrific long form overview/interview, but for all of us at Mid Century Cinema, he will be remembered as an essential participant in the New Hollywood—and an exemplar of its ethos. This…
And once again it is that time of year – the season of “best of” lists – and our now-three-year tradition is to play along with a selection of our favorite home video releases. A reminder of the ground rules: this is an appreciation of home video releases, not favorite movies, so the list leans…
As you may have heard, legendary director Martin Scorsese shared some thoughts about the current crop of blockbuster films based on comic book superheroes. “That’s not cinema,” he stated. “As well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances,” they are more analogous to “theme parks” than any other…
Last night the entire staff here at Mid Century Cinema assembled in the screening room to watch Theo Angelopoulos’ The Weeping Meadow—and with that, we have seen them all. But we were not there simply on account of our completist fetish. Rather, in previous discussions we have described what we want from the movies—something to…
Mid Century Cinema favorite Olivier Assayas is at the New York Film Festival with his latest, Wasp Network, which arrives on heels of last year’s Non Fiction. Despite the efforts of our talented internet liaison, Wasp Network sold out before we could order tickets. But all was not lost, as an additional event was subsequently…
We have always had a soft spot for North Dallas Forty, which opened on August 3, 1979. So as it hits middle age, a brief appreciation here—not to make the case for the movie as an overlooked masterpiece or something, but as a really fine (and entertaining) film worth taking seriously. Outwardly a raucous sports…
As many of our general readers know, we are somewhat wary of the internet here at Mid Century Cinema—seeing as how it has contributed to the end of civilization and all that. Nevertheless, here we are, and splashing around the shallow end of the social media pool one lazy summer day introduced us to the…
It has been twenty years since the release of Eyes Wide Shut, the final film of Stanley Kubrick, one of Mid Century Cinema’s favorite directors. Based on a 1926 novella by Arthur Schnitzler, Kubrick transposed the story from turn-of-the-century Vienna to contemporary New York City—but with the exception of adding the pivotal character Victor Ziegler…