Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922)
Directed by: Benjamin Christensen
Starring: Astrid Holm, Clara Pontoppidan, Benjamin Christensen
Rated: NR (Suggested PG-13 for Thematic Elements and Partial Nudity)
Running Time: 1 h 44 m
TMM Score: 5 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Influence, Inventiveness, Structure, Themes
WEAKNESSES: Pacing, Small Target Audience
A silent era documentary concerning medieval beliefs about witchcraft.
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Nashville (1975)
Directed by: Robert Altman
Starring: Keith Carradine, Karen Black, Ronee Blakley, Shelley Duvall, Robert DoQui, Ned Beatty, Lily Tomlin, Barbara Harris, Jeff Goldblum
Rated: R
Running Time: 2 h 40 m
TMM Score: 5 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Writing, Directing, Acting, Satire
WEAKNESSES: -
An ensemble film that satires American culture and politics in the 1970s.
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Danton (1983)
Directed By: Andrzej Wajda
Starring: Gérard Depardieu, Wojciech Pszoniak, Anne Alvaro
Rated: PG
Run Time: 2h 16m
TMM Score: 4 Stars
Strengths: Acting, Production Design
Weakness: Length
In France, under the reign of Terror, one of the most prominent leaders of the revolution, Georges Danton, attempts to lay bare the corruption of the Committee for Public Safety and its chair, Maximillian Robespierre.
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The Saragossa Manuscript (1965)
Directed by: Wojciech Has
Starring: Zbigniew Cybulski, Iga Cembrzynska, Elzbieta Czyzewksa
Rated: NR (Suggested R for Some Nudity and Thematic Elements)
Running Time: 3 h 2 m
TMM Score: 4 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Story, Unexpected Humor, Production Design, Cinematography
WEAKNESSES: Pacing, Length
A soldier in a war finds a book that recounts a tale of a soldier traveling through Spain and meeting a variety of characters, many of who have stories of their own to tell.
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Pulp Fiction (1994)
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L Jackson, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Bruce Willis, Ving Rhames, Eric Stoltz, Christopher Walken, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer, Maria de Medeiros
Rated: R for Strong Graphic Violence and Drug Use, Pervasive Strong Language and Some Sexuality
Running Time: 2 h 34 m
TMM Score: 5 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Writing, Directing, Stories, Characters, Influence
WEAKNESSES: -
A series of violent and redemptive stories that intertwine the lives of LA mobsters, drug dealers, bandits and a boxer.
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Short Cuts (1993)
Directed by: Robert Altman
Starring: Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore, Mathew Modine, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Penn, Robert Downey Jr., Madeleine Stowe, Tim Robins, Lily Tomlin, Tom Waits, Frances McDormand, Peter Gallagher, Annie Ross, Lori Singer, Huey Lewis
Rated: R for Graphic Sexual Language, and for Nudity
Running Time: 3 h 8 m
TMM Score: 4.5 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Writing, Directing, Acting, Story, World Building
WEAKNESSES: Pacing, Length
An anthology film concerning the interconnecting lives of Los Angeles residents.
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Fellini Satyricon (1969)
Directed by: Federico Fellini
Starring: Martin Potter, Hiram Keller, Max Born
Rated: R
Running Time: 2 h 9 m
TMM Score: 4 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Directing, Production Design, Cinematography
WEAKNESSES: Emotional Connection, Pacing
A series of bizarre events surround a young man’s journey through the hedonistic landscape of first century Rome.
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The House that Jack Built (2018)
Directed by: Lars von Trier
Starring: Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman, Riley Keough
Rated: R
Running Time: 2 h 32 m
TMM Score: 2 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Matt Dillon, Some Writing
WEAKNESSES: Direction, A Majority of the Writing
Serial killer Jack recounts twelve years of of his life.
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The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018)
Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Starring: Tim Blake Nelson, Clancy Brown, James Franco, Liam Neeson, Zoe Kazan, Brendan Gleeson, Tom Waits
Rated: R for Some Strong Violence
Running Time: 2 h 12 m
TMM Score: 4.5 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Coen Bros Flair, Irreverence and Poignancy, Clever Writing
WEAKNESSES: Some CGI and Sets Look A Little Cheap
Six stories set in the Coen Brothers’ Wild West.
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Trick’r Treat (2007)
Directed by: Michael Dougherty
Starring: Dylan Baker, Brian Cox, Anna Paquin
Rated: R for Horror Violence, Some Sexuality/Nudity and Language
Running Time: 1 h 22 m
TMM Score: 4 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Writing, Halloween Spirit
WEAKNESSES: Some Uneven Pacing
A flower shop worker comes across an unusual species of plant that brings him great fortune, but at a great cost.
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The Company of Wolves (1984)
Directed by: Neil Jordan
Starring: Sarah Patterson, Angela Lansbury, Stephen Rea
Rated: R
Running Time: 1 h 35 m
TMM Score: 3.5 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Practical Effects, Production Design, Anthology Storytelling
WEAKNESSES: Some Stories Don’t Work as Well as Others
An anthology of dark fairy tales, all of which involve werewolves.
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Ghost Stories (2017)
Directed by: Jeremy Dyson, Andy Nyman
Starring: Andy Nyman, Martin Freeman, Paul Whitehouse, Alex Lawther
Rated: NR (Suggested R for Disturbing Material, Some Violence and Language)
Running Time: 1 h 38 m
TMM Score: 3 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Acting, Cinematography, Unique Story Structure
WEAKNESSES: Twist Ending, Second Anthology Story, Pacing
A Professor bent on debunking popular ghost stories and psychics is given a file of three cases that a ghost expert couldn’t crack.
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Two Evil Eyes (1990)
Directed by: George A Romero, Dario Argento
Starring: Adrienne Barbeau, Ramy Zada, Bingo O'Malley, Harvey Keitel, Madeleine Potter
Rated: R
Running Time: 2 h
TMM Score: 3 stars out of 5
STRENGTHS: Atmosphere, Creepy Images, Harvey Keitel
WEAKNESSES: Pacing, Dated Visual Effect in Romero's Segment, Some Acting, Depiction of Animal Cruelty
Two horror stories from Edgar Allan Poe, directed by horror auteurs George A Romero and Dario Argento.
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