★★★ “Flawed as it is…” No sermons, no lectures, and no statements; but in Juror #2, Clint Eastwood empathizes with the American system of justice. Every time I saw something that otherwise would have annoyed me as a lawyer, I liked the film more for the personal ethics it applies to the political system. When […]
The “Movies of the Century – Year by Year” can be found here. Happy New Year, maybe. It feels strange that we are entering the 25th year of the 21st century, so I guess there should be 24 movies here, but it’s too late now and it’s my list. Continuing last year’s tradition, this is the […]
The tradition continues. What began in the previous year continues through 2023. And if we’re all still alive and able to comprehend the insanity of global and domestic events next year, it will continue again. You will notice some changes to this list, as well as the next one. That’s part of the fun of continuity. As time accrues, […]
The “Movies of the Century – Year by Year” can be found here. And now the second list to end the year 2022; Merry Christmas to all! This is the list of the century’s best and most significant films, separate from my own list of subjective preferences, but perhaps not entirely so. This list will […]
The Best of the Century List can be found here. So begins a new tradition on V for Verbatim. Lists are fun. They’re what movie writing is all about; they’re instant conversation starters, useful catalogues that remind people “hey, this movie exists too.” But cinema has had something of a problem lately that goes beyond […]
★★★★ “We don’t make good citizens, but we make good prisoners.” – The Warden Welcome to the end of the Ten for Ten. The end of the experimental decade in cinema, the end of Clint Eastwood’s serial acting collaboration with any director (from this moment onwards, he has acted in fewer than ten films that […]
I probably should have written this list at the very beginning of the year. 2021 wasn’t a great year in cinema, nor was the year before it. In fact, the last couple of decades have not been particularly great for cinema as an art medium nor a positive force for shaping popular culture. But since […]
V for Verbatim 