‘Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia’: The Story of the Great Sam Peckinpah’s Most Personal Film
Before Warner Bros. decided to take a chance and hire him to make The Wild Bunch, the classic revisionist western that would completely revitalize his…
Interview
Ballad for an Iron Coffin: Wolfgang Petersen’s ‘Das Boot’
You never see the enemy. Like Christopher Nolan’s triptych timeline suspenser Dunkirk, both quarry and hunter/guardians of the Allied Atlantic convoys our unterseeboot protagonists wrestle…
‘The Abyss’: James Cameron’s Exploration of Humanity and Love in the Heart of the Ocean
Having made The Terminator (1984) and Aliens (1986), two huge box office hits and pillars of modern Hollywood science fiction action films, James Cameron could…
Lived All Our Best Times Left With the Worst: Christopher Nolan’s ‘Memento’
Fractured narrative, skewed perception, compressed timelines—director/writer Christopher Nolan won’t lead his audience in a straight line where a Möbius strip will suffice. Multi-award nominated breakthrough…
‘Strange Days’: Kathryn Bigelow’s Thrilling Sci-Fi that Doesn’t Feel As Strange As It Should
It’s been seven years since the esteemed American film director Kathryn Bigelow entered the history books as the first woman to win a Best Director…
The Uses of Disenchantment: How Michael Mann’s ‘The Keep’ Fell Into Neglect
In early 2016 BAMcinématek held a major retrospective of all Michael Mann’s filmography, throwing up a few surprises, such as a fresh and one-night-only exclusive…
‘The Verdict’: Sidney Lumet and David Mamet’s Masterpiece as a Blend of a Courtroom Drama and a Personal Redemption Story
Frank Galvin is an empty, whisky-drenched shell of a man. Once a successful lawyer at a prestigious law firm, a dedicated professional whose life was…
‘Jaws’: The Groundbreaking Summer Blockbuster that Changed Hollywood, and Our Summer Vacations, Forever
It seems unbelievable, but it’s been 42 years since Steven Spielberg’s Jaws premiered in cinemas across the United States. Almost half a century since the…
To the Wonder: The Lyrical Appeal and Influence of Richard Donner’s ‘Superman’
Richard Donner, director of The Omen, the Lethal Weapon series, The Goonies, but oh so especially the golden standard of comic book movies and feel…
‘Fight Club’: David Fincher’s Stylish Exploration of Modern-Day Man’s Estrangement and Disillusionment
Standing proudly among the ranks of those films whose post-theater, DVD legacy far outshone and outlived the results and recognition they got while on display…