Douglas Scully
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Flags of Our Fathers 2006, directed by Clint Eastwood Rating: 7/10 In 2006, Clint Eastwood released two movies—both of which revolve around the battle of Iwo Jima. Flags of Our Fathers tells the story of the American soldiers, though it focuses less on the battle and more on the aftermath of their heroism as they return to
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Million Dollar Baby 2004, directed by Clint Eastwood Rating: 10/10 Twelve years after Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood directed another Academy Award for Best Picture winning film, and again it starred him and Morgan Freeman, and again it is a rumination on aging. However, while that previous film was a Western, Million Dollar Baby is a sports story about a
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Unforgiven 1992, directed by Clint Eastwood Rating: 10/10 Unforgiven is the first of two movies directed by Clint Eastwood to win the Academy Award for Best Picture and it is also on the American Film Institute’s list of 100 best American films. It is a Western about how the West is a dying dream told from
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Play Misty for Me 1971, directed by Clint Eastwood Rating: 8/10 Clint Eastwood became famous starring in Western films, but the first movie he directed is set in modern day Carmel-by-the-Sea, California where Clint is a DJ. This movie feels like a proto-Fatal Attraction as one of the women Clint starts a relationship with becomes obsessed
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This month I’m going to be looking back at one of my favorite directors—Clint Eastwood. Between Play Misty for Me (1971) and Juror #2 (2024), he has directed a total of 40 films—19 of which I own. I may not always agree with his politics, but his directorial style always has me looking for more even in his worst
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Between a busy time with work, being sick, and the holidays, I didn’t get to add a bunch of new movies this month, so my total for 2024 has only gone from 83 to 88 (Babygirl, Juror #2, Maria, Queer, and Sugarcane). The only one of those that didn’t make a dent in my list
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Ocean’s 11 1960, directed by Lewis Milestone Rating: 6/10 I love a good heist movie, including the Ocean’s movies. I grew up watching and rewatching (and rewatching and rewatching) the George Clooney and Brad Pitt trilogy, and when Ocean’s 8 came out I was very into it and get excited whenever I’m in a hotel and see
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The Phantom Carriage 1921, directed by Victor Sjöström Rating: 9/10 Another silent film in the Criterion Collection that is in my collection, Victor Sjöström’s The Phantom Carriage is centered around an old myth that the last person to die each year has to spend the next year collecting the souls of the dead until his or her
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Pandora’s Box 1929, directed by G.W. Pabst Rating: 10/10 When I watched this movie in high school, I was deeply unimpressed—mostly because I went in hoping for a silent movie retelling of the actual Pandora’s Box myth which I thought it would be really cool to see with Méliès style effects. What there is instead
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Spencer 2021, directed by Pablo Larraín Rating: 8/10 Like The Lion in Winter, Spencer shows the special kind of torture that comes with spending your Christmas with the British Royal Family as Princess Diana tries to survive the formalities and traditions while keeping her sense of self intact. This movie is far from perfect, but it still has
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