Category Archives: American movies

WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1939)

The most Hollywood version of Emily Brontë’s weird, gothic masterpiece, which is still pretty weird and gothic if that’s what you’re into.

HOUSE PARTY (1990)

A very fun teen time capsule from 1990 that has a lot on its mind but resists any major dramatics.

THE AFRICAN QUEEN (1951)

I still think this enjoyable adventure story holds up, though the story of its shooting in the Congo (including possible accidental cannibalism) is now at least as famous as the movie itself.

MANHATTAN (1979)

HOW WAS THIS EVER OK, BABY BOOMERS? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? But the cinematography is pretty and there are a lot of great one-liners.

AMADEUS (1984)

A story about a normal human who is confronted with genius and it slowly drives him insane. I think I might like this movie so much because of my own psychological problems, but I definitely like it a lot.

THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)

Describing the plot of this movie, where one serial killer helps a trainee FBI agent catch another, does not do justice to how spectacularly well made and acted it is.

INTOLERANCE (1916)

Maybe the first big blockbuster, somehow still leaving viewers flabbergasted a century later. Also one long missive about “cancel culture,,” basically.

YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)

This “jukebox musical” of patriotic Broadway hits showcases James Cagney’s powerhouse performance, but that’s basically the only part of the movie that works for me.

HOOSIERS (1986)

As March Madness continues in Indiana, we revisit this 1980s piece of “Pepperidge Farm buncombe” that’s somehow effective despite basically nothing that happens off a basketball court working at all.