4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on October 23, 2025

If I may be so bold The Flaming Star feels like an inflection point in Elvis Presley’s film career. It comes at a time where he’s still given the opportunity to act, and if he’s not some great talent, he’s certainly a charismatic performer in things like King Cre   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on October 21, 2025

We’re in the French Quarter of New Orleans, a place blessed with so much musical culture thanks to the Black community. Like many films of the era, they exist on the periphery underrepresented and unappreciated, but they must be acknowledged. King Creole came out at an earlier junctur   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on September 26, 2025

In his directorial debut, actor John Carroll Lynch made a love letter to his dear friend, and weak with illness, there’s a self-aware sense that this would be Stanton’s final film at 91 years of age. It proved to be true as he would pass away before the film was...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on September 23, 2025

The material doesn’t immediately scream David Lynch, a man who has left his mark with more bemusing visions of Middle America. Still, in keeping with the story’s ethos, Lynch taps into his midwestern roots in the most charming and straightforward manner. There is a sense that The Str   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on August 29, 2025

I actually don’t mind Spencer Tracy playing the lead in the picture because it has the Hollywood bent of the studio system. Like casting James Stewart as a Hungarian in The Sh   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on August 27, 2025

This was Van Johnson’s first starring role, allowing him to craft a stage presence that would only become more self-assured with time. It nearly got derailed by a gruesome car accident that purportedly left him with a plate in his forehead. And yet out of this came one of the...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on August 25, 2025

The world itself in the formerly sleepy town has the definitive consciousness of Home Front America, full of interiors and then exterior-looking interiors, all on the studio lot. Moreover, there’s a frantic industry and a general chaos in the face of shortages, bringing out American know-how a   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on July 29, 2025

The enduring charm of the Harold Lloyd character is his nebbish yet indefatigable spirit. He’s bespectacled, always smiling, and there’s a bit of a hapless daredevil in him. He doesn’t always do so purposefully, but he’s accustomed to ticking clocks — racing against tim   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on June 27, 2025

It was the first Chaplin feature I watched, and I’m pretty sure I liked every subsequent one more. I’m recognizing now, perhaps it was the Tramp character who grew on me. Because so much of his appeal is not only the audience identification, but also this sense of continuity over...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on June 26, 2025

Jerry Schatzberg took his career as a fashion photographer and integrated it into a splintering portrait of a model based partially on his experiences with real-life inspiration Anne St. Marie. Like Blow-Up it is a film about the image, but in this case the visuals often play against disemb   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on June 23, 2025

I remember my dad telling a story about the first time he saw Jaws back in 1975, now 50 years ago. He was on a road trip visiting a childhood friend in the Midwest, and though he had spent all his life in California, he was grateful to be in...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on May 29, 2025

The opening remarks of The Voyage Home honoring the “courageous spirit” of those lost on The Challenger is a perfect encapsulation of the ethos of Star Trek. Because it was always very much a franchise that was a social allegory for our world and by taking place in a sc   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on May 27, 2025

The Wrath of Khan opens with a scenario involving the usual suspects on the USS Enterprise, except standing in for Kirk is a  Vulcan named Saavik; they must rescue the crew of the Kobayashi Maru, and it all goes terribly wrong. Moments later we learn that the entire escapade was...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on April 25, 2025

It’s a triumph of the small screen brought to the large, breaking down the boundaries and some of the prejudices that come with it thanks to the particular story it chooses to tell. Marty is easy enough to place. He takes up residence in the territory Chayefsky would canvass in...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on April 23, 2025

The movie opens as any respectable New York movie does in Central Park. In the outdoor reverie of men at their chess boards and kids running around, Gladys Glover causes a hullabaloo for feeding pigeons. One man takes particular umbrage at having her try to pick him up while he...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on April 14, 2025

Bong Joon Ho joins forces with Robert Pattinson for a story that defies easy categorization. It’s full of a myriad of ideas in line with the South Korean’s usual preoccupations including class and pervasive humor. There are some potentially cute creatures a   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on March 28, 2025

Because Dixon had roots in a rich tradition of stage and film he came by honestly from his formative years in the cultural hub of Harlem. His early film career is littered with interesting parts including   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on March 26, 2025

It occurs to me Bruce Lee occupies a similar cultural place. Because among his devoted fanbase, he’s revered and there is a cult following around him. Still, it’s hard to know if he’s totally understood beyond a superficial appreciation as a martial artist and thrilling symbol of A   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on February 28, 2025

It’s mostly a contained western within the town and not just within the town, but within the local hotel and the backroom where only the richest and wealthiest are allowed a seat at the table. There’s little doubt that they could hold down a movie themselves, but they feel more...   read more

4 Star Films Posted by 4 Star Films on February 26, 2025

However, this is a Hollywood family loaded to the hilt with handsome young men and pretty women who crowd around the dinner table as their father blesses the food. He believes in hard work and not relying on anyone for anything. That’s why you have so many kids. He also...   read more