- Casino Royale Review
- Carrie (1976)
- Two-Lane Blacktop (1971)
- Trainspotting (1996)
- Rain Man (1988)
- Fatal Attraction (1987)
- Targets (1968)
- An Education (2009)
- Mirror, The (1974)
- Fargo (1996)
- Fight Club (1999)
- Do The Right Thing (1989)
- Report (1967)
- Is "The Sting" The Best Gambling Film Ever Made?
- Pink Flamingos (1972)
- Ox-Bow Incident, The (1943), Or 28 Angry Men
- Rome, Open City (1945)
- Spring in a Small Town (1948)
- Drive (2011)
- Vinyl (1965)
- Seconds (1966)
- Rosemary's Baby (1968)
- A Hollywood Invasion of Casino Halls
- Thin Man, The (1934)
- In The Heat of the Night (1967)
- All In: The Poker Movie, Player’s Best Tricks
- Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
- 1001 Club - Skyfall (2012)
- 1001 Club - When Harry Met Sally... (1988)
- 1001 Club - Rain Man (1988)
Apartment, The (1960) * Top Pick *
Oh most misleading marketing ever, you so coy!
Genre: Drama Romance
Starring: Jack Lemmon (Glengarry Glen Ross • The China Syndrome), Shirley MacLaine (The Trouble With Harry • Terms of Endearment)
Directed By: Billy Wilder (Ace in The Hole • Sunset Boulevard)
Overview: C.C. Baxter has a way to get noticed. Sheldrake has it all. Fran wishes she did. The unethical shell game is afoot.
The Apartment is a film that immediately jumps off the screen, screaming to its audience that the sedate society of 1960 isn't really all that sedate after all. It's no wonder that the characters of AMC's wicked awesome drama "Mad Men" discussed The Apartment in an episode of theirs and have tributed it on several occasions. Without a doubt, the show owes its entire foundation to The Apartment's auteur, Billy Wilder. Don't get me wrong. It's most definitely a good thing since there's no better source material for that perfect mood of 'New York 1960 office workplace drunken debauchery with a heavy dollop of self-worthlessness'. There are so many great things about The Apartment and the first one is that I don't need to convince you of this film's greatness with the flourish of words. We'll begin with cold, hard facts - 5 Oscars: Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White - Alexandre Trauner, Edward G. Boyle Best Director --Billy Wilder Best Film Editing --Daniel Mandell Best Picture --Billy Wilder Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen --Billy Wilder, I.A.L. Diamond The film was also nominated for best Actor, Supporting Actor, Actress, Sound and Cinematography, Black-and-White.
Sylvia (Kirkeby's Mistress): You mean you bring other girls up here? Our hero's 'love interest', Fran Kubelik, is a company elevator operator having an affair with our hero's boss, J.D. Sheldrake. Fran's dream is to get the man she loves all to herself, while Sheldrake, of course, wants it all: the wife, the kids, the mistress, and as you may have guessed, the key to The Apartment. Sure Billy Wilder's film has several light-hearted moments, which only serve to draw us in for the one-two punch that is Shirley MacLaine's brilliant and tragic presence. Add to this a supporting cast - even a tertiary cast that delivers Oscar-class performances - and it's a story that you can't possibly hope to shake, all presented in Glorious Black And White. I only have two regret about The Apartment. The first is that it's been sitting unopened on my shelf for over a year. The second is that I can't see it again for the first time.
Kirkeby: Certainly not! I'm a happily married man.
Billy Wilder, explaining what 'in her place' means. Shirley MacLaine, showing him back.
Performance: 10 Cinematography: 9 Script: 9 Plot: 8 Mood: 9
Overall Rating: 90% (Don't Stay Cooped up)
Aftertaste:
Though IMDb goes so far as to bill The Apartment a Romantic Comedy Drama as its genre, I would disagree wholeheartedly. If The Apartment is a Romantic Comedy, then so's the drug-addled tragedy Requiem for a Dream - so's Klute, a mystery thriller about a private eye who sorta/kinda falls for a whore in a very realistic post-modern sense. Moments of laughter does not a Rom-Com make, and though you can watch this one with your mom, it's definitely not stupid escapism, and it's no wonder it's on AFI's Top 100 films.