Movie Reviews
Film and television reviewed the way I’d want to read them — with a rating that means something, an honest accounting of what works and what doesn’t, and craft notes for writers who want to understand how the machinery operates.
Each review includes a craft notes section for writers — specific observations about structure, character, world-building, and what the film does that you can actually use. Not theory. Technique you can steal.
World War I (13)
May 15, 20261917 (2019)
1917 is the best war film of the last twenty years. Sam Mendes directed it. Roger Deakins shot it. The whole movie is built to look like one unbroken...
May 15, 2026Admiral (2008)
Admiral is a Russian biopic about Aleksandr Kolchak, the Imperial Navy admiral who became Supreme Ruler of Russia during the civil war and was executed in...
May 15, 2026Beneath Hill 60 (2010)
Beneath Hill 60 is an Australian war film about a part of the First World War nobody talks about. Jeremy Sims directed it. Brendan Cowell plays Captain...
May 15, 2026Gallipoli (1981)
Gallipoli is one of the great anti-war films and one of the great Australian films. Peter Weir directed it. Mel Gibson and Mark Lee play Frank Dunne and...
May 15, 2026Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Lawrence of Arabia is one of the four or five best films ever made. David Lean directed it. Peter O'Toole plays T.E. Lawrence in his first major film...
May 15, 2026Passchendaele (2008)
Passchendaele is Paul Gross's labor of love about the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917. He wrote it, directed it, produced it, and starred in it. The project...
May 15, 2026Sergeant York (1941)
Sergeant York is a propaganda film that happens to also be a great film. Howard Hawks directed it. Gary Cooper won Best Actor for playing Alvin York, the...
May 15, 2026The Lost Battalion (1919)
The Lost Battalion from 1919 is a silent docudrama made within months of the actual event it depicts. Burton L. King directed it. The cast was the...
May 15, 2026The Lost Battalion (2001)
The Lost Battalion is an A&E television movie that punches above its budget. Russell Mulcahy directed it. Rick Schroder plays Major Charles Whittlesey, a...
May 15, 2026The Red Baron (2008)
The Red Baron is a German-produced biopic about Manfred von Richthofen filmed in English with German actors. That sentence describes most of what is right...
May 15, 2026The Trench (1999)
The Trench is William Boyd's first and only film as director. He is better known as a novelist. The whole movie takes place in one British trench in the...
May 15, 2026Wings (1927)
Wings is the first film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. It is also the only silent film to win that award. William A. Wellman directed it. He...
May 15, 2026Zeppelin (1971)
Zeppelin is a 1971 British production that wanted to be a serious WWI espionage thriller and ended up being a competent B-movie with great model work...