FilmJerk Favorites

A group of unique directors and the essential works that you've got to see.

||| Francis Ford Coppola |||
Francis Ford Coppola

Coppola is an amazing talent whose inspiration and influence spans many generations. Virtually the link between the studio system of yesteryear and the independent minded filmmaker of the modern age, Coppola became the first major film director to emerge from a university degree program in filmmaking, thus legitimizing a now common route for many future filmmakers.

This Academy Award winner continues to enjoy an enormous critical and popular success due in large part to Coppola’s ability to break down an epic saga of crime and the struggle for power into the basic story of a father and his sons, punctuating the prevalent theme throughout Coppola’s oeuvre: the importance of family in today’s world. His personal portrait mixed tender moments with harsh brutality and redefined the genre of gangster films.

This intense, yet unassuming thriller has an impact that touches the viewer on a personal level and raises the question of privacy and security in a world of technology – thirty years ago! Coppola’s then virtually unknown cast is a roster of inevitable superstars, including Gene Hackman, Harrison Ford, and Robert Duvall. This Academy Award nominee for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Sound lost out to Coppola’s other great effort of the year, The Godfather: Part II.

Coppola's masterful Vietnam War-updating of Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" was the first major motion picture about the infamous “conflict”. This colossal epic was shot on location in the Philippines over the course of more than a year and contains some of the most extraordinary combat footage ever filmed. Unforgettable battle sequences and sterling performances from every cast member (including Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Laurence Fishburne, Harrison Ford, Scott Glenn, and Martin Sheen) mark this Academy Award-winning drama as a must-see for any true film fanatic.

Recommended by CarrieSpecht

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Little Secrets

By EdwardHavens

August 23rd, 2002

I know how you feel. After a summer of genetically enhanced clones, a guy bitten by a radioactive spider, the nuclear destruction of Baltimore, aliens in lingere, aliens hding in crop circles, an extreme sport spy, surfer chicks from Maui, Kung Fu Matt Damon and a variety of other forms of sensory bombardment disguised as entertainment, you want to throw up your hands and scream at the Movie Gods "Would it not be too much to ask for something small, pleasant, inoffensive and enjoyable by the entire family?" If this is where you are right now, the Gods have answered your prayers with this delightful new film from the team of director Blair Treu and writer Jessica Barondes.


Once and Again's Evan Rachel Wood stars Emily, a talented young violinist who must stay at home for the summer to practice for her big symphony audition while all her friends are off at camp. Amongst the other children in the neighborhood, Emily is known as the Secret Keeper, one who, for the small fee of fifty cents, will listen to your worst problems and help you as best she can. When a new family moves into the house next door, Emily befriends Philip (Michael Angarano, from Almost Famous), who is slightly younger but instantly smitten with Emily. Also falling hard is Philip's older brother David (Seventh Heaven's David Gallagher), who has but one brief encounter with Emily in a mall before he is shipped off to tennis camp, neither one aware they are neighbors. Of course, Emily has some secrets of her own, and as the summer unfolds, complications arise that will challenge friendships and cause Emily to rethink her priorities and make some changes in her life.

What saves this movie from being little more than an overblown afterschool special are the three delightful young leads. Freed from the histrionics that usually accompany their heavy handed television shows, Ms. Wood and Mr. Gallagher make for a charming, winsome duo. Their characters are real young teens, who handle their problems not with hamfisted agitation or explosions of anger, but with geniune thoughtfulness. And, of course, it doesn't hurt that both are cute as a couple of buttons. Mr. Angarano is also a revelation, showing his little triumph is Cameron Crowe's previous film was just a preview of things to come.

As with most movies aimed at a family audience today, there are topics touched on and dealt with in this film including friendship, first love and teen drinking. It is a credit to the filmmaking team that these topics are dealt with in a respectful manner, yet never allowing the story to become overbearing. This is simply good filmmaking, and deserving of your attention.

I give Little Secrets gets an A for effort and an A for execution.

My rating: A