By Dan Skip Allen

By Dan Skip Allen

The Cinequest Film Festival champions filmmakers from different backgrounds with unique visions. Based out of San Francisco, the festival showcases films from all over the world. There are loads of narrative films, documentaries, and shorts, many of which deal with the human condition. After a couple years of virtual editions, the festival is returning to an in-person format from August 16-29. Here are some films playing in the festival that we recommend you check out!

Linoleum takes place in Fairview Heights, where the lead character Cameron Edwin (Jim Gaffigan) hosts a children's science show, a la Bill Nye the Science Guy, called "Above and Beyond." He is married to Erin (Rhea Seahorn, Better Call Saul), who sometimes helps him on the show but works at a science & space museum in town. They have a daughter named Nora (Kathryn Nacon) who goes to a private high school, but she doesn't fit in. She meets a boy in school, but he's the son of her father's rival. When a rocket lands in Gaffigan's backyard, he decides it's time for a change in his own life. ​

This film is trying to say something about motherhood, parenting, and how parents interact with their children. It uses some weird ways to do this, but they work in an odd way. It wasn't easy to be a parent in the '80s or today, for that matter. Director Colin West creates a very existentialist film but uses the weird things going on in the movie to tell a straightforward story.

​A young woman, Mack (Madison Lawlor), leaves home to spend time alone at a secluded cabin after her sister's death. Unexpectedly, her friend from childhood, Alex (Decker Sadowski), and her college roommate Dylan (Olivia Blue) show up to console her in a time of need. And then a couple of guys, one the brother of Alex, show up as well, making it five people at the cabin.

The director Kathrine Dudas brings these people together so they can work out their differences and grieve in a way that's not normal for most people. The drama between the characters seems forced, and the acting doesn't seem genuine. The location is fine, but the overall execution of the story and characters seemed off. They didn't seem authentic, and neither did the entire situation.

By Dan Skip Allen

Many of these retrospectives on actors' lives have started with me talking about something I've seen in my childhood that I loved, which made me a big fan of a film, actor, or director. The same will go for Hollywood tough guy James Caan. The Godfather is in my Top 5 movies of all time, so I couldn't do a James Caan retrospective without bringing up "Sonny"/Santino Corleone, the first born son of Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). He had a lot of fire and led the family differently than his father or younger brother, Michael (Al Pacino). His temper, especially toward his sister's husband in the film was legendary. He beat him to a pulp in that street scene. That was the mentality of Caan, though.

That is just one of the many notable performances from Caan. He's had a long and storied career in Hollywood. Another role he is noted for is that of Paul Sheldon in Misery, an author with writer's block who has traveled to a secluded cabin to write his next novel in his popular series. Unfortunately for him, he gets into a near-fatal car accident on the slippery mountain roads on his way to get some supplies for his stay at the cabin. He gets rescued by an innocent bystander who happens to live nearby, Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates). Bates won an Academy Award for her performance as this superfan turned kidnapper. Caan has to do everything he can to survive and escape this maniacal woman. This film showed Caan's range and put him in great company opposite Lauren Bacall, Richard Farnsworth, and the aforementioned Bates, who gave the best performance of her career opposite him. He played it a little more nuanced this time around.

Caan also works opposite one of the world's foremost comedians and television stars in Elf. He had to play the straight man, as Buddy's father opposite Will Ferrell. Ferrell is at the height of his popularity as this elf looking for his father in the Big Apple. He's such a child that everybody around him, including Caan's Walter Hobbs character, is playing second fiddle to Ferrell. Like in Misery, Caan creates nuance and subtlety to make this character memorable. The rest of the cast, including Peter Dinklage and Zoey Deschanel, add some addition to the film that makes it even more fun than it already is. This is an instant Christmas classic, and Caan is a major part of that. ​

In Caan's career, he played tough guys, innocent victims, and fathers who never knew they were a father of a man child, but he's also done a couple of football films that mean a lot to me. One I consider one of the best sports films ever, Brian's Song, a movie of the week where Caan plays Brian Piccolo opposite Billy Dee Williams as Gale Sayers. Both actors played football players who played for the Chicago Bears in the 1960s. Piccolo and Sayers were white and Black men in an era when segregation was still a thing, even in sports. They were symbols of what would become a norm in later decades. Both characters have various bouts of severe illness, and one was very tragic for Caan's Sayers. This film is amazing, and the performances between Caan and Williams are the main reason why.

In The Program, on the other hand, Caan plays a head coach, Sam Winters, of a college football team with all the cliche moments you'd think a football program would have: drug abuse, alcoholism, partying, and other criminal behaviors. This film was modeled after Florida State in the 90s and early 2000s, where Bobby Bowden had a great team, but his players weren't necessarily all on the up and up during their careers as college students/athletes. The student part seemed to go by the wayside, though. Caan played this coach with a manor of innocence towards his players while bringing the fire he was known for in his other films. He was cast perfectly as this coach with a championship goal despite the directives from his superiors at the school and his crazy and wild players.

Caan's career is varied, and he's played all kinds of characters. He is most known for Sonny in The Godfather, but he has been around since the '60s with El Dorado, and his 70's career had a mix of interesting roles in Rollerball and The Gambler. The 80s brought Thief, directed by Michael Mann, where he played Frank, a jewel thief trying to do one last score before he retires. This is always the case with criminals, but it never ends the way they think it is supposed to. In Mickey Blue Eyes, he plays a gangster once again, opposite Hugh Grant, who's trying to marry his daughter. This is another comedic role for Caan, who mixed up his parts very nicely. His career has given fans plenty of great characters and memories that will endure for many years to come. I will never forget him and his career as long as I live. ​

By Dan Skip Allen

When I was a kid, my family sometimes didn't have enough money to eat, and we struggled to pay our bills. Even for an eight-year-old, I knew we were struggling financially. Every once in a while, we had enough money to do things together as a family. My brother, sister, and I would load into whatever car we had at the time, probably a station wagon, and go to the nearby drive-in theater. This was a big deal for us. Even a bigger deal was back in the summer of 1982; we did just that and got to see a film that helped transform me into the film aficionado I am today: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

E.T. wasn't just any film — it was a film that showed me what movies could really be for a child of eight years old. I remember as a kid that when E.T. and Elliot (Henry Thomas) road that BMX bike into the sky to escape men in black trying to get to them. It felt like they went right through the screen and into the air above the drive-in. It was a bit surreal to me at the time. I have held that memory with me ever since, and I'll never forget it.

That famous line from the film uttered by an animatronic alien, E.T., will also be indelibly stuck in my brain forever. "E.T. Phone Home." Any kid or adult watching that film that didn't cry is just not human because I balled my eyes out when I watched it. Shows like Stranger Things have adopted a little of the nostalgia of what E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is, but nothing will ever replace this film in the annals of history.
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I loved the cast, from Dee Wallace as the overprotective mother to Thomas Howell as the big brother and who couldn't forget little, at the time, Drew Barrymore as the sister who dressed E.T. up as a girl and fed him Reese's Pieces. Now Reese's Pieces are synonymous with this film. Peter Coyote played the secret agent trying to capture E.T., and he did as great as this character. He played a good villain at the time.

Many people make a big deal about physical media editions of this film being altered because the guns were taken away, but no DVD, Blu-Ray, or 4K will ever take away what was etched in my memory as a child. At the time, the guns were necessary to help the story. I understand they may have been a bit overkill, but they worked in the context of the story. The producers and filmmakers made a tough choice, but I think it was right.

My second favorite filmmaker is Steven Spielberg. As a kid, I got to see Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, but my favorite of his films will always be E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. He was able to bring something out in me no movie had ever done before: genuine emotion, from crying sadness to joyful happiness and, at times, anger. This film brought out every emotion in me as a child. That is what great filmmaking should be able to do.

One of Spielberg's frequent collaborators is John Williams. At the time, he was the conductor of the Boston Pops. Another annual gathering for my family would be once again to load all the kids in the car, head to Boston, and get our spot on the grass at the Esplanade, where we would get to hear the Boston Pops perform for free every Fourth of July. And so I was very familiar with this man's work, but the E.T. theme was like magic to my ears, and it's still one of the most iconic themes of John Williams's career, in my opinion.

On the week of the fortieth anniversary of E.T., I implore everyone young and old — if you've seen the film or not — to watch this absolute classic. Maybe it will bring you the emotions it brought me as an eight-year-old little boy looking for magic which I found on the big screen at that drive-in cinema. The cast, the filmmaker, and the composer brought me one of the most enjoyable cinematic experiences of my entire life, and I will never forget that moment in time. ​

By Dan Skip Allen

I loved watching sports movies and gangster films when I was a kid. They were two different kinds of movies, but they both had their own way of inspiring me growing up. Sports films put you in the shoes of those heroes on-screen, whether it be Roy Hobbs hitting massive home runs or Shoeless Joe Jackson coming out of the corn, saying, "Where are we? Heaven?" Sports films have an imagination that can make you dream of something greater than yourself. Gangster films have a glamour to them that gives me chills. In Goodfellas, Henry Hill cooks an Italian meal in prison with the Don. You have to cut the garlic very thin, so it melts with the olive oil. It was a great scene of camaraderie between brothers. Gangster films showed a world that was just perfect sometimes. 

Ray Liotta was in both of these films. In one, he played a ghost of Shoeless Joe Jackson teaching and playing baseball; in the other, he was Henry Hill, a young and impressionable man looking for something to be a part of and belong to. Both characters showed Liotta had acting chops. Both characters brought something to the table regarding my favorite kinds of films: a Martin Scorsese classic and a baseball classic. They are movies I would recommend to anybody. Liotta is excellent in both of them. The scene where he was high on cocaine, driving all over town trying to deliver the guns, but he believes the feds are following him, is brilliant. He's so paranoid in this whole sequence. You feel the paranoia he feels while watching him.

Liotta has had a vast career besides those two iconic roles in those great films. He's played a corrupt policeman in Copland, an FBI Agent caught in the middle of a bunch of hitmen in Smokin' Aces, a police chief caught in a hostage situation in John Q, and Aldo Moltisanti, the father of Christopher in The Many Saints of Newark, the prequel to The Sopranos. He's even been in Bee Movie starring Jerry Seinfeld. He pretty much did it all in his fifty or so years in film. When people think of two of the most iconic films of the last generation, they'll talk about Goodfellas and Field of Dreams. That's what I think of when I think of the great career of Ray Liotta. These two films will cement him as one of the greats of his generation. ​

By Dan Skip Allen

​Another thing that makes Singin' in the Rain so great is its great musical numbers. "Good Morning," "Make Me Laugh," the title track, "Singin' in the Rain," and so many more vibrant, entertaining songs kept this movie going from beginning to end. The songs are the heartbeat of this wonderful film about change in Hollywood. With Kelly, Reynolds, and O'Connor singing these songs, it was destined to be a success. They are easy to sing along with while watching the film. That's a key to why this was such a success.

Singin' in the Rain also had technical aspects that made it look and sound so good. Technicolor was a relatively new thing at the time that was used to bring this film to life. The various dance numbers are very vibrant. Colorful costumes and sets jumped off the screen. The remastering for the 70th Anniversary didn't hurt the film — it made it better. This film has never looked better than it does now, 70 years later. That's saying a lot for a movie this old to still stand up this far from when it came out originally.

Gene Kelly was a massive star when Singin' in the Rain came out. He'd done An American in Paris, Brigadoon, and Hello Dolly, but his biggest and most famous role ever was as Don Lockwood. Kelly danced and sang his way to stardom. He had a charisma and personality that made him a star. Kelly was a talent that has rarely been seen before or since.

One of my influences as a film critic is Roger Ebert. His favorite film of all time was Singin' in the Rain. I understand why he loves this film so much. "Singin' in the Rain pulses with life; in a movie about making movies, you can sense the joy they had making this one." This says it all. Once I saw it, I instantly loved it. Seventy years later, it holds up as one of the great musicals and films in general of all time. MGM made a film that will probably influence filmmakers and be enjoyed by film fans like me for decades to come.

By Dan Skip Allen

​John Wayne (True Grit, The Searchers, Stagecoach) has got this reputation of being a man's man. He is a tough guy if you will, but he played a softer, more compassionate character in his films every once in a while. That is if you consider Sean Thornton a gentler, more compassionate man. After all, he killed a man in the ring as a boxer, which convinced him to leave America and move to a small town in Ireland called Innisfree. Now he's trying to start over fresh.

Sean figures he would move back to where his family is from, and he would buy their land and live the rest of his life in peace. Except a man named Will Danaher (Victor McGlagen) is also interested in the land. Sean notices a beautiful redhead named Mary Kate (Maureen O'Hara, How Green Was My Valley, Miracle on 34th Street), who happens to be the sister of Danaher. He tries to get into a relationship with her to spite Danaher, but she's feisty and fiery as redheads tend to be. And what a beautiful relationship it turns out to be.

Maureen O'Hara and John Wayne have been in a few other films besides A Quiet Man together: McLintock, Rio Grande, and Big Jake. They have very good screen chemistry from working together on all these films. Some might consider it one of the best on-screen romances ever in Hollywood. I would have to agree with this assessment. These two have a great on-screen dynamic.

Another frequent collaborator of John Wayne is John Ford. These two have had a long and prosperous filmmaking relationship with one another. They did quite a few Westerns, making the duo famous in Hollywood. Their films are some of the best movies ever. A Quiet Man might be the oddest film they've done, though. It's not about tough firefighters, WWII pilots, or gunfighters shooting each other and Native Americans. It's a romantic film that hits on all the notes a great romantic film should.

By Dan Skip Allen

When I was a kid back about forty-two years ago, I saw The Godfather for the first time. Of course, on television, it was edited down not to show so much blood, and the cursing was cut out. It wasn't till years later that I saw the unedited version in all its glory. That's when I had a full appreciation of the greatness of The Godfather, as well as its sequel. Now it has turned fifty years old, and it still hasn't lost any of the nostalgia it had for me as a kid. As an adult with many years under my belt, I have a new respect for this Francis Ford Coppola classic.

The Godfather is based on the book by Mario Puzo. It chronicles the lives of the Corleone family, of which Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) is the patriarch. He has garnered a lot of respect from his constituents and business associates. Even so, when they need something, they'll come to him at his daughter's (Talia Shire) wedding. He has three sons. One is part of the family business Sonny (James Caan), another Michael (Al Pacino) is just home from the Army, and his third son Fredo (John Cazale) is a little slow, but he's also a part of Genco Olive Oil which is the front for the business. 

Coppola created a look and feel of the iconic film. Set in the 1940s, the film has a style that sets it apart from any other movie in this genre. It has a grain that makes it have a lived-in feel and a worn-out look. Gordon Willis is the cinematographer, and he leans on a darker paper of colors such as blacks and browns. The inside scenes are perfectly set in these colors. The outdoor scenes show a little more range of tans and peaches that contrast to the indoor scenes. This film looks gorgeous no matter how you look at it.  

All great films have memorable lines of dialogue that will live in the annals of time. The Godfather is no different. As mentioned before, Don Vito is visited at his daughter's wedding by many to pay tribute, and one of those people is an actor/singer named Johnny Fontane (Al Martino). He comes asking the Don if he can help him land a role in a movie he wants to star in, and Don Vito tells him he'll help him. He asks how and Don Vito says, "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse." Another great quote from the film is when they send their best hitman, Luca Basi (Lenny Montana), to take care of some family business. He doesn't come back. Instead, they get a package delivered, and in it is a fish. They say, "Luca Brasi swims with the fishes." My favorite line in the film is when a hit is made out in the sticks of New Jersey by Clemenza (Richard A Castello) tells his partner, "Leave the gun, take the cannoli." This film is littered with great lines.

This film has a great cast in it. Besides the actors I've mentioned already, there are a lot of teller performances from the supporting cast, such as Robert Duval as Tom Hagan, the consigliere, and Diane Keaton as Kay Adams, Michael's girlfriend and eventual wife. And with all gangster films comes the other family heads and various members of the organization. Abe Vigoda (Tessio), Al Lettieri (Solozzo), and Sterling Hayden (Capt. McCluskey) are all great as the antagonists of the film. This film is filled with Oscar winners and all-time greats. It's one of the best casts ever in any movie.

Besides the cinematography, the film also has some fantastic production design by Dean Tavoularis, makeup and hair design, costumes, and editing by too many to list. The score was by Nino Rota, and it was incredible. It brought you into this world perfectly. This score is iconic for its melancholy, but also its legendary tones. The first few notes are mesmerizing and so memorable to me all these years later.

Coppola helped adapt Puzo's book, making this book come to life. The character arks for many of the characters are very satisfying. All the sons of Don Vito have their various plot points, but Michael's arc is one of the greatest in film history. He goes from a mild-mannered son who wants nothing to do with the family business to becoming a cold-blooded killer and the leader of a crime syndicate in the guise of a businessman. In later films, this would become more prominent. The script is a masterpiece by anybody's standards.
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As years have gone by, I've watched The Godfather probably thirty or forty times. I see something new in it each time I watch it. It has layers that not a lot of films have. It has a rewatchability factor like no other film ever. The family drama, the crime drama, and the character beats are some of the best in any movie. Coppola captured a subsection of society that wasn't that prominent at the time but became an entire genre in later years. Filmmakers like Martin Scorsese made it their own. And various true stories about real-life gangsters were made into films like Goodfellas, directed by Martin Scorsese, Donnie Brasco (which also starred Al Pacino), and American Gangster from Ridley Scott. The Godfather and its sequel have become part of the lexicon of society, not just criminal society like Scarface.
 
Not that awards are important, but they signify greatness, so they must be discussed. The Godfather sits at number 5 on AFI's Top 100 Movies of All Time list currently, and it won three Academy Awards back in 1973 for the '72 calendar year: Best Picture, Best Actor for Marlon Brando (for which he sent Sachin Littlefoot to accept the award on his behalf due to his protest against the treatment of Native Americans in movies and the country), and Best Adapted Screenplay by Coppola and Puzo based on his book. It also stands at number two on IMDb's list of the 250 best movies list. And it won many other awards as well. The fact remains that it's one of the greatest films of all time. It has stood the test of time because of the timeless nature of the story, the incredible characters, and the incredible skill that went into every aspect of the production.

By Dan Skip Allen

Ivan Reitman has had a forty-year career as a director and producer making such movies as Ghostbusters and its sequel, Animal House, Meatballs, Dave, and a few Arnold Schwarzenegger comedies. He has made some iconic films in his career. He has even helped his son become a great director as well. One of his most iconic movies is Stripes, a comedy about two men who join the Army and get more than they bargained for.
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John Winger (Bill Murray) is a down-on-his-luck man who lost his job, girlfriend, car, and apartment. He's looking for something to motivate him and get his mind and body right. Russell Disney (Harold Ramis) is his best friend. He teaches migrants how to read and speak the English language. They both need a change in life and a change in mindset. The Army is the right place for them. Along the way, they meet some colorful characters and a couple of enlisted ladies and become friends with them.

Along with Murray and Ramos are John Candy as Ox, Judge Reinhold as Elmo, Warren Kate's as Sgt. Hulka, John Larroquette as Capt. Stillman, PJ Soles as Stella, and Sean Young as Louise. This cast is fantastic. It has a lot of standup comedians who improvise quite a bit of the dialogue. The legendary comedians in this film make for many laughs and make for a hilarious ensemble. The military has never been this fun before or ever since.

Stripes is full of this ragtag group of individuals who need to come together to help the Army to deploy a new state-of-the-art weapon called an EM-50, basically a glorified motorhome. This ends up being the thing that allows Murray and company to come together. They are not the military type, but they know they need a change — even Sgt. Hulka instigates Murray's character to get him motivated to show what he can do for his country. This is a typical military film. Murray and the cast are great in it.

After all the hijinks that ensue during basic training, the film takes a turn for the better. They have to fight in an encounter, and more laughs and action occur. Reitman knows how to get the audience laughing. Various scenes of mud wrestling and so forth add levity to a film with plenty of laughs already. John Candy shows why he's such a great comedic actor in this scene. This creates great comradery for the group of young soldiers in the film. 

As far as military films go, this is one of the better ones. It's no Private Benjamin, but it's pretty good. Both have heart as well as laughs. Reitman knows how to bring the heartfelt moments out while also getting laughs from the audience. This film even has romantic moments between Soles, Murray, Young, and Ramis.

The film also has excellent music and nostalgic moments of singing "Do Wah Diddy Dumb Diddy Do" by Manfred Mann while marching and "The Rubberband Man" by The Spinners at the mud wrestling bar. The music by Elmer Bernstein adds another fun element to the film. The military songs are in the movie as well. "Joining the Army" by Nita Leaves is an entertaining song too.

Stripes is a fun film that takes the Army and turns it on its head. The superb cast of legendary comedians such as Murray, Ramis, Candy, Larroquette, and others makes a very funny film. Add a little romance and some action, and you have a fun movie. Reitman assembled the right people to bring Len Blum, Dan Goldberg, and Harold Ramis's script to life. All in all, Stripes was the kind of film Murray, Ramis, Candy, and Reitman have been associated with their entire careers. It is a hilarious, nostalgic trip down memory lane for me and I'm sure many others. Reitman will be missed, but he leaves behind a legacy of great work.

By Dan Skip Allen

I would be lying to you if I said I wasn't a big fan of westerns. Unforgiven, High Noon, and Once Upon a Time in the West are among my favorite films of all time. Tombstone is another terrific western, but it was based on My Darling Clementine from 1946, another great film about famous Sheriff Wyatt Earp. 
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Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) is trying to move a herd of cattle through Arizona when he and his brother stopover for a night in Tombstone. When Wyatt wakes up the next morning, he notices that their herd of cattle is gone and one of his brothers is dead. He suspects the Clanton clan, led by Old Man Clanton (Walter Brennan) who live out by the O.K. Corral. Trying to figure out a way to get revenge for his brother, Wyatt becomes the Sheriff of Tombstone. He also befriends an alcoholic gambler known as Doc Holiday (Victor Mature) and the title character of the film, Clementine Carter (Kathy Downs).

Fonda's Earp struggles the entire film to try to get his cattle back and apprehend the culprit. The film is based on Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal by Stuart N. Lake. It's directed by legendary western director John Ford who worked with John Wayne quite a bit in his career. This film takes a lot from classic western tales, but Wyatt Earp is considered one of the most famous lawmen in history.

Henry Fonda plays a great Wyatt Earp and lawman. Later on in his life, he played a very evil villain in the Sergio Leone spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West. So he played both sides of the coin in his acting career. He's great as both men, though. It just shows what a great actor Henry Fonda is. His Earp is a very friendly guy. People are generally connected to him because of his friendly demeanor. He doesn't want people to think they can walk all over him, though. That's where his toughness comes in.

Walter Brennan was another very famous actor of the time. He was in quite a few westerns in his career including Rio Bravo, but his most important role was as the Pastor in Sgt. York starring Gary Cooper. Even though he won the Oscars for Supporting Actor in his lifetime. He plays a great villain in My Darling Clementine as Old Man Clanton. A true western villain that resembles others and Stephen Lang channels in Tombstone in 1993.

My Darling Clementine also has great performances from the women, including the title character, in the film from Kathy Downs and Linda Darnell as Chihuahua. They hold their own against great actors like Fonda and Brennan. Their characters are tough and stick up for their own lives in the film as well. A lot of actresses of the time are powerful and can handle themselves in these films with the best actors of the time. These two are very good at that.

The film is in black and white, but it looks great and has beautiful cinematography. The music in the film is pretty good as well. The title of the film is sung throughout the film. And it's a very catchy song, but the score is very good as well. The craft departments are all superb in the film. And it's nice to see a film that everything in it is so authentic and makes the film much more watchable than I could have thought. It's a great addition to the Criterion Collection.