Day: November 21, 2020

REVIEW: Mank [2020]

Jared Mobarak

Sixty days and a noodle. Who wrote Citizen Kane? It’s a question that should have a definitive answer considering it’s hailed as the greatest film of all-time after winning a single Oscar out of nine nominations: for original screenplay. Yet the debate rages on. Or maybe it’s better to say that those who believe there is a debate continue declaring that one exists. Pauline Kael wrote a 1971 New Yorker article that posited how director/producer/star Orson Welles added nothing of value to Herman J. Mankiewicz’s original draft. Many others refuted…

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REVIEW: Citizen Kane [1941]

Jared Mobarak

It’ll probably turn out to be a very simple thing. Of all the classics of black and white cinema during the sound age, Orson Welles‘ Citizen Kane has always been the one to me that was easiest to shortchange. That’s what being saddled with the label “Best Movie of All-time” does. It provides a target. If you agree with those sentiments, you’re going along with the crowd. If you disagree, you’re merely trying too hard to be contrarian. And there are plenty of reasons to do both. I personally refused…

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