August 2011
1 post
5 tags
The Writing is a Bit Pessimistic: The Woody Allen...
Midnight in Paris
I was pretty shocked and extremely excited to see that Allen’s newest film was playing at my local theatre. Unfortunately I’d listened to a few reviews of the film and had a few of the plot points spoiled for me. I will say it’s probably best not to know anything about the film before going into it, but even knowing what I did, I still greatly enjoyed it....
April 2011
1 post
5 tags
You're Not Taking Me Seriously: The Woody Allen...
Sweet and Lowdown
A pseudo-documentary about a fictional jazz guitarist, Emmet Ray, in the 1930s, Sweet and Lowdown is exactly what you’d expect from the title. Sean Penn puts in one of his least-obnoxious (Ironic, I think, considering that is one of the character’s biggest traits) performances as Emmet, making him simultaneously sympathetic and despicable. But, Samantha Morton...
March 2011
1 post
5 tags
We're All Smart, But He Wears Glasses: The Woody...
I absolutely love that Woody Allen often throws little morality tales into his films, and I love it even more when the movies are pretty much morality tales outright. That’s mostly what I’m dealing with in Part Two of The Woody Allen Project, so let’s just get right to it.
You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger
Allen’s latest starts out fine enough, chronicling the love...
February 2011
10 posts
6 tags
Brainwash Your Face
One of my New Years resolutions was to actually watch MORE movies, and part of that included watching more documentaries. I usually avoid them because, well, the subject matter is too real and precious, and they can’t always be trusted. I don’t mind it when a work of fiction manipulates my emotions, but know that someone is documenting real life and editing it to their own benefit,...
2 tags
This is Our Time
Six years. That’s how long it took. In 2004 Mark Zuckerberg was just a guy that attended Harvard, and this year, in 2010, there was a major motion picture released about a significant portion of his life. He’s only 26 years old.
Director David Fincher jokingly called the film “The Citizen Kane of John Hughes movies.” And while the comparison might be lost on anyone...
2 tags
We All Have Off Days
I’m not a ballet dancer. That’s fairly obvious, especially to anyone who’s ever seen a picture of me. So, there are things about Black Swan that I’m bound to just not understand, the least of which is why anyone would put themselves through that kind of torture. But, I do understand obsession, so I think I grasp the grander theme of it all. Still, after watching the film...
2 tags
Specificity
Both The Matrix and Fight Club hit theatres in 1999, making The Wachowski Brothers and David Fincher household names. Two years later, in 2001, Christopher Nolan made a name for himself with Memento and Richard Kelly released Donnie Darko to an unnoticing public. If you were inclined, you could even add M. Night Shyamalan to that list with his one-two punch of The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable in...
2 tags
Nothing Free But the Grace of God
I’ve never seen Henry Hathaway’s 1969 adaptation of Charles Portis’ novel True Grit. Despite the fact that Rio Bravo is one of my favorite films, I’ve never been a big fan of Wayne’s. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m a child of the 90s, but the type of hero Wayne often portrayed never interested me. A squeaky clean image, someone who does what’s...
2 tags
I Feel Like There's Some Subtext Here
There’s a scene, about thirty minutes in to The Kids Are All Right, where Jules (played by Julianne Moore) is discussing what to do with Paul’s (Mark Ruffalo) back yard. She tells him, “I’m not feeling minimal. I’m really liking more is more.” She’s talking about landscaping, but it’s a sentiment that I think encapsulates the movie pretty well.
...
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Everything's Moving All The Time
What would you do to survive?
Whether it’s with our friends or in our own heads, that question has been bounced around a time or two in the course of our lives. It’s one most people will never have to answer. In 2003, after spending five days trapped in a canyon, Aron Ralston amputated his own arm, rappeled 65 feet down wall and hiked out out of the canyon. He was taken to safety by...
3 tags
I Could Get Used To This
In 2001, the award for Best Animated Feature was established by the Academy and it’s first three nominees were Monsters, Inc., Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (Really?) and Shrek.
Pixar and Dreamworks were clearly the front runners, and I’d wager anyone who didn’t know better would say that Monsters, Inc took home the gold. Given what Dreamworks’ Shrek franchise devolved into,...
2 tags
Reach For The Sky
George Santayana famously once wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
I’m relatively certain he WASN’T talking about cinema when he put that statement to paper, but it’s one that aptly applies to the film world and one that echoed in my head during the entire 142 minutes of Toy Story 3.
From the very first frame, Toy Story 3 seems...
2 tags
Lost Without the Weight
Based on the book of the same name, Winter’s Bone is the story of a young girl’s search for her meth-peddling father after he’s jumped bail. With her family’s house and land on the line, Ree Dolly will stop at nothing to find him, including crossing her own relatives, distant or not.
Author Daniel Woodrell coined the term “country noir” to describe his...
January 2011
4 posts
5 tags
Get Me a Fool Who's Funny: The Woody Allen...
This year I’ve decided to watch all of Woody Allen’s films (the ones he directed at least), in no particular order. Every fourth film I’ll post some brief thoughts about what I’ve seen, and probably some opinions on Allen as a filmmaker on the whole. Enjoy.
Annie Hall
I decided to start with Allen’s “masterpiece”, which, oddly, I’ve never...
1 tag
How the Weinsteins Got Their Groove Back (AKA, The...
Twelve nominations for The King’s Speech. There are 15 categories it could have conceivably had been nominated for, and the only ones it didn’t place in were Sound Editing, Makeup and Actress in a Leading Role. And actually, it didn’t have a horse in that race really, though a case could be made for Helena Bonham Carter as a lead instead of a supporting player. It blows away...
2 tags
Why Bring It Up If You Cant Talk About It
A man paralyzed by the sound of his own voice. A family in turmoil. A world on the brink of war. A country that needs a king. A friendship forged with fire.
Those are the things most people will see when they watch The King’s Speech, and rightfully so. It’s a beautiful movie about the leader of a nation overcoming his own fear for the good of his family and his country. But, more...
2 tags
Saoul Mamby Got the Flu
There’s a scene in The Fighter, somewhere around the 45 minute mark, where Dickie Eklund (played brilliantly by Christian Bale) is once again going over his fight with Sugar Ray, telling the film crew that’s been following him around for weeks that it was just “too much, too soon” for him. One of his many drug addled friends leans over to the interviewer and asks...
November 2010
1 post
2 tags
Sometimes You Eat the Bar
When the guys over at Filmspotting first announced their “The Detective and The Dude” Drive-In Double Feature, I’d have given anything to be in Chicago on November 6th, watching Bogart’s Phillip Marlowe crack wise and Jeff Bridge’s The Dude slack wise-ass, all on the big screen. But, that wasn’t going to happen, so I resigned myself to participating via my...
August 2010
1 post
1 tag
Screw Their Sense of Calm
I’ve seen Shutter Island from start to finish four times now with a few more aborted attempts in the last week or two. Not aborted because of disinterest mind you, just because something else came up and I had to stop the film. Each time, as DiCaprio utters those final, harrowing words to Mark Ruffalo, my brain frantically shuffles to put all the pieces into place, hoping they all fit.
...
July 2010
1 post
1 tag
A Little Ring a Ding Ding
At the 1961 Academy Awards, The Apartment became the last film shot entirely in black & white to win Best Picture. Written and directed by Billy Wilder, it was his follow up to Some Like It Hot, a film that’s consistently ranked at the top of any respectable list of cinema’s greatest comedies. The Apartment usually makes those lists as well, but a lot further down, which is a...
June 2010
1 post
1 tag
The Monkey in the Wrench (AKA, Die Hard is the...
All this comes as a result of, and in respones to, this post on the Filmspotting message board:
I once read an interview with Bruce Willis where he recounted his first day of filming on the set of Die Hard. It’s one of the movie’s most notorious scenes, John McClane jumps off the roof of Nakatomi Plaza to avoid the impending explosion, with a fire hose strapped to his waist, the...
May 2010
1 post
2 tags
The Audience Left Twenty Years Ago
It’s been a little more that twenty-four hours since I finished my very first viewing of Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd (according to IMDB it’s Blvd, NOT Boulevard, and we know they’re always accurate) and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. I think it’s because I don’t understand entirely what it was Wilder was doing, or attempting to do.
For...
April 2010
3 posts
1 tag
This is Not a Love Story
I’ve talked in previous posts about my favorite movie moments, two in particular being the final scenes from Juno and The Graduate. While both end with “boy gets girl,” I talked about how Juno’s ending was full of promise and hope for love after the fact, and The Graduate ends wth a feeling of regret and fear of a life built out of bad choices. When Tom and Summer go...
15 tags
Useless Reptiles, Dancing Souls and Charlie Wax
I’ve seen a number of movies lately, but none of them (with one exception) has inspired more than a few brief sentences of discussion. So, here they are:
The Bad Lieutinenant: Port of Call New Orleans
The story of a gamabling and drug-addicted cop in post-Katrina New Orleans investigating five murders. Sounds simple enough, but if you know anything about the director Werner Herzog, you...
1 tag
Good thing these guys aren't lumberjacks
Twenty years ago this very week Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was released in theatres. I guess it’s an odd film to commemorate the release date of, I know. It’s not Star Wars or Star Trek, or to put it in more comic-book-like terms, it’s not Superman or Batman. I mean, they’re still trying to rekindle the magic that was the Man of Steel’s first film, and...
March 2010
6 posts
1 tag
Have Fun Storming the Castle!
If I had to pick just one movie to love for the rest of my life, I’m pretty certain it would be The Princess Bride.
I recently watched it with a group of friends, and as we discussed it before hitting play I commented that it’s one of a handful of romantic films that I absolutely love. I was stunned when one of the women there responded with something along the lines of...
8 tags
It's My Birthday Too, Yeah
So, it was my birthday this week. Yeah, yeah, thanks. I generally like to celebrate it alone, and while that my sound depressing, in the past it has caused some arguments with people, it’s the way I prefer to celebrate. Mainly because nothing anyone can do will ever live up to any expectation I have for what should be a special day for me. A day about me. So, I prefer to spend the day...
2 tags
Even I Don-t Understand the Dead Cat
The Coen Brothers have been writing and directing films since 1984’s Blood Simple. In 25 years they have collaborated on 14 films. They range from absurdist comedies (The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona) to out and out dramatic thrillers (Miller’s Crossing, No Country For Old Men), and while I’m certain all of their movies contain pieces of themselves, they’ve not made a...
2 tags
What the Fook?
District 9 is an amazing achievement. It’s a movie that shouldn’t work. At All. It’s a sci-fi film made on a budget of $30 million (by comparison, Transformers 2 was made for $200 million, $150 million for Star Trek, $175 million for G.I. Joe and well, Avatar cost between $300 and $500 million depending on who you ask). Written and directed by essentially a rookie, Neil...
2 tags
Oblige Him
I wish I could remember where I heard it and who said it, but in one discussion about Inglourious Basterds someone remarked that in an age of Hollywood remakes Quentin Tarantino has done something no one else would ever have the guts to do; he re-made World War II. And, if we’re being honest, he did make it better. Because, well, SPOILER WARNING!!!! Hitler dies at the hands of a Jew....
2 tags
They talk like TV channels I don't watch
Precious is a hard film to watch, but probably not for the reasons you’d think. I’m certain that a most people just felt sorry for the title character of the film when the credits rolled. Those people missed the point. Precious is not a film about pity or empathy, it’s about hope. Hope in the face of absolute destitution. And, if you watch it and can’t see that I think...
February 2010
8 posts
2 tags
You're not in Kansas anymore
Note: This is probably going to read like a bunch of disjointed thoughts, mainly because it is. It’s been awhile since I watched Avatar, so, just indulge me.
When I walked out of the theatre after watching Avatar, the first thought I had was “I bet this is exactly how people felt in August of 1939.” See, that’s the month The Wizard of Oz opened, and I can only imagine...
2 tags
Adventure is out there!
If you haven’t see Up yet…well, first, what the heck is wrong with you, and second, you might want to skip this post. Yes, I’m going to spoil the movie, but, really, it’s not a movie that you CAN spoil. The only “hook” to the plot of Up is that it’s a well made film with great characters and a fun, moving story. But, if you want to read something a...
2 tags
French singing wasn't on the syllabus
I guess the simple thing would be to call An Education a coming-of age tale set in early 1960’s England. But, I don’t think there’s a simple thing in or about this movie.
Helen, a character we’re introduced to fairly early in the film (played brilliantly by Rosamund Pike, redeeming herself for that gawdawful Surrogates movie), and off the bat we know she’s...
2 tags
You the guy in the flaming car?
I don’t really have a lot to add to what I’ve already said about The Hurt Locker, but there are two scenes I’d like to comment on…
First, the opening; The movie is pretty intense from beginning to end, and it helps that it starts with one of the most edge-of-your seat scenes in recent film history. I’m not gonna spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but...
2 tags
Like Vinegar
There are about fifty different ways I can write this little one-sided discussion on The Blind Side. But in the end, like most film reviews, it’ll come down to one of three things, positively, negatively or somewhere in the middle. I’ll get it out of the way and tell you I’m gonna be walking that “somewhere in the middle” tightrope here, so if you’re...
1 tag
Coming Soon...
Over the next two weeks I’m going to be writing up posts for all ten films that were nominated for a best picture Oscar. I’ve already blogged about one, Up in the Air, so I’ll spare any further talk about it, except to say that it’s wonderful and everyone should see it. I’ll expand on previous talk about Up and The Hurt Locker. So, stay tuned!
6 tags
What do a frog, a fox, an old man, buttons and the...
They all feature prominently in the nominations for Best Animated Picture at the Oscars, of course.
So, this past weekend I was able to watch the four films I hadn’t seen that were nominated, but, I’m gonna start with the one I had seen already, so, here we go!
1.) Up
It’s been a few months since I’ve watched it, but I imagine almost anyone reading this has seen it at...
2 tags
And the Oscar (Undeservedly) Goes To...
My thoughts on the nominations, which you can find here; I copied these from my Facebook page, so some of you may have already read them…
The Blind Side & District 9 for best picture, didn’t see those coming, very interesting. Have yet to see The Blind Side. The rest were almost a sure thing, very glad to see Up in there, not happy at all that Avatar got a nod. I liked it, yes,...
2 tags
PI^s Just a Number.
Like so many movies that I fall in love with, it’s hard to nail down an exact plot for Jason Reitman’s latest film, Up in the Air.
Clooney plays Ryan Bingham, a man who makes his living firing others, like some sort of corporate ninja. When his company decides to ground him and his co-ninja’s in favor of a new way of doing business (via computers and webcams) he has to take...
January 2010
3 posts
1 tag
There Are No Teams
I remember walking out of my first viewing of The Royal Tenenbaums just in awe. That it begins with an (almost) instrumental version of Hey Jude may or may not have anything to do with the fact that I fell in love with it from the start, I’m not sure. But, there’s alot to love here outside of that.
I get that a lot of people don’t understand this film, let alone find it...
1 tag
I Just Want Something Beautiful
“A beautiful girl can make you dizzy, like you’ve been drinking Jack and Coke all morning. She can make you feel high full of the single greatest commodity known to man - promise. Promise of a better day. Promise of a greater hope. Promise of a new tomorrow. This particular aura can be found in the gait of a beautiful girl. In her smile, in her soul, the way she makes every rotten...
December 2009
2 posts
1 tag
Bend Over and I'll Show You
There’s a speech that Hugh Grant gives at the beginning of Love Actually that just gets me every time. He talks about watching people at the airport as they greet their loved ones, and how none of the phone calls from the planes on 9/11 were messages of hate, but ones of love to family and friends. I’d like to say that it gets me just because he mentions that horrific day in such a...
2 tags
Seems Like I Ought To Know You
There are people who will tell you about how certain smells trigger memories in their brain, I’m not one of those people. I love the smell of sugar cookies and fresh baked cinnamon rolls, but they don’t bring up memories of a happy childhood, my mother baking in the kitchen, they just make me hungry. But movies…
I’ve talked before about my association between memory...
November 2009
2 posts
2 tags
Favorite Movie Scenes 6
This is another one that I can’t find a clip of, so my description will just have to suffice.
The Darjeeling Limited
I love Wes Anderson. The man has not made a bad film. In fact, he’s made four damn near perfect films, I think (haven’t seen The Fantastic Mr. Fox yet, so it could be five), and this one is probably my favorite of the bunch.
It’s the story of three...
2 tags
The Perfect Con
I think it was about four months ago when I first saw Rian Johnson’s sophomore effort, The Brothers Bloom, though at this point it may be closer to five months, I’m not exactly sure. In the three weeks that it played in my city I saw it six times. There’s only one film I’ve paid to see more than this one, and that’s Jurassic Park (seven times).
Since then...
October 2009
6 posts
2 tags
Favorite Movie Scenes, Part Cinco
No video to go with this one folks, because, well, I can’t find one. And since I’m pretty dumb at the whole youtube thing, and don’t want to get sued, well, I won’t be uploading it. Instead, you’ll get to hear me describe it. Sounds like fun no?
For the last few days I’ve been trying to come up with a Halloween-related post, so I Googled “favorite scary...
3 tags
3 tags
WatchTwo for Four, Part 2
(Part 1)
Then there’s Juno. I liked Juno. Alot. I wouldn’t say I loved it, the movie is a bit to precious and hipster for me, but I really enjoyed it, and a big part of that is the final scene in the film. Like The Graduate, I don’t think the movie’s meaning comes across to me. I understand it, but it just doesn’t grab me. That last scene does...
2 tags
