Directed by Brian De Palma Carlito's Way is, like I wrote about The Untouchables, very violent and melodramatic, but it's great.  Okay, maybe it's a little long, but this genre of mafiosos, gangsters, drugs and money is always a little long.  In Carlito's Way, we're given too early images of Carlito Brigante (Al Pacino).  In the first, … Continue reading Carlito’s Way (1993)

Directed by Richard Linklater Most of Richard Linklater’s films seem grounded in hyperrealism, but because of that it might be easy to overlook the sort of heightened realism of some of his other films, such as SubUrbia and Tape.  These are films presented as stories in our own world.  They glamorize or at least focus … Continue reading Tape (2001)

Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky The Steamroller and the Violin, Andrei Tarkovsky's first film, is a quiet one about a young boy, who plays the violin, befriending a working man, the steamroller.  The story is simple but genuine.  It relies on the interaction between and believability of the two main characters, but the film is much … Continue reading The Steamroller and the Violin (1962)

Directed by James Gray The Lost City of Z is an adventure movie, but there's not quite as much adventure as you'd expect.  It's the story of Percy Fawcett (Charlie Hunnam), an explorer in the early 1900s who accepts a mission deep into the uncharted Amazon and soon becomes obsessed with finding a lost city … Continue reading The Lost City of Z (2017)

Directed by Brian De Palma I can’t tell if this film is good or terrible.  I probably only give it as much credit as I do because it’s directed by Brian De Palma.  The film is occasionally melodramatic and often cartoonishly violent, two things that might irritate me in another film, but those qualities are … Continue reading The Untouchables (1987)

Directed by Mike Birbiglia I loved Don't Think Twice when I first saw it about a year ago.  I love improv, I love Mike Birbiglia, and I love so many of the actors in this movie.  It ends on a sentimental note, and it worked for me.  Watching this a second time, though, I was struck … Continue reading Don’t Think Twice (2016)

Directed by James Ward Byrkit Coherence is a low budget, contained sci-fi movie that relies on no special effects, just the effective performances of the actors who carry the story.  It's about a moment in time, as a comet passes overhead, in which different dimensions coalesce or at least come into brief contact.  We follow … Continue reading Coherence (2013)

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni Blow Up was Antonioni's biggest hit.  It's a film that seems as immersed in the 1960s youth, counter culture movement as any other I can think of.  Other films like Bonnie & Clyde (1968) likely benefited from a growing audience born out of this time period, but Blow Up seems like it couldn't … Continue reading Blow Up (1966)

Directed by D.A. Pennebaker The 1967 New York Times review of this film begins: "It will be a good joke on us all if, in fifty years or so, Dylan is regarded as a significant figure in English poetry. Not Mr. Thomas, the late Welsh bard, but Bob, the guitar-picking American balladeer. One step toward … Continue reading Don’t Look Back (1967)

Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni Red Desert might make you expect something resembling a western, at least on the surface.  Knowing this was an Antonioni film, I didn't expect much of a narrative or anything as plot-heavy as a John Wayne movie, but the title does make you think of two things: color and scope. There … Continue reading Red Desert (1964)