Directed by Olivier Assayas In Clouds of Sils Maria, an actress holds on dearly to the past while considering taking a role in a remake of the film which first made her a star. With shades of Ingmar Bergman's Persona (1966), Maria (Juliette Binoche) spends most of her time with personal assistant, Valentine (Kristen Stewart), who pushes … Continue reading Clouds of Sils Maria (2014)
Month: July 2018
The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
Directed by Terence Fisher The Man Who Could Cheat Death is pure, delightful pulp outside of a long conversation on the morality of immortality. It's actually quite a good movie, one whose selling points indicate none of the real quality of the film. This is a horror movie that is never quite horrifying, a drama … Continue reading The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959)
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Directed by J.A. Bayona Alright, so Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is fine, right? Or maybe it's awful, I'm not sure. I do know what I consider to be wrong with the movie (there's a lot), but I'm not clear on whether any of it matters. Your relationship with a movie is as much about what you … Continue reading Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Parenthood (1989)
Directed by Ron Howard Parenthood is a heartfelt, sincere family comedy, and it seems to me like they don't make many of those anymore. The closest I can think of is 2011's Crazy, Stupid, Love. These movies are inherently optimistic, and while they showcase some characters at their worst, they only do so to show how … Continue reading Parenthood (1989)
Something Wild (1986)
Directed by Jonathan Demme A yuppie and a wild child hit the road, turning into something like Bonnie & Clyde lite in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild. They are two polar opposites, and by the middle of the film they finally meet somewhere in the middle. By then the stakes are raised, and while the first half of the … Continue reading Something Wild (1986)
The Iron Giant (1999)
Directed by Brad Bird The Iron Giant lands in tiny Rockwell, Maine. It's a fishing village, and the intimacy of such a small town allows for a good microcosm of America at the time as a whole. The story takes place in 1957, a time smothered in post World War II paranoia, but our perspective … Continue reading The Iron Giant (1999)
Fedora (1978)
Directed by Billy Wilder Everything about Billy Wilder's Fedora feels out of time and place. The story takes place in an isolated European estate, inhabited by characters with deliberately hidden agendas. Our hero, Dutch, is played by William Holden, two decades older than we're used to seeing him in his most well-known films (Sunset Boulevard, The Bridge on … Continue reading Fedora (1978)
The Incredibles 2 (2018)
Directed by Brad Bird There's a lot to like in The Incredibles 2, so much so that I feel like my relative disappointment with the film is my fault. The story is fun and entertaining, and early reviews raved about the movie, but half of the story feels innovative, true to the core of what The Incredibles is … Continue reading The Incredibles 2 (2018)
Zabriskie Point (1970)
Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni "Disastrously in between are the absolutely wretched youngsters Frechette and Halprin, who cause a fatal rupture when their bedraggled, inexpressive drama fails to feed life into a brilliantly lyrical documentary." - The Village Voice, 1983 "It clearly constructs a negative image of authority and materialism, but its converse handling of revolutionary students … Continue reading Zabriskie Point (1970)
The Kid with a Bike (2011)
Directed by Jean-Pierre, Luc Dardenne The Kid with a Bike is a small, handheld movie about a kid looking for his father. It's like a modern version of The 400 Blows, though a little more destructive. When we meet Cyril, the spunky 12 year old hero, he is in the midst of yet another attempt to escape … Continue reading The Kid with a Bike (2011)
