Directed by David Zellner In Kimuko, The Treasure Hunter, a 29 year-old woman from Japan heads to America to find the treasure from the Coen Brothers’ 1996 film Fargo. Her search for something from a fictional story brings to mind the fruitless, stubborn efforts of a Werner Herzog character (Aguirre, Fitzcarraldo), and her motivation has … Continue reading Kimuko, the Treasure Hunter (2014)
Month: November 2018
A Star is Born (2018)
Directed by Bradley Cooper A Star is Born is a melodrama in which celebrity, it seems, is a zero sum game. The movie tracks the romance between a fading star musician, Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) and an up and coming pop star, Ally (Lady Gaga). They meet by chance, in the ways Hollywood lovers do, … Continue reading A Star is Born (2018)
Kid-Thing (2012)
Directed by David Zellner Annie (Sydney Aguirre) is a bit of an asshole in Kid-Thing, a black comedy about a future Ted Bundy. She's emotionless, isolated and becoming increasingly violent thanks to endless days with no leash and a father who doesn't know any better than to let her run wild. When he finds out she … Continue reading Kid-Thing (2012)
The Finest Hours (2016)
Directed by Craig Gillespie The Finest Hours is an okay but conventional dramatization of the real life rescue of thirty-two workers aboard a sinking oil tanker. It stars Chris Pine doing a possibly accurate but nevertheless distracting Boston accent and Ben Foster doing much the same. In the middle is Casey Affleck playing a more … Continue reading The Finest Hours (2016)
Damsel (2018)
Directed by David Zellner, Nathan Zellner The "damsel" in question is Penelope (Mia Wasikowska), and she does not need to be saved. Though she's the titular character, Penelope doesn't enter the narrative until halfway into the movie, and her role is really to be the eye of the storm, the center around which all the … Continue reading Damsel (2018)
Leave No Trace (2018)
Directed by Debra Granik In Leave No Trace a military veteran and his teenaged daughter live a quiet life in the forest. Soon local law enforcement will track them down and introduce them back to civilization. The daughter, having never been forced to choose between the wild and the civilized world, slowly adapts to the new … Continue reading Leave No Trace (2018)
Patriot Games (1992)
Directed by Philip Noyce It's easy to get Patriot Games mixed up with any other number of Harrison Ford action movies, whether it's Witness, The Fugitive, Air Force One, Frantic, Presumed Innocent, Clear and Present Danger, etc. In these movies he plays a gruff, over the hill agent of some kind who finds himself involved in a dangerous plot out … Continue reading Patriot Games (1992)
Trees Lounge (1996)
Directed by Steve Buscemi Trees Lounge has the feeling of a Jim Jarmusch film, something between Stranger Than Paradise, Broken Flowers and 2016's Paterson. It's a combination of unique portraits of oddball, melancholic characters and features a cast that could be pulled straight from a Jarmusch film. Familiar faces like Chloë Sevigny (Broken Flowers), Samuel L. Jackson, Eszter Balint (Stranger … Continue reading Trees Lounge (1996)
Starman (1984)
Directed by John Carpenter In 1977 NASA launched Voyager 2, a space probe bearing messages of "greetings" in 54 languages. In 1984 an alien intercepted that probe and headed to earth where its spacecraft was shot down somewhere over Wisconsin. Unharmed, the alien made its way towards a cabin and, using a video reference and … Continue reading Starman (1984)
Woman Walks Ahead (2018)
Directed by Susanna White Woman Walks Ahead has good intentions, but it tries to push upon us a story we've seen before. The specifics of Catherine Weldon's (Jessica Chastain) journey out west to paint a portrait of a Native American Chief (Michael Greyeyes) might be unique, but the movie boils it all down into the … Continue reading Woman Walks Ahead (2018)
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