Directed by John Patrick Stanley Damn. So Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis and Amy Adams are pretty amazing. I'm left so awestruck by their performances that I kind of forget what the movie is even about. Doubt constructs just enough of a story, about the relationship between a priest and a black student … Continue reading Doubt (2008)
Month: January 2019
Ben Is Back (2018)
Directed by Peter Hedges Ben (Lucas Hedges) is an addict, with 77 days clean, when he unexpectedly shows up on his family's doorstep on Christmas Eve. His arrival is both joyous and foreboding, and the nature of his sudden appearance will be up for debate. Ben Is Back seems to exist in a Pottery Barn catalogue. … Continue reading Ben Is Back (2018)
The Grifters (1990)
Directed by Stephen Frears What a strange little ride. I think I love The Grifters purely because of how odd, twisted and inspired it is. The 1990 film feels like a colorized version of something from the 1940s, complete with the film noir tropes, femme fatales, Elmer Bernstein music, misdirection, corrupted souls and mistaken identities. The … Continue reading The Grifters (1990)
Widows (2018)
Directed by Steve McQueen Widows is a strange, good movie. It's a heist movie set in Chicago which tackles class divides, political corruption and the burden of the dead. At times it is quite funny, quite dark, and the cast of engaging characters are well-defined but a little scattered. They are well-constructed images, sounds and … Continue reading Widows (2018)
Spaceballs (1987)
Directed by Mel Brooks The top three things I remember from 2003: The first news footage of the war in Iraq, Ivan Rodriguez dashing the Giants' postseason hopes, and watching and re-watching the trailer for my most anticipated movie of the year, Scary Movie 3. It's one of those parody movies satirizing or really just referencing … Continue reading Spaceballs (1987)
Best of 2018 (highly subjective)
A ranking of the 94 movies I saw from 2018. Roma (Alfonso Cuaron) First Reformed (Paul Schrader) Burning (Lee Chang-dong) Eighth Grade (Bo Burnham) Cold War (Pawel Pawlikowski) Generation Wealth (Lauren Greenfield) Lean on Pete (Andrew Haigh) Shoplifters (Hirokazu Kore-eda) First Man (Damien Chazelle) BlackKklansman (Spike Lee) Won't You Be My Neighbor? (Morgan Neville) Support … Continue reading Best of 2018 (highly subjective)
Brewster McCloud (1970)
Directed by Robert Altman The dreamers don't win in Robert Altman's mind bending, logic-defying, establishment-challenging Brewster McCloud. The slapstick story, complete with gags straight out of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (similar to Peter Bogdanovich's What's Up Doc?) combines farce with pathos. It's the story of Brewster McCloud (Bud Cort), a lonely young man who doesn't … Continue reading Brewster McCloud (1970)
Killing Gunther (2017)
Directed by Taran Killam In Killing Gunther a team of delusional assassins try to kill one of the best in their field, Gunther. He will be a mythical figure who shows up for only a few frames for a second, often in motion or very far away. He might as well be a ghost, though he … Continue reading Killing Gunther (2017)
High Fidelity (2000)
Directed by Stephen Frears High Fidelity has a similar energy to another John Cusack classic, 1989's Say Anything... except that this time Cusack plays an absolute jerk, self-loathing, self-centered and, for some reason, self-assured. Rob Gordon (Cusack) owns his own record shop somewhere in a hip area of Chicago, and while to me that smells like … Continue reading High Fidelity (2000)
Papillon (2017)
Directed by Michael Noer Who doesn't like a good 'ol fashioned prison break movie? Papillon has a little trouble getting in gear, but before you know it the movie, about a French safecracker (Charlie Hunnam) framed for murder, takes flight and never looks back. Maybe it's just that I'm right there in the sweet spot … Continue reading Papillon (2017)
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