Directed by James Ponsoldt Smashed is a sweet little independent drama about a woman's sobriety that focuses less on the individual steps to recovery and more on the consequences of said sobriety. Kate (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Charlie (Aaron Paul) are a young married couple living somewhere in Los Angeles. They are both alcoholics, but life … Continue reading Smashed (2012)
Month: March 2019
Cold War (2018)
Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski Cold War is a love story between Zula and Wiktor, told over the course of fifteen years made tumultuous due to Poland's politics of the time. The various difficulties they face, both between each other and with their government, turn them into a modern-er day Romeo & Juliet, two people destined for … Continue reading Cold War (2018)
Detroit (2017)
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit is a scattered period piece ostensibly about the 1967 Detroit riot but which centers around an incident at the Algiers Motel that left three black teenagers dead and more heavily beaten. So much of the movie is limited to the long night at the motel that should just be the entire … Continue reading Detroit (2017)
City Heat (1984)
Directed by Richard Benjamin City Heat is a total dad movie. It stars Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds, doing very much Eastwood and Reynolds things, as lawmen mowing their way through prohibition era gangsters in studio backlots. Just about the whole thing takes place at night, like many films noir, but there is something decidedly … Continue reading City Heat (1984)
Venom (2018)
Directed by Ruben Fleischer Okay, so in Venom a parasite takes partial control of reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) and turns him into a cannibalistic Spiderman type of thing, but don't be fooled (!), this movie is just like every other passable studio superhero movie out there. Sure, there are some interesting choices, Hardy has fun … Continue reading Venom (2018)
Life During Wartime (2009)
Directed by Todd Solondz I love Life During Wartime because I love Todd Solondz's movies. I have no idea where this might rank among his works or how good of a movie it is. All I know is that it is uniquely Todd Solondz and I found several moments either very moving, very dark, very hilarious or all … Continue reading Life During Wartime (2009)
Clown (2014)
Directed by Jon Watts Clown, about a man turning into a child-eating clown, is disturbing and thus incredibly effective. It's one of those troubling horror movies that, though it follows certain conventions, wades into frightening, disgusting territory and provokes incredibly upsetting feelings within the viewer. On one hand such feelings may make it easy to write … Continue reading Clown (2014)
The Crying Game (1992)
Directed by Neil Jordan The Crying Game is both quite unexpected and very familiar. It's a movie made up of two distinct stories, handing off the baton between two protagonists while the most interesting character remains off to the side. She is Dil (Jaye Davidson), the love interest of a soldier, Jody (Forest Whitaker) kidnapped … Continue reading The Crying Game (1992)
Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
Directed by Steven S. DeKnight Pacific Rim: Uprising is very much just an 'okay' movie. I'm not sure what more there is to say. The performances are a bit of a drag, if only because there seems to be a lot of effort only to recapture what worked about the first movie, but the visual … Continue reading Pacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
Beetlejuice (1988)
Directed by Tim Burton Beetlejuice is a macabre wonder. It's a blend of the same bright, colorful, purposefully Mayberry-esque small town that you see in David Lynch's Blue Velvet, with the dark and slimy world of something like a German expressionist horror film. Adam and Barbara (Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis), are a happilyy married couple in that … Continue reading Beetlejuice (1988)
idrawonmywall.com 