Directed by Alex Lehmann Michael and Andy (Mark Duplass, Ray Romano) are two friends and neighbors whose lives are defined by a healthy amount of stasis, even when Michael learns he has terminal cancer. They watch and re-watch their favorite kung fu movies, reheat the same flavored pizzas and play a made up game (Paddleton) … Continue reading Paddleton (2019)
Month: April 2019
Everybody Knows (2018)
Directed by Asghar Farhadi Everybody Knows takes a kidnapping and turns it into a melodrama. That may sound facetious, but it's an effective, tense family drama that plays out like something Shakespearean. There's a wedding in a small, idyllic Spanish town that brings together a large family and their orbit of friends. The two most … Continue reading Everybody Knows (2018)
Big Fish (2003)
Directed by Tim Burton Whether simply because of the framing device or because he's a narcissist, Big Fish is a series of tales about a blowhard for whom everything goes his way, and yet it just yanks on the heartstrings every time I watch it. As an old man Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) struggles to maintain … Continue reading Big Fish (2003)
Quiz Show (1994)
Directed by Robert Redford Robert Redford's Quiz Show is an exhilarating drama about the fraud involved in a 1950s reality television program that pits two contestants against each other, answering trivia questions for a cash prize. Like with so many current reality tv programs, "reality" is actually quite constructed, and the film details the investigation into … Continue reading Quiz Show (1994)
JFK (1991)
Directed by Oliver Stone Despite having never seen this film, my vague understanding has always been that it played fast and loose with the facts. Oliver Stone's movie challenges the established record of the John F. Kennedy assassination, and being a good little boy I've always taken the establishment at face value. Having finally seen JFK, … Continue reading JFK (1991)
Big Eyes (2014)
Directed by Tim Burton Big Eyes is Ed Wood-lite, another dramatization of a true story about an artist with varying degrees of success. In the former Tim Burton movie, Ed Wood was a director of unmistakably bad movies, though undeterred by each subsequent success. He remained an optimist through and through. In Big Eyes the … Continue reading Big Eyes (2014)
This Property is Condemned (1966)
Directed by Sydney Pollack Depression Era Dobson, Mississippi is a small southern town with little work to offer save for a railroad company and the Starr Boarding House. Owen Legate (Robert Redford) arrives quietly in town, taking up residence at the Boarding House on the night it's crowded in celebration of the landlady, "Mama" Starr … Continue reading This Property is Condemned (1966)
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Directed by Michael Cimino At first glance Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges seem like an odd pair, almost as if they were shooting two entirely different movies and one day just stumbled onto the same set. Here they play a bank robber and a, well I guess a petty car thief. Part of the unexpected … Continue reading Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974)
Don’t Look Now (1973)
Directed by Nicholas Roeg Don't Look Now finds its two main characters in a labyrinth of grief, somewhere in the dark, foggy, isolated alleys of Venice, Italy. They are a married couple, John and Laura Baxter (Donald Sutherland, Julie Christie), from England who have come to Venice for John's work, as he restores an old … Continue reading Don’t Look Now (1973)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Directed by Tim Burton Edward Scissorhands, like many of Tim Burton's films, is undeniably unique. It's a fairytale world, a hybrid of Dr. Seuss and David Lynch, with a little bit of German Expressionism mixed in. Edward (Johnny Depp) lives in hiding up on a gothic hill above a bright, colorful, unsettling suburbia down below. … Continue reading Edward Scissorhands (1990)
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