Directed by Milos Forman We see Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the eyes of a contemporary, Antonio Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), a man full of envy and awe. Framed through his immense jealousy, the film is big, broad and cutting. It makes Mozart (Tom Hulce) a juvenile virtuoso with a unique laugh and builds a Stepbrothers-like rivalry … Continue reading Amadeus (1984)
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They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
Directed by Peter Jackson They Shall Not Grow Old is a fascinating documentary consisting entirely of archival footage on the Western Front and accompanying voice over from unseen survivors of the war. Their words bring to life the sometimes mundane, certainly horrifying reality of daily life in the trenches, where between the bombs and gunfire … Continue reading They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
The Mule (2018)
Directed by Clint Eastwood Clint Eastwood's The Mule is ludicrous. Its predictability wouldn't normally be a problem were it at least a little fun, but the movie takes itself very seriously. Eastwood plays the central character, a 90 year old Earl Stone, who is at all times the moral center of the movie, which is absurd … Continue reading The Mule (2018)
Doubt (2008)
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)
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)
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