Directed by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson In Up, Carl Fredricksen retires to South America by way of floating house in order to fulfill a dream shared by himself and his now deceased wife, Ellie.  The dream is to visit Paradise Falls and to someday live there, but as an early montage shows us, life moves by … Continue reading Up (2009)

Directed by Martin McDonagh Seven Psychopaths is the second of McDonagh's three films, after In Bruges and ahead of this year's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.  If you like Three Billboards you probably also like Seven Psychopaths and vice versa.  McDonagh clearly has a distinct sensibility, something like the combination of comedy and violence seen in a Shane Black … Continue reading Seven Psychopaths (2012)

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson There was a debate in my little beat up Mazda 3 on the way home from Phantom Thread.  I saw it with two of my friends who didn't much care for the film, and I found myself defending a film I'm not even sure I liked.  This being a Paul Thomas … Continue reading Phantom Thread (2017)

Directed by Andrew Stanton It feels disingenuous to call a movie magical, but the first 20 or so minutes of Wall-E really are magical.  Like the famously heartfelt and somber montage near the beginning of Up, the mostly silent first act introduces us to a hero who can only beep and mutter strained, monosyllabic words.  He's a … Continue reading Wall-E (2008)

Directed by Sam Fuller The Naked Kiss is going to be hard to write about for a few reasons.  First, it's a film directed by Sam Fuller, a notable filmmaker whose films I have never seen (until this one).  Second, it was made smack dab in the middle of his career, meaning I can't look … Continue reading The Naked Kiss (1964)

Directed by Lewis Milestone What is there to say about The Strange Love of Martha Ivers?  Seriously, what do I say?  I got nothing. Well, that's where most of these write ups start, and by the end I'll come up with a point of view.  Strange Love is a love triangle of a story with various … Continue reading The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

Directed by Sam Mendes I like Revolutionary Road for the same reasons I like Mad Men.  It's a story set in the 1960s, depicting a world of both monotony and intense beauty.  That beauty is a bit disturbing, considering all the injustices and prejudices and overt racism that helped define the decade, but I believe there remains … Continue reading Revolutionary Road (2008)

Directed by Arthur Penn Bonnie and Clyde is one of the more revolutionary films of the last 50-ish years, and I'm not sure why it took me so long to watch it.  It's like the Citizen Kane of the American New Wave (aka New Hollywood) movement which took place in the late 60's and 70's.  Whereas Citizen … Continue reading Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Directed by Jake Kasdan There was no reason to see Jumanji 2 in theaters, but I found myself alone for a night in San Diego with nothing to do and a movie pass card burning a hole in my wallet.  It was a Wednesday night, a couple weeks after the movie's opening, yet there was a sizable, … Continue reading Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)

Directed by Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina At a certain point you'd expect the emotion of a Pixar movie to feel forced, the characters' cuteness manufactured and the climax a little too perfect, and it all is, but it still works.  Coco is f*cking adorable.  It hits many of the same beats as other Pixar films, notably Up, … Continue reading Coco (2017)