Directed by Todd Phillips Joker seems to be split among critics and fans. Critics are lukewarm at best, pointing out some of the unfair representations of mental illness and the way the film borrows a whole heck of a lot from Taxi Driver and King of Comedy (and maybe Nightcrawler too), but fans just seem to love it … Continue reading Joker (2019)
period piece
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Directed by John Madden Shakespeare in Love plays like a Shakespearean play, namely Romeo & Juliet. There's the central love story, the forces that work against them (like a suitor, old English mafia, the playwright's rival) and then the bitter, tragic end. Knowing what the film was trying to do makes it, to me, a … Continue reading Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Computer Chess (2013)
Directed by Andrew Bujalski Analyzing Computer Chess seems a daunting thing to do. Half the people who find a way to see it will love it, and half will hate it. I fall into the former camp, but even then it's hard to figure out why it works when it does and when it doesn't work, … Continue reading Computer Chess (2013)
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
Directed by Robert Mulligan To Kill a Mockingbird announces itself before the film even begins. The grand Elmer Bernstein music, coupled with intimate close ups of trinkets that will gather meaning (but already have a great deal if you're familiar with the book) throughout the film suggest something important, like the source text is the … Continue reading To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
The Sacrifice (1986)/The Dead (1987)
Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky; John Huston I recently watched both Andrei Tarkovsky's The Sacrifice and John Huston's The Dead and came away with a strong sense of how I felt but little understanding of how to talk about these movies. Both movies, though, have so much in common that it's almost as if they are made to … Continue reading The Sacrifice (1986)/The Dead (1987)
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