Dir. Kurt Kuenne This is a genuinely unusual film, even though much of its trappings are pretty typical for a documentary. Talking heads, personal reminiscences, home videos, police reports, news clippings, all that stuff. It begins as the story of Andrew Bagby, a recent medical school graduate who was murdered by an ex-girlfriend named Shirley… Read More Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008)
Dir. Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky As a damn Yankee—a Yankee merely visits the South but a damn Yankee stays—I have been occasionally amazed at the inability of even highly educated Southerners to name what states make up New England and which ones they are. And as a person who was born and raised in… Read More Brother’s Keeper (1992)
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Benny Safdie Spoilers! The plot is pretty far from twisty, but maybe you haven’t seen this and you’re looking forward to hearing the dialogue fresh or not knowing what classic music you’ll hear from the 1970s. At the risk of sounding like a stan or a… Read More Licorice Pizza (2021)
Dir. Adam McKay. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep There are spoilers here for a recent release, though Don’t Look Up definitely strikes me as the kind of movie that’s hard to actually “spoil.” The funniest thing in Don’t Look Up is the running gag about the general at the White House who charges… Read More Don’t Look Up (2021)
Dir. Ridley Scott. Starring Jodie Comer, Adam Driver, Matt Damon Spoilers, I guess…this is still a recent-ish release. The title cards separating the film’s chapters are not subtle about what they’re after. Chapter 1 begins after five or six minutes of prologue. It belongs to Jean de Carrouges (Damon), and the screen says: “The truth… Read More The Last Duel (2021)
In 2021 I spent a lot of time fighting off the rigmarole of “movie reviews” or “film criticism” by doing “projects” instead. I’ve linked to the projects of the year, as well as some individual posts that I think are representative of the kind of criticism I wanted to do this year. I’ve chosen thirteen… Read More 2021 Year-End Review: Index of Good Posts
I’m going to be shy of 600 first watches for the year, and although my caveman instinct to applaud round numbers is a little revolted by that miss, it’s worth noting that I’ll have seen more movies new to me during 2021 than I have in any other year of my life. I love watching… Read More 2021 Year-End Review: 25 Favorite First Watches
You can find the full list of the top 100 blockbusters since 1972 here, as well as an index for other posts in this series. One of the first questions I had as I was working through my rubrics and compilations was a pretty simple one: Spielberg or Cameron? I’m a little alarmed by how conventional… Read More Top 100 Blockbusters of the Multiplex Era: Trends
You can find the full list of the top 100 blockbusters since 1972 here, as well as an index for other posts in this series. If your monster has a mirror in it, do not shout. This kind of situation does not call for freaking out. And do nothing that you would not like to see… Read More Top 100 Blockbusters of the Multiplex Era: The Monster in the Mirror
You can find the full list of the top 100 blockbusters since 1972 here, as well as an index for other posts in this series. Like most other phrases you hate, “having it all” has its basis in marketing as opposed to someone’s actual thoughts. Helen Gurley Brown angled for that 1982 book which launched a… Read More Top 100 Blockbusters of the Multiplex Era: Heroines of the Second Wave
Seeing Things Secondhand 