They do brackets for everything at this time of year. For those of us who live the Way of the Bracket, this deluge of bracketology is reminiscent of April Fools’ Day for those of who live the Way of Lying Indiscriminately. It’s nice to see people trying because it’s precious. Because the Oscars happened a… Read More “Best Director” Madness 2023: Introduction and Bracket Reveal
This one’s real late! A surprisingly busy schedule at work, the Oscars, and March Madness have all contributed. But it’s still really late! March 7th At least it was a good day for rewatches historically? Maybe Last Temptation, The Fugitive, and Badlands don’t make for the neatest triple feature in the world, but there are… Read More Movie Diary 2023 (3/7-3/16): Gamified Horror
After Nomadland won Best Picture, I argued that a cinematic pose which I call “boutique indie” was a natural conclusion to recent approach to Best Picture nominees and winners. The short version is that as studios become more ruthless with their money, they want to provide the thrill of high stakes without having to pay… Read More Everything Everywhere All at Once and the Boutique Indie Posture
(To see the results of last year’s Grouches, go here. For the year before, go here. To see the first Grouches, which also carries a significantly more complete version of my criteria, go here.) Last year, we at the Grouches decided that we were going to go whole hog into being Oscars counterprogramming and for… Read More 4th Annual Grouches: 2022 Movie Year Awards
March 2nd “Truly,” Sherif Ali says to Lawrence, “for some men nothing is written unless they write it.” It’s one of the most profound, haunting, and countermanded lines in cinematic history, and in a film which does not include any female characters, it’s noteworthy that the line refers only to “men.” Ala Kachuu adds “and… Read More Movie Diary 2023 (3/2-3/6): Benediction
February 20th One of the first pieces that Woodward and Bernstein try to get through in All the President’s Men is, on the whole, kind of thin. When Bradlee actually reads it, he tells them, “You haven’t got it,” says, “Not good enough.” The sell, delivered by Jack Warden’s Rosenfeld, initially described the piece to… Read More Movie Diary 2023 (2/20-3/1): A Rush of 2020s to the Head
February 15th I suppose if you compare virtually anything to Gunga Din or The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, it starts to look surprisingly nuanced about imperialism, but Wee Willie Winkie demands that we give the British Raj some side-eye from the very beginning. Priscilla does not immediately grasp the idea of what colonialism is,… Read More 2023 Movie Diary (2/15-2/19): The IQ of a Rabbit and the Faith of a Child
February 10th It’s not weird enough. It’s what I keep coming back to with this movie, which is daffy but not weird enough to register as something special. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito are different enough for a trailer’s worth of gags, but over the course of the movie this is nothing more than a… Read More 2023 Movie Diary (2/10-2/14): Burning and Drowning and Pills, Oh My
February 5th What follows is a cursed description of a great movie. The screenwriting award at Sundance? Yuck! Charlie Kaufman loves this movie? Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat! A two-hander where people bounce off each other awkwardly? Good God! But you oughtn’t to judge a movie by its little description on Criterion or Mubi any more than you… Read More 2023 Movie Diary (2/5-2/9): Three Thousand Yangs of Longing
When Sight and Sound released their 2022 poll in December, the rush wore off within a couple days for me. I was impatient. I’m still impatient, because I want the vote counts for all of these movies to be released, and when that happens I’m sure I’ll write about that too. But a lot of… Read More Ten Thoughts on the Other 164 Movies in the 2022 Sight and Sound Poll
Seeing Things Secondhand 