Francois Truffaut said once that British cinema was a contradiction in terms, which is a fabulous take and exactly the kind of thing that keeps Anglo-French relations spicy since Joan of Arc was lit up. History has proved him wrong, but there’s a reason that when people think of national cinemas Britain tends to lag… Read More Better than BFI’s Top 100: 2019 Edition
This one has been a long time coming. Had I been born in the ’80s, I imagine I would have been more taken with E.T. or The Goonies or other movies of that ilk. As it is, I’m from the ’90s, and there’s a good argument to be made that there was never a better… Read More Disney/Pixar Movie Rankings: 2019
Dir. Bille August. Starring Samuel Froler, Pernilla August, Ghita Norby I wonder what it says that the movie I would give to someone who had never come across a Bergman movie before would be to give them an August movie. The Best Intentions gives us for the old master what Shelby Foote referred to as… Read More The Best Intentions (1992)
Dir. Alex Garland. Starring Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander Dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin There are two things which really stand out about Free Solo. The first is that El Capitan is really tall, and the second is that Alex Honnold is not a likable person. I don’t want to pile on the guy, because… Read More Ex Machina (2015) and Free Solo (2018)
Dir. David Lynch. Starring Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, James Cada When I was in college, I took a class on environmental writing, which was the place I first learned about Aldo Leopold and Barry Lopez, among other folks. We got to Of Wolves and Men far enough into the semester that we were all a… Read More The Straight Story (1999)
Dir. Don Taylor. Starring Kirk Douglas, James Farentino, Martin Sheen There’s an interesting scene in The Final Countdown. (Yes, I do mean it’s the only interesting scene. The Final Countdown is a real drag.) A yacht out on a pleasure cruise, carrying a U.S. senator, his secretary, a friend, some crew, and a mercifully invulnerable dog… Read More The Final Countdown (1980)
Dir. Noah Baumbach. Starring Ben Stiller, Adam Driver, Naomi Watts Would-be documentarian Josh (Stiller) is full of it, which I think we all could have learned from the trailer, but there are two scenes which prove that even from a filmmaking perspective he’s lost his grip. The second scene is for his sheer pretension; over… Read More While We’re Young (2015)
Tim: Happy Super Bowl Sunday, buddy. May the Pats be struck down. Matt: Now and forever, amen. Tim: (This is going to look worse when this goes up and the Patriots win by thirty two hours later.) Speaking of championships, ha ha, today we chat a smidge about this championship belt project that both of… Read More Baumann and Burch Conversations #12: Belts
Dir. Eric Rohmer. Starring Barbet Schroeder, Michele Girardon, Claudine Soubrier Almost eight months to the day after I watched My Night at Maud’s, I finally finished Eric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales. By a weird set of circumstances, The Bakery Girl of Monceau is the last one I’ve added to my tally, and I’m not sure… Read More The Bakery Girl of Monceau (1963)
Dir. Damien Chazelle. Starring Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke It’s a Damien Chazelle movie: the answer is in Justin Hurwitz’s score. Chazelle and Hurwitz are, at this point, tied to the hip, and perhaps in thirty years they’ll even be remembered as closely (if not as fondly) as Spielberg and Williams or Fellini and… Read More First Man (2018)
Seeing Things Secondhand 