Lock, Stock, and Two Film Geeks

Film Duel is our written review format in which Benn and James each review a film, and then comment on each others’ reviews to give a proper balance and really fill out the commentary as well as possible. The newest Coen brothers movie, A Serious Man, is in theaters now. Benn and James were so excited about it, that they got an early jump on its release. You’ll find that this is one of our most in depth reviews yet, as there’s a lot of meat to talk about with this film.

A Serious Man
Year: 2009
Directed by: Joel and Ethan Coen
Written by: Joel and Ethan Coen
Starring: Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Kind
Genre: Drama, Comedy (Dark Comedy)

Benn and James’ reviews and rebuttals follow after the jump. Continue reading

Film Duel is our written review format in which Benn and James each review a film, and then comment on each others’ reviews to give a proper balance and really fill out the commentary as well as possible. This week we review Darren Aronofsky’s first film: Pi. It’s a complex and intellectual film done on a shoe-string budget and it gave way to an already prolific career for its director. Once again though, we may have some disagreement among the two film geeks.

Pi
Year: 1998
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Written by: Darren Aronofsky and Sean Gullette
Starring: Sean Gullette
Genre: Drama

Benn and James’ reviews and rebuttals follow after the jump. Continue reading

If you have watched a movie from the past fifty years or have been excited for the newest Steven Spielberg film, you have the French New Wave to thank.

To really appreciate the importance of this movement, we must take a look back to the Golden Years of Hollywood and the structure of films.

The 1930’s & 40’s saw the rise of the studio system in Hollywood and traditions of quality. This was a system were the screenwriter was king of the picture and had more influence on a film than the director because the director position was just that: another position to be filled. Few directors, such as John Ford and Howard Hawks, were able to stand out with importance.

Coupled with the screenwriter’s power, many films were adapted from classic literature and featured a formulaic cast of highly publicized actors from the studio’s stables. The studio system also utilized massive production studios that were fantasylands of past, present and future. Continue reading

Film Duel is our written review format in which Benn and James each review a film, and then comment on each other’s reviews to give a proper balance and really fill out the commentary as well as possible. This week we take on the cinema classic Double Indemnity. We’ve viewed a lot of noir films so far, so it’s only fitting that we take a look at one of the classics. This is a film that ranks 38th in AFI’s top 100 films of all time, and 47th on the IMDB top 250. So it’s both a critic pleaser and a crowd pleaser.

Double Indemnity
Year: 1944
Dir.: Billy Wilder
Written by: Billy Wider and Raymond Chandler
Based on: Novel by James M. Cain
Starring: Fred MacMurry, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
Genre: Drama (Noir)

Benn and James’ reviews and rebuttals follow after the jump. Continue reading

Film Duel is our written review format in which Benn and James each review a film, and then comment on each other’s reviews to give a proper balance and really fill out the commentary as well as possible. This week we approach Christopher Nolan’s first film, Following.

Following
Year: 1998
Director: Christopher Nolan
Written by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Jeremy Theobold, Alex Haw, Lucy Russell
Genre: Drama (Neo-Noir)

Benn and James’ reviews and rebuttals follow after the jump. Continue reading