As sharp and perfectly executed as they come. 4/4.
Tom DiCillo’s Living in Oblivion is a labor love about a labor love. Making a film, especially an independent film, isn’t easy. With all the various problems that collide with one another on set, it’s a miracle anything ever gets finished. It’s no wonder that everyone in the film industry is borderline, if not certifiably insane.
Comedy was one of my favorite genres growing up, and alongside action films, this constituted a great portion of my viewing. I love a good comedy film, but once again I’ll repeat, I love a good comedy film. I feel like only two or three of the comedies per year really pan out for me, but for a long time I loved going back to older comedies, finding it easy to appreciate them despite their “datedness” that I’ve heard complaints of from others. Unfortunately, when it comes to the selection at your local Blockbuster, I feel like I’ve literally run through all the good comedies. In fact, I’ve run through so many comedies that even the films I’ve seen recommended in various places that have shot to the top of my Blockbuster queue are starting to bore me. Such was not the case with the most recent of these selections, Midnight Run, starring Robert DeNiro and the highly underrated straight man Charles Grodin. Continue reading
A bit disjointed now and then, but absolutely fascinating and well done. 3/4
“Writing,” William Lee (Peter Weller) says, “is a dangerous thing.” I imagine he says this because writing is an act of introspection, and if you’re anything like Lee, what lies beneath is a surrealistic, Beat nightmare that is as fascinating as it is insatiably weird.
In the past, horror has been a genre I wasn’t fond of. It just wasn’t a set of films I really had much desire to pursue. But as I’ve begun to run out of truly great films in some of the other genres, I found that the gaps in my viewing such as horror and foreign films were able to provide me the most enjoyable new watching experiences. This is primarily because I had previously avoided some classics. The discovery of films like The Thing, The Mist, and Let the Right One In have been some of my favorites of the last couple years. So when I heard The Descent often placed alongside these other movies in respected critics’ favorite foreign films, I knew I had to check it out. Continue reading
Pixar does it AGAIN. 4/4
Just when I think I’ve outgrown Pixar films, they go and release a film like Toy Story 3.
The best cartoons are the ones that are made for kids, yet have something for the adults to enjoy, whether it’s a few well-disguised jokes that go past the kids’ heads, fascinating animation, or just good old-fashioned nostalgia. It’s in this way that Pixar is the sneakiest of film companies: they don’t make cartoons, they make real films. They just happen to be animated.
I remember pretty vividly the days when the approach of summer meant my favorite time of year for films. I’d pull out the Calendar Summer Sneaks section of the Los Angeles Times and look through every movie that was on deck. I even recall making a list of the things I just “had” to see that summer. I wouldn’t say the appeal of summer blockbusters has gone away completely, an exciting, fun, action packed summer flick is still one of the most enjoyable things in the world for me. But, I have become a bit more discerning, because just because a film is trying to be “fun,” doesn’t mean it can’t be well executed, have an interesting story, and feature engaging characters. When I recently made my list of anticipated movies for this summer, I considered expanding it to 10 or featuring some honorable mentions, but when it came down to it, most of the movies beyond the first five were wild cards. I hoped they’d be good but I had no amount of certainty that they were. Amongst these considerations was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, the newest video game adaptation from producer Jerry Bruckheimer (reigning king of the summer blockbuster?) Video game adaptations have never been good, it’s simply a fact. But I’ll admit I’m a fan of Jerry Bruckheimer, having liked even some of his films that most have not, and I have fond memories of playing the original Prince of Persia on my first PC, so I had cautious hopes that I’d have a good time watching this movie. So what’s the verdict? Continue reading
Haunting and Intimate: 3.5/4
You would expect a film titled sex, lies and videotape to be obscene, if not flat out pornographic. And while there is virtually no sex and no nudity to speak of, the characters strip themselves bare through the art of intimate conversation.
Letters to Boo-liet. 1/4
Hoping to latch onto fans of Twilight and Nicholas Sparks, Letters to Juliet isn’t hopelessly romantic so much as it is just plain hopeless. What’s more frightening is girls from the ages of 14 to young women in their mid to late twenties (or tweenties maybe?) will be coming in droves to see this saccharine disaster.
This time around I have a slightly classic recommendation for you. Movie experts have long praised Ran as not only one of the better foreign films, but one of the best films ever. IMDB’s top 250 (hardly a home for sophisticated criticism, but still an easy place to start when looking to build the “canon” of film) places the film at #143 currently, which is nothing to sneeze at in terms of rankings. And as someone who’s already seen Seven Samurai and Rashomon, it seemed time to take the next step in my education on the works of Akira Kurosawa. For those who don’t know, Kurosawa is essentially the most heralded auteur in Japanese Cinema history. He’s known for long, epic, period pieces primarily set in feudal Japan. He’s not the most accessible filmmaker by any means, but a full viewing of his better films is always rewarding to those who have the patience. Ran is no less trying when it comes to its commitment requirements, but I found it incredibly immersing and an amazing film overall. Continue reading
Harry Brown will most likely be described as “British Death Wish with Michael Caine”, and to an extent, it is. However, Michael Caine’s performance as the titular elderly avenger and the film’s political tone turns the film into something greater than your run-of-the-mill revenge shoot ‘em up.