I’m sure you have movies you can’t re-watch, even if you loved them the first time, mainly because they’re just too gut wrenchingly emotional. A few of mine are: Blu Valentine, Saving Private Ryan, Manchester By the Sea and Love & Mercy. The last two share involvement with director Bill Pohland who wrote and directed… Continue reading Dreamin’ Wild, Sleepy Tame
Shortcomings, a discussion provoking film
Randall Parks full length directorial debut, Shortcomings (based on a graphic novel by Adrian Tomine was a fine, intriguing watch for me. Listening to a podcast this morning unpacking the film, the trio kept referring to the main character, played by After Yang’s Justin H. Min as an incel. Like a healthy Buddhist, I’m not… Continue reading Shortcomings, a discussion provoking film
Theater Camp, Fire Comedy (as the kids say)
Theater Camp was a perfect comedic film. Molly Gordon, Nick Lieberman and Noah Galvin have written a model script with deadpan humor and heart. The former two directed the film and let’s hope this trio will be the next Christopher Guest in creating a string of mockumentary style comedies. In this case, the title explains… Continue reading Theater Camp, Fire Comedy (as the kids say)
Filling in the Film Holes re. Two Past Mammoth Films
Time Magazine just released another of their polls, “the best movies from every decade”. I had some holes in my film files, so just like summer construction, it was time to fill in some potholes. I rented Brian De Palma’s Blowout with John Travolta and a very young and too believably creepy John Lithgow. Dennis… Continue reading Filling in the Film Holes re. Two Past Mammoth Films
Even The Quiet Girl Deserves the Big Screen
I love the movie theater experience and I do regret not seeing The Quiet Girl in such a setting. Watching it at home was meaningful, but as I’ve said over and over in these posts, size matters: the bigger screen the larger the emotions. But The Quiet Girl is still worth seeing, no matter your… Continue reading Even The Quiet Girl Deserves the Big Screen
Women Have Come a Long Way Barbie
Barbie, written (with the help of her “Ken”, Noah Baumbach) and directed by Greta Gerwig was a triumphant feat of creativity. To begin I’ll start with the many positive performances. Cast: Margot Robbie is perfect as Stereotypical Barbie, but possibly only due to the incredible writing and narration of Helen Mirren, who, visa vie Gerwig,… Continue reading Women Have Come a Long Way Barbie
Oppenheimer: Artistic Feat
Christopher Nolan is DaVinci, and this is why I could never say, “Hey Leonardo, I love your Mona Lisa but if you could just put a date and age tag for Mona on the bottom of the canvas that’d be so nice.” No, I would never do that, same with CN, even though I wanted… Continue reading Oppenheimer: Artistic Feat
Commission Possible: Dead Reckoning Dialogue
Fun vocabulary fact: Commission can mean the money you make on sales. Commission can also mean the act of granting certain powers or the authority to carry out a particular task or duty. And boy did the “writers” have a commission for lame dialogue. Read on. But first, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning is worth seeing.… Continue reading Commission Possible: Dead Reckoning Dialogue
Past Lives, Present Jives, Imbalance Thrives
*Fair Warning: Spoilers are here, breaking my promise, but just this once: Day Two of ponderings (with gratitude toward @Filmspotting for helping nudge me to my current feeling for the film). My reaction and thought process about the film Past Lives has changed like phases of the moon. So it’s appropriate that today’s Super Moon… Continue reading Past Lives, Present Jives, Imbalance Thrives
No Hard Feelings: Bringin’ Back the Bawdy
Gene Stupnitsky (Picture Groucho Marx with a cigar saying, “With a last name like that you’ve got to have a sense of humor”) and John Phillips wrote No Hard Feelings with the former (Stupnitsky) directing the movie. They worked together on The Office and Stupnitsky also wrote and directed Bad Teacher, another guilty pleasure of… Continue reading No Hard Feelings: Bringin’ Back the Bawdy