There's an offhand moment here where Stanwyck looks at MacMurray and softly says "Gee, you're sweet." and it melted me across 80 years and through my TV.
"It sure is easy to be wrong in this world."
Half-assed and intensely annoying. And it’s as poorly lit as any film I’ve seen in a while, with the hideous yellowish tinge that I believe you get when using a house's existing lamps and ordinary household bulbs while doing nothing to correct for it.
From the French production team that made the brilliant 'The Staircase' series, comes another great courtroom battle - an outstanding, telling case of police incompetence and the masterful work of two public defenders. The case is even more relevant now than it was in 2001. Important, infuriating, and in the end, a very satisfying doc.
Imagine Grey Gardens but featuring a literal cannibal and his masochist brother, and it’s not good. It’s actually too infrequently haunting and is bridled by its lackadaisical, thoroughly off-putting form: Whispery, floating shots in extreme closeup, wafting in and out of focus, soaked in what appears to be a purposely staggered, stilted cadence by the two brothers.
The Wandering Earth (Frant Gwo, 2019): 2/5
Worth watching just to see all the archetypes of American disaster movies filtered through a distinctly foreign lens, emerging out the other end as something that gives you a better view of its home country’s culture. Also the plot point involves LIGHTING JUPITER ON FIRE IN ORDER TO TURN THE EARTH INTO A GIANT BULLET.
Don't nobody tell Neil Degrasse Tyson about this film.
i revvatched this movie thinking that it couldn't possibly fuck me up tvvice and you knovv vvhat i vvas very vvrong. #bah
rewatched The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972): 5/5
Very good movie! Tons of crime.
If you like the original Godfather, you'll like this - a lot of the same gang AND they go to Italy.
Contrary to its lofty title but comfortable within its maker’s filmography, Koreeda’s THE TRUTH is a very tranquil little movie. It favors natural details over grand statements; light dramedy over heavy content. This modest approach is not only found in the quiet Parisian ambience, but in the leisurely mosaic of moments Koreeda is so adept at creating and capturing, doing so with the aid of a smoothly intuitive camera and flawless main trio of performers. When Catherine Deneuve’s feisty, 70-something actress frequently forgets whether her old industry friends and foes are still alive or not, Koreeda doesn’t play this for cliched fading-memory melodrama, but as a wry facet of the character’s comical self-absorption. 100 minutes of good company and good craft. Extra half star for 2 French cinema titans sharing the same screen. Gotta love it.
Funny, unique, and genuine. Imagine BOOKSMART, but written by Aaron Sorkin. Lot of personality in its writing and presentation and James Sweeney & Katie Findlay are great. A very impressive directorial debut from Sweeney, looking forward to seeing what he does next.
Buck wild Canadian political satire and a stylistic powerhouse of originality. Draws inspiration from German Expressionism, Guy Madden, and Monty Python. Not an easy work to decipher; you have to be a Canadian well-versed in national history to see through its facade. Still glad I watched it though.
Or, Wolf of Wall Street High School Edition
BAD EDUCATION tackles the largest school embezzlement scandal in American history with dark humor and even darker deeds, all for the supposed greater good. Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney are both excellent while Cory Finley directs with an assured hand.
A rich guy hires an art critic to obtain one of the last paintings of a reclusive painter. Lifeless, uninspired, and shallow overall. Extra half star for the immensely talented and more importantly 6’3 Elizabeth Debicki.
Or, White Man Buffet: The Movie
I'm a sucker for atmospheric southern noir and unrelenting portraits of religion & violence, so this was right up my alley.
Nathan for You Seasons 1 - 4 (2013 - 2017): 5/5
Oscar. Emmy. Peabody. All awards that Nathan Fielder deserved to win for this masterpiece, yet all awards that he was denied. It’s not a snub, it’s a crime. And you’re all under arrest.
Or, SPOILER ALERT: Get Out of The Village
The first third of ANTEBELLUM is dreadful, as though directors Gerard Bush and Christopher Renz read Jacques Rivette's essay on the tracking shot in KAPO (1960) and thought "we will do everything Rivette called morally objectionable." Also, anyone with a sense of history knows about the usual cycle of African Americans being branded, beaten, shot, stabbed, raped, and tortured throughout history. Frankly, enough with the constant programming of harm done to black bodies on screen. Extra half star for Janelle Monae who in spite of everything remains magnetic as ever.
I am unrepentant in my admiration and unreservedly adore the entire opening movement, with its pell-mell pace and obsessive cataloguing and droll Dussollier narration. I can understand why some feel oppressed by cutesy flourishes like the animal-shaped clouds and the traveling garden gnome; the film is aggressively whimsical, to be sure, but see also every single Wes Anderson joint.
Escape at Dannemora (Ben Stiller, 2018): 2.5/5
I think the hillbilly and white trash anti-defamation league would like a word with Eric Lange, whose portrayal of the troglodyte Lyle is guaranteed to offend almost everyone. Paul Dano is especially good at crawling around in the dark, sweating, and looking grimy. Patricia Arquette is perfectly horrifying as a really awful human being. Doesn't really add up to anything poignant, but it’s definitely a wild story.
I think the hillbilly and white trash anti-defamation league would like a word with Eric Lange, whose portrayal of the troglodyte Lyle is guaranteed to offend almost everyone. Paul Dano is especially good at crawling around in the dark, sweating, and looking grimy. Patricia Arquette is perfectly horrifying as a really awful human being. Doesn't really add up to anything poignant, but it’s definitely a wild story.
When the final line of dialogue was spoken—at once hugely significant and utterly mundane—I instantly thought, 'That's it. She should just end the movie right here. She's actually going to, isn't she?’ And she did.
Hey, remember when we as a society were totally cool with traumatizing small children? According to Wikipedia, Walt had the animators watch Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, which is pretty amazing. I was under the impression that getting hold of movies from decades past was all but impossible at the time, but maybe that wasn't the case if you ran a studio.
Truly insufferable wankery, just beat-your-head-against-the-wall stuff. Jaglom has no ideas, only a total commitment to "artistic freedom," so he just shoots his impressive cast yammering about whatever comes to mind (there's an entire scene devoted to Tuesday Weld prodding a guy to think up an old-style exchange for his phone number), then splices in quick shots of previous and/or future imagery at random to break up the monotony. When in doubt, he cuts to poor Orson, who flails.
First Girl I Loved (Kerem Sanga, 2016): 1.5/5
"And...I'm totally gay" bitch me too the fuck
Uncle Tom (Justin Malone, 2020): 0.5/5
Right-wing propaganda featuring the nation’s famous Black conservatives refusing to acknowledge past events in their full context, instead blaming victimhood and a lack of guidance/role models on the current inequities of Black americans--the boilerplate boot strappy, respectability politics that's always reserved especially for Black people--and not the history of state approved legislation and practices intended to disenfranchise Black americans
The King of Staten Island (Judd Apatow, 2020) 2/5
all judd apatow knows is 2 and a half hours of his friends riffing, shot reverse shot, tame impala b-side score, NYC tourism board montage, and of course The Man Child.
me after i've eaten all of my quarantine snacks: those house keys do be looking tasty tho
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