The one question I keep coming back to with the Oscars last night is how does that absolute unhinged shit show make any viewer want to watch these movies? It plays into the idea that the Oscars are detached from reality and feeling of an overindulgent Disney commercial highlighted by the most bizarre Oscar moment … More The Oscars Hate the Art of Filmmaking
Final 2022 Oscar predictions … More Final 2022 Oscar Predictions: May God Take Mercy on us
Jacques Tati’s debut film and it’s an absolute banger. Tati, as the unaware mailman, navigates his real home town, sliding and ducking objects, getting thrown in and out of restaurants, and above all, delivering the mail through it all. It’s incredibly funny slapstick with some of Tati’s best gags involved and one of his best characters. … More Weird Cinema: Jacques Tati’s Debut Film Jour de fête (1949)
The greatest film experience finds a mix of immersion, thought provocation and engagement through the senses. All Quiet on the Western Front, through the use of magnificent sound design, production design, and the rawness of the actors and writing, combines all these elements to give a taste of war that’s incredibly powerful. Adapted from Erich Maria Remarque novel, Lewis Milestone bombards the audience with the mortar fire that could collapse the bunker at any second, exploring the idealism sold to prospective soldiers to sacrifice their lives. The sound design is that of a shell-shocked soldier, trying and failing to cope with the horrifying nature of this singular experience. Every second is hell for these soldiers and All Quiet on the Western Front expresses this terror. … More All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) the definitive WWI experience
The boy conductor, riding around the junkyard on his imaginary train, is the centerpiece to all the pains, grief, and highs of living in poverty. Kurosawa shows this world in wonderfully vivid colors, painting the unfortunate with humanity and grace, while also showing the dark side. The entire ensemble delivers idiosyncratic performances and helps build the culture and ideologies of this place. One of Kurosawa’s most original and endearing films. … More Dodes’ka-den (1970) one of Akira Kurosawa’s most endearing films
A decade long recount of the highs and lows of a raucous era, following it all through the eyes of the archetypal young man entering adulthood in James Cagney’s portrayal. It follows him from coming home from a war to the inability to get work and how that transition often led to organized crime formulating. Especially in a time of prohibition. Cagney is fantastic, showing a real emotional side not normally associated with mobsters, and how one coped with the viscosity of the roaring twenties. Priscilla Lane and Humprhey Bogart are also great in smaller roles, as they add higher stakes to the explosive lifestyle of the 20s. The dynamics between these characters brings out the radicalism in one … More The Roaring Twenties (1939) a perfect summation of how the 1930s perceived the decade
The last time seeing Daniel Craig helm the Bond moniker and a nice send-off for this era of Bond. Admittedly, the Craig portrayal is one of my least favorite of the Bond actors, mainly due to the eccentricities of the other Bond’s, but he’s suave with far more intensity than say Pierce Brosnan. That said, the self-serious tone of these films is a major turnoff for me personally, as I watch Bond films for the zany villains with overstuffed evil lairs and laser weapons. The Craig era leans into the more cerebral style of storytelling, and while it worked for most, it loses all the charm it once held. … More No Time To Die (2021) a beautifully shot blockbuster lacking a purpose
Directed by Mel Gibson, it’s the same type of bombast that makes his other films feel all over the place, but in Hacksaw Ridge is distilled down to one character. Thankfully, Gibson got the casting right with Garfield, but the direction becomes nonsensical and they make this brave medic into a symbol rather than a person. Even his motivations are handled weirdly in the script, as his motivations are incredibly shallow and it’s hard to buy into his convictions. … More Hacksaw Ridge (2016) is Mel Gibson relying on his worst instincts
passion and loss is a beautifully sincere experience. Capturing a past life through the musical compositions and her trauma, showing a woman unable to speak her mind to men, while being with them out of a fear of loneliness and the obligation of marriage. … More The Piano (1993) a film calling into the ether of masculinity
The Weird Cinema Awards: Best films of 2021 … More Weird Cinema Awards: Best Films of 2021
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