Even if you don’t like the Beatles, you have to at least acknowledge the band’s importance. Collectively, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr not only changed the face of music, but they impacted nearly every facet of popular culture, from films to fashion to relaxed attitudes about drug use. While they appeared in a handful of their […]
Read more
Prometheus is by and large the greatest disappointment I’ve had this year at the movies. There was a metric ton of potential for it, with the cast the movie had in it, the crew it had behind it, and the money that had been poured into the production. What came of all that potential was one of the greatest-looking average films that […]
Read more
We all have gaps in our cinematic knowledge, films which, if we confess our ignorance of, someone, somewhere will say, “How have you not seen that?!” Catching Up is about these films, and viewing them so long after seemingly everyone else has. Some of these entries may be shocking, some are embarrassing, but all of them are classics. The Film: Directed by […]
Read more
Often, this column tends to focus on moments, scenes, or sequences that serve as a capsule or summation of the larger themes presented in a particular film. However, there is something to be said of moments that stand out simply because they are beautiful, touching, or powerful all on their own. These are the moments that often take our breath […]
Read moreI don’t have to sell you on Wes Anderson, right? I mean, he’s the indie / art film director whom it’s okay for everyone to like, isn’t he? After all, he’s always got Bill Murray in his corner, and everyone except for Communists and child molesters loves Bill Murray. And surely, this site doesn’t attract the kind of people who […]
Read more
Man, what happened to Sacha Baron Cohen? It’s hard to believe that the razor mind behind Da Ali G Show and Borat has reduced himself to… this. Each new outing with Cohen playing a kooky, un-PC foreigner has been a huge disappointment of diminishing returns. First Bruno misfired, and now taking his schtick out of the real world into the fictional realm hasn’t […]
Read more
In my last column, I discussed how cinema is essentially a medium that is built upon its own history, with countless directors using their own films as excuses to pay homage to those that inspired them. Whether it come in the form of lifting a particular bit of technical flair like a camera movement or editing choice, or the outright […]
Read more
We all have gaps in our cinematic knowledge, films which, if we confess our ignorance of, someone, somewhere will say, “How have you not seen that?!” Catching Up is about these films, and viewing them so long after seemingly everyone else has. Some of these entries may be shocking, some are embarrassing, but all of them are classics. The Film: Directed by […]
Read more
Over the last decade and change, movie goers have been overwhelmed by a deluge of superhero movies. Most of them have been good to great, while others are best forgotten altogether. At any rate, it’s a good time to be a comic book fan who also happens to love movies. While Bryan Singer’s seminal X-Men flick is usually considered to […]
Read more
It is a common practice for filmmakers to pay homage to the films and filmmakers that inspired them. From Star Wars to Boogie Nights, from Dressed to Kill to Sukiyaki Western Django, and from Night of the Living Dead to Pulp Fiction, cinema history can be read as a long list of directors who are showing respect to those who […]
Read more