Film
2013 – Year in Reviews
Every time the end of the year comes around I always get the same questions. How many movies did you watch last year? What were the best ones? How many did you watch by decade? Well fear not, because I’m here to answer all such questions today! How many movies did I watch in the…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – December, 2013
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in December. Stats Movies watched – 11 Movies that were new to me – 7 Great Katherine Hepburn performances – 2 Monthly Masterpieces – Red River December 29 Holiday Affair (1949) – Great holiday romance with a sparkling script and excellent performances all around. Of course it is…
Read MoreIO5M 14: The Top Five Least Annoying Changes from the Book in The Desolation of Smaug
If you don’t recognize the header image, it’s from xkcd, the best of all webcomics. Check it out! Welcome back to my most infrequently occurring Monday feature! I’m speaking, of course, of Infrequently Occurring Fifth Monday (IO5M), where I come up with a new “top 5″ list on a quad-yearly basis. Today I’ll be looking…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 48: The Big Lebowski (Joel and Ethan Coen, 1998)
One possible reason the private eye film has always been so resonant with myself might be how closely it aligns with the hero cycle that is supposedly embedded in the psyche of the human condition. In the private eye’s quest into the unknown world through which he ventures in order to find his ultimate boon…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – November, 2013
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in November. Stats Movies watched – 8 Movies that were new to me – 6 Movies about genocide – 4 Monthly Masterpieces – none November 28 This is the End (2013) – Some of the novelty of the extended conversations about jizzing everywhere had worn off by…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 47: Caddyshack (Harold Ramis, 1980)
Caddyshack is the kind of movie where a character pauses mid-conversation to let out a giant fart and then says “hey hey, did somebody step on a duck?” More specifically, Caddyshack is the kind of a movie where a line like that is one of the more celebrated lines in the film. Caddyshack is a…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – October, 2013
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in October. Stats Movies watched – 9 Movies that were new to me – 5 Arnold movies – 2 Monthly Masterpieces – The Scarlet Empress, Rififi October 31 The Heat (2013) – Despite the unlikability of the leads, Bullock’s charisma and McCarthy’s gift for improvisation will end up…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 46: Rififi (Jules Dassin, 1955)
Heist films haven’t always been the cheery Ocean’s 11 style affairs that we know today. Once upon a time, when the world was young, heist films were brutally nihilistic affairs where, spoiler alert, EVERYONE died at the end. Not that these deaths were punishment for a life of crime, rather, they were a grim portrayal…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – September, 2013
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in September. Stats Movies watched – 12 Movies that were new to me – 7 Movies based on books I’ve read – 5 Monthly Masterpieces – 0 September 29 A Royal Affair (2012) – Beautifully shot and well acted, but I still can’t find a way to give…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 45: Up in Smoke (Lou Adler, 1978)
I was never much of a drug user. I mean, sure, like everyone else, I’ve tried plenty in my time, but I just couldn’t ever get anything to stick I guess. Hell, I don’t even drink to get drunk (though, to be fair, that Scotch I drink is too expensive to do something as barbaric…
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