Film
Monthly Movie Reviews – November, 2015
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in November. Stats Movies watched – 11 Movies that were new to me – 6 Animated movies – 3 Monthly Masterpieces – Umberto D November 29 The Good Dinosaur (2015) – A dinosaur western that works well enough even if the plot doesn’t really go much further than…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 71 – Conan the Barbarian (John Milius, 1982)
Sometimes it’s easy to justify enjoyment of certain kinds of films by simply calling them “dumb fun.” However, films like Conan the Barbarian seem to push the limits of dumb fun almost into the realm of, if not “high art,” at least respectability. I think the best summation of where Conan the Barbarian stands on this…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – October, 2015
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in September. Stats Movies watched – 10 Movies that were new to me – 7 Sci fi movies – 3 Monthly Masterpieces – Man’s Favorite Sport October 27 That Daughter’s Crazy (2015) – Documentary/concert film documenting Richard Pryor’s daughter’s one-woman off-Broadway show. Interesting and sporadically funny material,…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 70 – Man’s Favorite Sport (Howard Hawks, 1964)
Howard Hawks is known as one of the all time great Hollywood directors. And while his films from the 30s and 40s seem to get most of the attention, the man was still cranking out superlative work well into the twilight of his career. Today’s film is an excellent example of one of his brilliant late-period masterpieces.…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – September, 2015
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in September. Stats Movies watched – 7 Movies that were new to me – 3 Masterpieces I didn’t *love* love – 2 Monthly Masterpieces – In the Realm of the Senses September 30 Monster High: Boo York, Boo York (2015) – The script takes quite a while to find…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 69 – In the Realm of the Senses (Nagisa Ôshima, 1976)
It’s hard to watch the 50 Shades of Grey movie without thinking “wait, that’s it?” Aside from one scene where Mr. Grey actually tries to sort of hurt his partner, about all the movie’s constant talk of TEARING DOWN THE WALLS OF DECENCY AND OPENING THE DOORS OF OBSCENITY AND DEGRADATION boiled down to was [spoiler…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – August, 2015
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in August. Stats Movies watched – 7 Movies that were new to me – 5 Movies for kids – 3 Monthly Masterpieces – Pauline at the Beach, Chinatown August 25 Chinatown (1974) – The script positively sings, Nicholson is perfect, and Huston is even better. Up…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 68: The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)
The Big Sleep is archetypal noir. And, I don’t just mean that today’s film was the blueprint for all films noir to follow, I mean, the images contained within resonate so strongly that it must have been as though they were always a part of us even when the film was just released. The Big…
Read MoreMonthly Movie Reviews – July, 2015
Here are some two sentence reviews of the movies I watched in July. Stats Movies watched – 9 Movies that were new to me – 5 Movies for the bros – 4 Monthly Masterpieces – The Adventures of Robin Hood July 30 Two Weeks Notice (2002) – An excellent example of the appeal of the…
Read MoreMy Favorite Movies 67: Magic Mike (Steven Soderbergh, 2012)
While I love romantic comedies more than your average guy (or girl for that matter), I’ll be the first to admit that they are not usually cinematic masterworks–or even cinematic averageworks. In fact, most of the cliched stories of meet-cutes and 3rd act introducing misunderstandings are so artistically weak that I actually prefer the romantic…
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