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X Marks the Spot

“Malcolm X is cool. 

I recently read that this is one of W. Kamau Bell’s favorite movies (his favorite movie by Spike Lee, one of his favorite directors), so I thought I’d dig into the memory banks to see if I could provide my own thoughts. 

I just looked and I was surprised” read more

The Child in the Garden

“It’s certainly a product of the Forties, although in some ways America hasn’t changed that much. It’s one window on life. There’s of course a bandwagon to slap the Classics on the back, but it is more earnest and elegant than the 49th percentile movie of today, and there is something to be s” read more

Viking-Dragon Relations, Part One

“It is kinda sad how if being boss is where it’s at, the guy is boss, and if being adorable where it’s at, the guy is adorable—I guess that much is okay—but then the girl is like the Other Thing, whichever one Isn’t, where it’s at, right. Surely there could still have been conflict and pl” read more

Far From Fair Verona

“I found I didn’t like this movie as well as M.A.‘s preceding 1960 & 1961 movies (Adventure & Night), but I don’t know whether that’s because it was done less well or because I’ve cooled to M’s style, you know. It’s not like, the Romeo & Juliet Italians, you know. Shakespear” read more

Boys Are Weird, Chico

“I didn’t Quite dislike this movie, but I could only watch twenty minutes at a time, not thirty. (I watched slightly larger chunks near the end so it’d be more like, round numbers, you know. Plus, it’s always more exciting to finish something up.) 

Well, I guess for a lot of people t” read more

Here We Are Now! Entertain Us!

“Joe Wright is supposed to be a great director, although this is supposed to be a terrible movie and was a big set-back for his career; also, I haven’t seen any children’s movies in a long, long time: I saw some as a kid, of course, (although back then I would read Narnia as a handbook on how to ” read more

Hokey Heroes

“I mean, I did like Singin’ in the Rain, and that was fun—same director, same genre, same five-year period. And for the record, I haven’t seen “Don’t Worry Darling”. And Frank Sinatra is cool, you know. It’s just, I don’t know. I’m not a big stickler for realism, but it’s just so ” read more

The Book Fool

“As entertaining as the ‘hot sins’ are, sometimes it’s good cinema to follow the book fool, mostly free of these popular sins, but just living a quietly unenlightened life. Society and the other book fools look up to him, but he hasn’t found the way to happiness. 

Incidentally I’” read more

Jazz Age Sexy Bible Moves

“N.B. I think I would probably view this movie a little bit differently if I ever saw it again. I have conservatively downgraded the rating I gave it to reflect that change in my point of view. I’m not sure if keeping the review up as it now stands is helpful in explaining my general POV, or the mo” read more

The Strange Familiars

“I just started watching La Notte (by the same director), and I was thinking about what I’d say about it, when I realized I hadn’t reviewed L’Avventura. I guess the most important thing is how midcentury and therefore familiar—and therefore how strange—it is, despite the fact that they’re” read more

Or Was It Delight?

“As a film critic, my watchword is dignity; always dignity. Always the historical angle, the enumeration of the Classics. Psychology is the feel-good science; nobody puts any stock in it, except for the people who really wanted to be podiatrists. And the role of emotion in illness! The mind-body conn” read more

I Awake To See That No One Is Free

“This one is kinda simple yet subtle, like a painting; I couldn’t give it a straight review myself, so I’ll just give you a juxtaposition with the lyrics of a song which I’ve always thought is about anxiety, although anxiety can be related to other things…. 

“I awake to find no p” read more

Personal War Drama

“It’s the patriotic Angelina Jolie! 

“If you can take it you can make it…. A moment of pain, is worth a lifetime of glory!” 

The guy’s a high school runner, and then a soldier, obviously, but as an intellectual I relate to that philosophy, because thinking about ornery” read more

And There Was No Music At The End

“It’s an ‘adventure’ story, albeit a more serious and political one than some are—although almost any adventure story has a sort of muted politics to it, more so than if you stay at home. 

It’s the sort of movie which is better than the Mr Collins/Catherine de Bourgh crowd will s” read more