Next Goal Wins (2023)
Be happy.
Filmmaker(s): Taika Waititi
Dutch coach Thomas Rongen attempts the nearly impossible task of turning the American Samoa soccer team from perennial losers into winners.
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
It's definitely not a good time to be a Nazi
Filmmaker(s): Taika Waititi
A World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother is hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler, Jojo must confront his blind nationalism.
09 Apr Jojo Rabbit (2019)
Multipurpose knives I think I would like to hang out with Taika. At any rate, I believe him to be a genuinely good man in a business fraught with otherwise. I actually like when a personal style is deeply reflected in a film or collection,...
Bottle Shock (2008)
Based on a true story of love, victory, and fermentation
Filmmaker(s): Randall Miller
Paris-based wine expert Steven Spurrier heads to California in search of cheap wine that he can use for a blind taste test in the French capital. Stumbling upon the Napa Valley, the stuck-up Englishman is shocked to discover a winery turning out top-notch chardonnay. Determined to make a name for himself, he sets about getting the booze back to Paris.
02 Apr Bottle Shock (2008)
Jostled Beware of these sorts of things. Something happens that when it happens around you, it seems pretty interesting. When someone thinks “they should make a movie out of this” usually they are wrong. The supposedly interesting thing here is that a California wine won...
Infinity (1996)
Filmmaker(s): Matthew Broderick
Story of the early life of genius and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman.
02 Apr Infinity (1996)
Surely You Jest Some theorists live in the world of their theories. If you are going to pay attention to people, these are the most worthwhile. And certainly if you are going to build a film around them, you have some pretty rich possibilities. That’s...
The Beekeeper (2024)
Expose the corruption. Protect the hive.
Filmmaker(s): David Ayer
One man's campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as Beekeepers.
01 Apr The Beekeeper (2024)
Unchoreographed Say what you will about the Wick movies, but at least the standard was on tradecraft. Wick’s movements through bad guys was designed within the scope of actual martial arts and arms training. I think that is the standard now for western fight scenes;...
The Third Murder (2017)
Everyone has a truth to want to believe.
Filmmaker(s): Hirokazu Kore-eda
A lawyer tasked with defending a robbery-and-murder suspect begins developing doubts about what truly happened.
24 Mar The Third Murder (2017)
Wandering narratives You only have a few choices in film, alas. So when a filmmaker wants an adventure in narrative form, they are constrained. I come to these not for the experience, but to see the choices that have been made and whether they are...
Searching (2018)
No one is lost without a trace.
Filmmaker(s): Aneesh Chaganty
After David Kim's 16-year-old daughter goes missing, a local investigation is opened and a detective is assigned to the case. But 37 hours later and without a single lead, David decides to search the one place no one has looked yet, where all secrets are kept today: his daughter's laptop.
01 Mar Searching (2018)
Folded Detection As you will know, this is ostensibly all from a few computer screens, manipulated by the father of a missing teen girl. He is searching her various histories, supplemented by internet searches. As a detective, this constitutes the clues. The actual story is...
Beautiful Kate (2009)
The past is always present.
Filmmaker(s): Rachel Ward
Ned Kendall is asked to return to the remote and isolated family home by his sister, to say goodbye to his father who is dying. Ned also brings his young aspiring actress fiancee who struggles with the isolation. When home he starts having memories of his childhood many involving his beautiful twin sister and his older brother. These memories awaken long-buried secrets from the family's past.
23 Feb Beautiful Kate (2009)
Writer’s Blocks In the last year, I saw a film (‘In My Father‘s Den‘) with much the same themes. In that New Zealand film, a man, a celebrated war correspondent returns to his rural home on the death of his father. There are significant unresolved...
Layer Cake (2004)
Filmmaker(s): Matthew Vaughn
When a seemingly straight-forward drug deal goes awry, XXXX has to break his die-hard rules and turn up the heat, not only to outwit the old regime and come out on top, but to save his own skin...
23 Feb Layer Cake (2004)
Taking the Drugs One narrative form is the con story. All of these folding tricks are there to engage the viewer, to trick him or her into investing in the story. The idea is that some important things you understand about the story, your platform...
Time of the Gypsies (1988)
In this luminous tale set in the former Yugoslavia, Perhan, an engaging young Romany with telekinetic powers, is seduced by the quick-cash world of petty crime that threatens to destroy him and those he loves. Long version screened by the Sarajevo television in 5 one-hour episodes.
