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Black Magic (1944)
Chan stalks a fiendish murderer!
Filmmaker(s): Phil Rosen

Chinese detective Charlie Chan solves a murder linked to the occult. This movie had an alternative title: Meeting at Midnight.

Spooked The original intent of the Chan series, I suppose, was to introduce the “oriental” mind to the mystery genre. As with the equally strange notion of Belgian logic with Poirot, we would be charmed by novel synaptic paths. By the time of this film, indeed...


Published January 17, 2024
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Bingo (1991)
More hip than humanly possible.
Filmmaker(s): Matthew Robbins

Bingo, the runaway circus dog, is off the leash and saving Chuckie's life! Bingo and the boy become the best of friends in this canine comedy featuring doggy disguises and skateboarding, pinball and prison. Chuckie and his parents are moving house, a thousand miles away, but Bingo won't be allowed to join them.

The American Spirit One of the strongest influences in how a society imagines itself is film, and of films the strongest are where the characters are most abstract. Abstraction can be through cartoons or cartoonizing, stereotyping or extreme dramatizing. But the most elegant to my mind...


Published August 28, 2023
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Big Daddy (1999)
Nature called. Look who answered.
Filmmaker(s): Dennis Dugan

A lazy law school grad adopts a kid to impress his girlfriend, but everything doesn't go as planned and he becomes the unlikely foster father.

The Goof It is always been an American film staple to have a simpleminded but purehearted hero. Chaplin invented the image. He would be appalled at how the notion has been appropriated by the US Republican party. An excellent character is all that matters, especially compared...


Published July 27, 2023
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Being Mick (2001)
You Would if You Could
Filmmaker(s): Kevin Macdonald

For everyone who's always envied the life of the legendary Rolling Stones frontman, this behind-the-scenes documentary lets you in on Mick Jagger's private life, with family home movies and interviews, and also follows him recording and performing songs from his solo Goddess in the Doorway" album. Special appearances by Bono, Pete Townshend, Wyclef Jean, Lenny Kravitz, and others are featured.

Walking Trousers I have such a long list of films to watch that there is often a long lag between the time it appears on the list and the actual watching. Then, part of the fun is figuring out why I was so excited about getting...


Published July 14, 2023
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Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
Three wonderful loves in the best picture of the year!
Filmmaker(s): William Wyler

It's the hope that sustains the spirit of every GI: the dream of the day when he will finally return home. For three WWII veterans, the day has arrived. But for each man, the dream is about to become a nightmare.

Slow Meditation on Observation This treacly story hides some masterful filmmaking. Film is all about observation, except the observed usually contrive to make the observer feel unobtrusive. During this period, intelligent filmmakers were playing with the form so that often films were not only engineered observations but the...


Published July 14, 2023
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Lovely and Amazing (2001)
Filmmaker(s): Nicole Holofcener

An intimate family portrait of four hapless but resilient women and the bittersweet lessons they learn in keeping up with the hectic demands of their individual neuroses. Each of the women seeks redemption in her own haphazard way, but whatever salvation they find is illusory and short-lived.

Parts TeeVee does this to us all, and I am saddened by it. Drama has a simple legacy: Tragedy where the mechanics of the story are in the world of the story, and Comedy where the mechanics are in the world of the audience. One...


Published June 29, 2023
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Before Sunset (2004)
What if you had a second chance with the one that got away?
Filmmaker(s): Richard Linklater

Nine years later, Jesse travels across Europe giving readings from a book he wrote about the night he spent in Vienna with Celine. After his reading in Paris, Celine finds him, and they spend part of the day together before Jesse has to again leave for a flight. They are both in relationships now, and Jesse has a son, but as their strong feelings for each other start to return, both confess a longing for more.

Reluctance Finally, Linklater does something with his talent. His strength in the past has been to shape the form of his films to match the subject. At least that’s been true when the subject is the tentativeness of existence. He’s done well enough in the past, but...


Published June 29, 2023
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The Fashionistas (2002)
Filmmaker(s): John Stagliano

A famous fashion designer, searching for a hot new "bondage" look, comes across a design house called The Fashionistas. Unbeknownst to him, the firm's owner is determined to seduce him--not only to get him to buy her line, but also because she knows he can get her into the strange world of underground S&M clubs.

The Movie Within: Clockwork Peaches Yes, this is porn, with some real negatives. One of these is its perversion, pretty much all the pain, bondage and fetish you can imagine. But it is done as a parody. The watcher is being goofed on, tortured for fun. In...


Published June 20, 2023
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Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996)
Coming to a screen bigger than your TV.
Filmmaker(s): Mike Judge

Slacker duo Beavis and Butt-Head wake to discover their TV has been stolen. Their search for a new one takes them on a clueless adventure across America, during which they manage to accidentally become America's most wanted.

Missed Baywatch I'm constantly amazed at how quickly some fresh, edgy cinematic ideas go stale. This was strange enough it its time to be noticed: the placement of the narrative stance within the sixth grade. Having played its small role in advancing the scope of narrative irony,...


Published May 21, 2023
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The Barbershop (1894)

“Interior of Barber Shop. Man comes in, takes off his coat; sits down, smokes; is handed a paper by attendant, who points out a joke; both laugh. Meantime the man in the chair is shaved and has his hair cut. Very funny.” (Edison's Latest Wonders, 1894)

The Choreography of Layers The history of anything involves trying to discover the accidents of convention that stuck. Movies could have taken off from any of a number of the already mature arts: especially painting. It turned out — much the worse I fear — to...


Published May 17, 2023
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