Good kids You know what is really fun? Choose a director you like, then trace the ideas you like about him back through two paths: the films by others that surely influenced him, and also back through his own earlier work. I like Rodriguez. I do. I like the risks he takes, his proclivity to… Continue reading Bedhead (1991)
Tag: p2005
Comments first posted in 2005
Alicia (1994)
Stillborn This is purely personal, but I have a few wickets through which a film must pass for me to willingly splice it into my imagination. I’m only talking here about films that present themselves as art. — It has to be competent, which for me can translates into the degree to which it exploits… Continue reading Alicia (1994)
The Band Wagon (1953)
42nd Street in the Rain The colour musical film is a strange beast. Hollywood explored many of its possibilities. And people did buy lots of tickets. But until very recently, musicals were all but dead. That’s because they were never able to create a self sustaining genre, actually what they missed were a few constants… Continue reading The Band Wagon (1953)
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Just Bad There are an astonishing number of movies about the movie business. many of these interest me because they use the situation as a way of engaging the audience: we are tricked into being the audience IN the film. This is a common trick, which I believe to be the most effective in all… Continue reading The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
The Aviator (2004)
Three Characters We all live in our own movies, and particularly like movies of people who do so more literally. Here are three in one film: Martin Scorsese: My regular readers know that I have been very critical of his films. Sure, they are crafted well enough, but the world he created was not one… Continue reading The Aviator (2004)
Beauty Shop (2005)
Parts I believe that after a while the movie studios will start selling movies like this in all its components. Probably Apple will be involved. So I will be able to buy all the raw footage of “Beauty Shop” in a Final Cut Pro project and edit it my own way adding and taking things… Continue reading Beauty Shop (2005)
Batman Begins (2005)
Mildly Psychotropic Those expecting a fine experience based on prior Nolan projects, even Bale ones, are bound to be disappointed. I was. There are only two redeeming elements here. The first is the mildly radical cutting of the action scenes, at least those involving fights. This technique is usually used when the budget requires confusion… Continue reading Batman Begins (2005)
Barton Fink (1991)
I’ll Show You the World of the Mind Any Coen film is worth traveling to see. All of them are enterprises about the enterprise of film-making or writing, but you never know what little side voyage we’re going on, what creases of creation we’re exploring. In this case, instead of playing with a genre, they… Continue reading Barton Fink (1991)
Barcelona (1994)
Talk to Him A great joy in a life with film is to discover a film that is competent and coherent, that exists cinematically but which on reflection has dynamics worth rejecting. After all, you build your life not so much on absorption but on paring. A great sorrow in film is to encounter a… Continue reading Barcelona (1994)
Bad Santa (2003)
Inversion It is a simple idea: exploit the sweetness of Christmas by being mean to kids. Superimpose this on the old genre of bad man turns good through an unwanted role as parent. This works only because of extensive script doctoring, thanks to the Coen brothers. If you know their expertise in genre-bending, you’ll appreciate… Continue reading Bad Santa (2003)