The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

Three Strikes To me, what‘s interesting about this are the many different, completely different ways one can approach it. For most folks, at the time this was made, it dealt with deep national issues of identity and war. For most others fifty years later, this is a character study of an apparently comic fellow, who… Continue reading The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Clockworks Fincher understands cinematic narrative construction and has the craft to match. I fell under his spell during “Fight Club”. The idea there was to play a game with inner narrative. It was, I think when Pitt first found his way into full collaboration with a director’s adventure with the shifting of watcher and writer.… Continue reading The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Beauty #2 (1965)

Seduction Most of what Warhol does for me is of the “oh, I get it” variety of art, where a statement is supposed to trigger an insight and the insight is the art. Its an indirection of agency, and wears out its effect quickly. But sometimes it connects deeply, and this does. You might see… Continue reading Beauty #2 (1965)

Australia (2008)

The Story There’s plenty of space for others to comment on how wrong the shape of this is, and whether Nichole is too wooden. Talk like that is boring to me. I enjoyed it in spite of it working hard against success. One reason is that I know cattle drive westerns well. Its not only… Continue reading Australia (2008)

Anemic Cinema (1926)

Un Revolutionary Just because something happened, doesn’t mean that it matters. Just because some artist farts controllably doesn’t mean we should enter it. This was unimportant when it was new, and only slightly less so now. I say slightly because film as a whole has lost a certain sense of adventure that this possesses. If… Continue reading Anemic Cinema (1926)