Parasitic Nests I have a particular interest in five different cinematic styles, worlds actually. One of them I have named the Hispanic style. It is characterised by: elements of magical reality, either in supernatural physics or synchronous connections. a belief that the world is rich, fecund. Occasionally female sexuality is interwoven. Characters are both in… Continue reading Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)
Tag: p2015
Comments first posted in 2015
Assault Girls (2009)
Long Form Loop I study long form film to see how it works. Some times what I end up seeing doesn’t work. That is the case here; only the costumes matter, and one episode has resonance. Does that one episode qualify this as long form? Maybe. Long form has less to do with length than… Continue reading Assault Girls (2009)
Appointment with Crime (1946)
Hands Off For me, noir is a very specific form. It is as pervasive and important an invention as Jazz. The thing that distinguishes it is a main character who is put through the wringer in circumstances that would never occur if there were not us ghosts watching and manipulating reality. It had a long… Continue reading Appointment with Crime (1946)
App (2013)
Vision This promises two things. One is a lightweight system to connect an App with a movie. You download the free App and launch it. It listens to the film and synchronises some images and a little video from time to time. This is a fantastic idea, but in this case the experience wasn’t expanded.… Continue reading App (2013)
American Sniper (2014)
Focus I watched this like many others, consuming a rather simple story. Superficially, we are to admire this soul, both as an individual and representative of a collective who ‘serve’ us. As with Forgiven, we have some subtle exit from the story in the direction of despair for the country. Along the way we have… Continue reading American Sniper (2014)
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
A Vast Profitmaking Enterprise. The big division in films for me is whether it nourishes me or not. We build our lives from stories, lucidly if we are lucky. Films are the bath in which we rejuvenate — some films. All other film experiences are to be taken apart for profit, to tell me why… Continue reading Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Not that Kind of Tailoring From time to time in these comments, I remark on my surprise at how sophisticated young viewers are, and how they demand ever more complex and subtle self-referential folds. It gives me pleasure to realise that my flower children cohort were and still are largely incapable of this level of… Continue reading Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Sherlock Holmes (1954-1955)
Sluggo Yet another appropriation of the Holmes character. In this case, they had 23 minutes to fill with enough attractiveness to sell stuff. The form demands light banter, very simple plots and secondary characters, and lots of slugging. Slugging is required. Like other appropriations of the Holmes character, only the affect is used, and none… Continue reading Sherlock Holmes (1954-1955)
Margaret (2011)
Situations Okay, I’ve been through both edits of this now, after recommendations from several readers. I get what he is trying to do. I am writing as someone who prefers the Cannes edit of ‘Brown Bunny’ and who eagerly sat through 3 1/2 hours of ‘The Falls’. I think this is a failure, a failure… Continue reading Margaret (2011)
A Night of Terror (1937)
Talking while Leaving Theater When I heard that 3D would be going mainstream a few years ago, I hoped for a revolution in what we think films are. I believe we are seeing some radical rethinking, because with 3D and CGI, we get a less encumbered camera, one whose normal stance is eye height of… Continue reading A Night of Terror (1937)