-
Persuasion 2022
i can’t explain it but dakota johnson being in a period drama is like the human equivalent of that time they left a starbucks cup in game of thrones
-
-
The Piano 1993
35mm print
I've come around on what to make of the ending of The Piano, at first thinking that it left a bitter aftertaste although now it leaves me thinking there's no real happiness to Ada's story - where all the men have control around how she is perceived, and ultimately used. Beyond being what might be Jane Campion's most beautiful film visually, I think it's just her most complex psychologically, as a portrait of a woman's experience during the mid-1800s, and everything she can do to find happiness when her "voice" is rendered nonexistent.
Just masterful all around.
-
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) 2020
Well that was a whole lot of entertaining fun! Great soundtrack (the slow Hit Me with your Best Shot in particular) and some nifty choreography - especially the scene of Margot Robbie on roller skates in front of the car pulling all kinds of gymanastics to get on the roof! And of course, seeing a bunch of gals kick ass is always worthy of a huge smile and mutliple exclamations of "you go girl!" I haven't had this much fun since my last viewing of Guardians of the Galaxy.
-
-
28 Days 2000
yeah rehab definitely isn’t this lighthearted and chummy but at least there was a valid attempt at nuance! and there’s a fork analogy in this that’s.. surprisingly poignant. anyway all the men writing reviews about how sandra bullock can’t act need to fuck right off, love you sandra keep up the great work!
-
28 Days 2000
I love Betty Thomas, how could anyone not love Betty Thomas, and I love Sandy Bullock, how could anyone not love Sandy Bullock, but I will say this (very good) movie is as good as it is largely because few people can write broadly appealing studio movies as competently and compassionately as Susannah Grant!!!! This? Ever After?? Erin Brockovich?!?! In Her Shoes?!?!?!? Sure I’m scanning her IMDB and deliberately ignoring certain titles that don’t prove my point but hey.
-
-
Resurrection 2022
Sundance 2022: #4
A fun meat and potatoes thriller that is as elevated by a fully game Rebecca Hall as it is hindered by its hideous aesthetic.
Considering this is co-produced by Square Peg (a production company formed by Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen), I was surprised to discover this isn’t so much a psychological horror, but rather a cat and mouse thriller. And honestly, Resurrection is better for that as it makes me more forgiving of its flaws given…
-
Resurrection 2022
If there is something more we need out of cinema, it is the recognition of Rebecca Hall as an actress. After the last Sundance-starring hit The Night House, Hall is back with another woman-in-peril film that is boilerplate with its thriller plotting until it takes a sharp turn toward something hinting magical realism halfway through.
The film is shot by Wyatt Garfield with a visual palette signifying sterility and sparseness that feels overly controlled and inescapable and the music (by…
-
-
Resurrection 2022
Fiendishly splitting the difference between the kind of low-rent parental vigilante movies that will always live on basic cable, and the kind of high-brow polymorphic freakouts that all but died with Andrzej Żuławski, Andrew Semans’ aptly named “Resurrection” may never quite reach “Possession” levels of psychic collapse (what does?), but it sure gets a hell of a lot closer than the broad familiarity of its setup might lead you to expect. In fact, the first act of this impressively deranged…
Previous