Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho has, in his relatively short career, established an international reputation as a man who can bend genre to his whim. His highly successful output thus far has blended sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and suspense - oftentimes within the same piece of work - but he always grounds his films in the reality … Continue reading The Sweet Smell of Excess – Parasite
Ang Lee is one of the most celebrated filmmakers in the world. His films have garnered a total of 12 Academy Awards from 38 nominations, including two wins for himself as Best Director. He's been one of the greatest crossover auteurs in the industry, wowing audiences with foreign films (The Wedding Banquet, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) … Continue reading You’re Gonna Die Twice – Gemini Man
I'm not the biggest comic book nerd. Frankly, it would have been WAY too expensive of a hobby when I was a kid. But I've always had a fondness for certain members of the cape-and-mask set, particularly Batman. As an adult, I like him because he's seemingly the only billionaire on Earth that uses his … Continue reading I’m About to Break! – Joker
One of the most annoying marketing ploys of the movie industry is a misleading trailer. The primary goal, of course, is to get people to hand over their cash and watch the movie, no matter how good or bad it is. Still, when you have to outright lie to make your sale, it leaves a … Continue reading No Diamonds, No Diapers – Lucy in the Sky
I know I've declared the unofficial opening of awards season with a few reviews and previews over the last month, but now we can actually say that the competition for next year's Oscars has truly begun. This week, the Academy released the official list of 93 countries that have submitted an entry for Best International … Continue reading Don’t Call it “Foreign!” – International Feature Film Submissions Announced!
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on this blog before, but my all-time favorite movie is Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket. Apart from the stark sense of realism that was Kubrick's trademark, the performances of Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, and the late great R. Lee Ermey provided the perfect capsule of how the fog of … Continue reading Monkey See War, Monkey Do War – Monos
There's a moment in Rupert Goold's Judy, a biopic about Judy Garland's London tour shortly before her death, that rises above your standard-issue celebrity sob piece to something truly brilliant. After showing up late, and drunk, to her first performance at the "Talk of the Town," Renée Zellweger as Garland can barely stand, and needs help … Continue reading An “Eh” True Hollywood Story – Judy
DreamWorks' latest animated feature, Abominable, is the third movie to come out in the last 12 months concerning the welfare of yetis and yeti-adjacent species. The previous two films represent the extremes of the quality spectrum on the subject, from the brilliantly designed Missing Link to the crime against humanity that was Smallfoot. My initial thoughts when going … Continue reading Do You Wanna Help a Snowman? – Abominable
It's an extremely hard task to create an Oscar-worthy film out of disparate elements from other movies, particularly when the previous materials have gone down as all-time classics. Thankfully, Writer/Director James Gray (whose last film - the transcendent Lost City of Z - was ignored during awards season) and leading man Brad Pitt are a pair ably … Continue reading A Prestige Star Vehicle In More Ways Than One – Ad Astra
We finally made it to fall! I can at last turn off my air conditioner... mostly. It's Los Angeles, what do you want? Anywho, the opening salvos of awards season have been fired, with some absolutely great films coming out (Ad Astra review coming soon), as well as some abject shit (The Goldfinch). We even … Continue reading This Film is Not Yet Watchable – October 2019
I Actually Paid To See This 