|
8/10
|
Homicide
(1991)
|
Christopher Long
|
The doomy mood of the final scenes packs a wallop that's missing from Mamet's more contrived narratives.
Posted Dec 13, 2017
|
|
10/10
|
L'Avventura
(1960)
|
Christopher Long
|
This is a world without design, where characters can no longer single-mindedly pursue goals and resolve problems.
Posted Jan 29, 2015
|
|
8/10
|
La ciénaga
(2001)
|
Christopher Long
|
Martel doesn't try to connect the dots with typical continuity editing either, opting instead to focus on textures and fleeting movements
Posted Jan 29, 2015
|
|
10/10
|
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
(1972)
|
Christopher Long
|
You can understand why (Petra Von Kant) is viewed by many as one of Fassbinder's masterpieces. Not bad for ten days' work, anyway.
Posted Jan 29, 2015
|
|
8/10
|
My Winnipeg
(2007)
|
Christopher Long
|
A remembrance of things forgotten.
Posted Jan 29, 2015
|
|
8/10
|
The Innocents
(1961)
|
Christopher Long
|
This is a space with ample room for both the living and the dead.
Posted Sep 23, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
Macbeth
(1971)
|
Christopher Long
|
I don't know that there's a clear winner in the contest for Roman Polanski's bleakest depiction of human nature. But "Macbeth" is indisputably in the running.
Posted Sep 23, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
The Bankers of God: The Calvi Affair
(2002)
|
Christopher Long
|
Whatever delusions of grandeur (Calvi) may have had while climbing the corporate ladder are dispelled by the discovery that he is but a tiny fish among the sharks.
Posted Sep 23, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
Burt's Buzz
(2013)
|
Christopher Long
|
Burt's not your typical entrepreneur. He's not your typical anything.
Posted Sep 23, 2014
|
|
9/10
|
Eraserhead
(1977)
|
Christopher Long
|
Sculpted out of blocks of stark light amid pools of impenetrable darkness.
Posted Sep 23, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
Ghost Bird
(2009)
|
Christopher Long
|
Crocker crafts a surprisingly suspenseful tale as he follows the battle of experts on each side as well as the more fundamental tug of war between faith and empiricism.
Posted Sep 23, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia
(2010)
|
Christopher Long
|
The question is whether there's a way to make that freely-available knowledge less... sh***y.
Posted Sep 23, 2014
|
|
4/10
|
Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!
(1990)
|
Christopher Long
|
The film's tone is so campy and off-kilter it's hard to take any of it seriously... it's equally hard to find any of it particularly funny.
Posted Sep 23, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
No No: A Dockumentary
(2014)
|
Christopher Long
|
Ellis emerges from the movie as a complex and thoughtful character. He loved to say and do outrageous things, but seldom did so without a calculated purpose.
Posted Sep 23, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
(1949)
|
James Plath
|
"The Adventures of Ichabod Crane" still stands as one of the best versions of Irving's famous tale.
Posted Aug 14, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
Tarzan
(1999)
|
James Plath
|
There's nothing Broadway about this Edgar Rice Burroughs adaptation, but the wow factor is still there.
Posted Aug 14, 2014
|
|
6/10
|
Bears
(2014)
|
James Plath
|
I'm not suggesting that every nature film narrator should sound like David Attenborough, but John C. Reilly really seems an odd choice.
Posted Aug 14, 2014
|
|
5/10
|
The Three Musketeers
(2004)
|
James Plath
|
The animation has a Saturday morning look to it, with an overall brighter, yellower cast, and the film feels like a cartoon short that's been put on the rack and stretched until it qualified as a "full-length feature."
Posted Aug 14, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
Hercules
(1997)
|
James Plath
|
'Hercules' may be second-tier Disney, but it's TOP second tier, not far behind the studio's best animated work.
Posted Aug 14, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
A Touch of Sin
(2013)
|
Christopher Long
|
It might be my least favorite of (Jia's) movies, but I still count it as one of the best films of 2013 which should tell you what I think of this extraordinary filmmaker.
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
10/10
|
Breaking the Waves
(1996)
|
Christopher Long
|
Both a ferocious love story and a tale of the triumph of vital individual faith over ossified and corrupt organized religion.
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
The Trials of Muhammad Ali
(2013)
|
Christopher Long
|
It's hard to go wrong with footage of the charismatic and abrasive Ali who is not always depicted as a saint
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
Like Someone in Love
(2012)
|
Christopher Long
|
Kiarostami still possesses a remarkable knack for crafting vivid supporting characters from just a few details.
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
Red River
(1948)
|
Christopher Long
|
Just when loyalty seems to be an entirely perverse and oppressive force in this world of might makes right, the film (shows) there are limits decent men won't cross.
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
All That Heaven Allows
(1955)
|
Christopher Long
|
Works as a straightforward melodrama, but is so meticulously crafted by a visual master that it provides endless material for those who wish to mine for deeper social commentary.
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
9/10
|
The Eclipse
(1962)
|
Christopher Long
|
(Vittoria) desires... something, and the inability to articulate her need only heightens the desperation to fulfill it.
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
Judex
(1963)
|
Christopher Long
|
In shaving off 210 minutes or so, Franju eliminates all the backstory along with any concern for motivation or logic.
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
10/10
|
A Hard Day's Night
(1964)
|
Christopher Long
|
Critic Andrew Sarris wasn't just playing the fanboy when he described this movie as 'The Citizen Kane of jukebox musicals.' He just might have been selling it short.
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
Scanners
(1981)
|
Christopher Long
|
Cronenberg is so great at juxtaposing the surreal with the mundane to generate both creeps and (nervous) laughter.
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
10/10
|
La Chute des anges
(2014)
|
Christopher Long
|
I think it's not just Demy's masterpiece, but one of the great French films of the sixties, which is pretty high praise.
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
Insomnia
(1997)
|
Christopher Long
|
It becomes clear the title of the film could just as well be 'The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - Troms.'
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
10/10
|
Pickpocket
(1959)
|
Christopher Long
|
This mysterious film composed of silence and emptiness accumulates extraordinary power, and unleashes it in a profoundly moving moment.
Posted Aug 03, 2014
|
|
6/10
|
Need for Speed
(2014)
|
James Plath
|
Despite all the flaws, there's no denying the visceral feeling that "Need for Speed" evokes. I found myself tensed up throughout most of it, and that served to remind me that however simplistic and clichéd this film was, it still had me in its grip.
Posted Jul 28, 2014
|
|
6/10
|
Dom Hemingway
(2013)
|
James Plath
|
Jude Law gives a bravura performance as the title character, but you can't escape the feeling that this 2013 crime comedy-drama could have been either funnier or more dramatic.
Posted Jul 28, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
Made in America
(2013)
|
James Plath
|
While music doesn't take a back seat, it's more of a passenger than a driver. It feels like nonstop music without the generic concert format. But you learn or intuit something in the process.
Posted Jul 17, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
No Clue
(2013)
|
James Plath
|
Although it's a relatively low-budget indie flick, I'd rate "No Clue" among my top three film noir/P.I. spoofs-right up there with "The Cheap Detective" (1978) and "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" (1982).
Posted Jul 16, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
The Birdcage
(1996)
|
James Plath
|
Robin Williams plays off of a flaming Nathan Lane with delicious understatement and anchors a farce that moves along at a brisk pace-with or without heels.
Posted Jul 16, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
Once
(2007)
|
James Plath
|
If "The Commitments" shows the gritty, robust side of Dublin and the Irish music scene, "Once" shows us a softer, more romantic side.
Posted Apr 18, 2014
|
|
6/10
|
The King of Comedy
(1983)
|
James Plath
|
I'm going to side with the dissenters this time. I can see where it might be perceived as a dark comedy, but that label doesn't absolve it from an overarching sense that Scorsese didn't push this one far enough.
Posted Apr 09, 2014
|
|
6/10
|
Delivery Man
(2013)
|
James Plath
|
'Delivery Man' is a little like the main character: just good enough to make you care a little and smile a lot.
Posted Mar 28, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
George Washington
(2000)
|
Christopher Long
|
An exceptionally beautiful movie with some winning performances from a young and unproven cast,
Posted Mar 19, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
A Brief History of Time
(1992)
|
Christopher Long
|
Morris. Hawking. Two of my favorite artists together. It couldn't miss, and it didn't.
Posted Mar 19, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
The Hidden Fortress
(1958)
|
Christopher Long
|
An immaculately staged bit of escapist entertainment that should not get lost among Kurosawa's more celebrated works.
Posted Mar 19, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
Camille Claudel, 1915
(2013)
|
Christopher Long
|
A deeply unsettling experience, a muffled cry from and for a woman cast aside by her family and by history.
Posted Mar 19, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
Better Things: The Life and Choices of Jeffrey Catherine Jones
(2012)
|
Christopher Long
|
A moving testament to the life and work of a major American artist.
Posted Mar 19, 2014
|
|
6/10
|
Wicked Blood
(2014)
|
James Plath
|
Picture 'The Sopranos' transplanted to the South, with . . . all of the mob action happening in an area that seems so rural you'd think they'd be dealing in raccoon pelts instead of meth.
Posted Mar 15, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
12 Years a Slave
(2013)
|
James Plath
|
Much of it is difficult to watch, but '12 Years a Slave' is that rare film that's both important in its message and a darned good film all the same.
Posted Mar 08, 2014
|
|
8/10
|
Come Back, Africa
(1959)
|
Christopher Long
|
(The film)succeeds simultaneously as activism, as drama, and as a time capsule. It feels like the delicate spell would be broken if a single variable was altered.
Posted Mar 06, 2014
|
|
7/10
|
Tess
(1979)
|
Christopher Long
|
This is Kinski's show and she flat out steals it.
Posted Mar 06, 2014
|
|
10/10
|
Breathless
(1959)
|
Christopher Long
|
A unique hybrid, both the realization of years of critical writings by Godard and ... also a film made by an unabashed cinephile.
Posted Mar 06, 2014
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>
