Production studios are weird, and I gather involve a good deal of politics. Film festivals are also weird, and also heavily political. Things like the Cannes Film Festival are nice for indie filmmakers (the high-profile and non-indie indie filmmakers like the Coens and Wes Anderson) to screen their films and get picked up by major…
Winter is a double whammy in the film industry: blockbusters and prestige films. That’s enough to totally clog up well-meaning amateur film blogs like the one you’re reading right now. It’s also enough to burn out the avid movie goer and plant a dangerous little seed of “Geez, I could use a small movie. What’s…
Once a year there seems to be an important prestige film that totally slips under my radar until mid-to-late November. I think last year it was Philomena, and I never ended up seeing that anyway. I got my act together in a big way this year, however, and managed to see it the same week…
Baddie – America’s class system. Lesson – If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. This movie begins with an old man telling disgusting limericks at some sort of awards dinner. He’s apologetic, but not so sorry as to refrain from severing a woman’s finger and wrapping it in a napkin. A security…
The Plot: Vincent McKenna (Bill Murray) is a heavy drinking, foul-mouthed, chain-smoking, hooker-hirin’ gambler. In other words, the kind of guy who’s probably pretty low on your list of potential babysitters for your meek, precocious 12 year old boy. Despite all of these charming qualities, fate and long work hours make Vincent the afterschool caretaker…
Nightcrawler (2014) The Plot: Petty criminal Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal) makes his living stealing manhole covers and chain-link fences, selling them as scrap metal to the most convenient buyer. He craves financial stability, however, and wants to straighten up and fly right. One night, a career path drops into his lap: nightcrawling. What does a…
Baddie – Spooky spectre-producing caves. Lesson – Can’t stab a ghost.. In my quest to watch every shark movie, I have to watch “Ghost Shark”. Yay me. The movie begins with a fisherman and his wife attempting to catch a fish for a contest. A shark eats the fish. The couple is distasteful and irritating, I…
