OK, just quickly and from the gut; the only way I can do this is by saying who I’d like to see win – I’m not going to break down who I’m rooting for vs. who I think will take the statue away on the night. And, for that reason, I’m not going to cover [...] Read more – ‘Oscar Picks’.
The first time I watched David Lynch’s 2006 film INLAND EMPIRE, I sat with my laptop open and did some kind of unfiltered, automatic typing throughout the 3-hour running time. Lynch’s visceral, surrealistic brand of film-making arguably makes it a legitimate form of criticism to attempt to capture one’s raw, unprocessed reaction. And whilst the [...] Read more – ‘David Lynch: In Dreams’.
Urbanized, the third film in director Gary Hustwit’s ‘design trilogy’ is currently in limited release in cinemas, and also as a pay-per-view streaming rental via the film’s website. Kickstarter backers of the project were granted a free rental, and I’ve just watched mine. The film is a great addition to Hustwit’s set of accessible, enthralling [...] Read more – ‘Urbanized, Gary Hustwit dir. (2011)’.
A quick look at my recent YouTube plays reveals that I’ve used the site to watch interviews, look for the solution to a particularly tricky videogame puzzle, research material for a seminar on Ezra Pound, and re-watch a favourite sitcom pratfall. The site has become such a catch-all that it serves, for many people, as [...] Read more – ‘On Life in a Day’.
As much as I love Darren Aronofsky, back in 2008 whenever I heard anyone giving him credit for singlehandedly resuscitating Mickey Rourke’s career, one word kept coming into my head: Marv. Despite the myth that Rourke had dropped off the cinematic map until Aronofsky went and found him, a quick peek at his IMDB page confirms that [...] Read more – ‘Sin City, Frank Miller & Robert Rodriquez dir. (2005)’.
Let’s talk Oscar nominations. The announcements are due in less than 24 hours, and here are a few names / titles I’d like to see on the list: Best Picture There are a lot of probable nominees that I’m yet to see (The King’s Speech, The Kids Are Alright, Hereafter etc.) but titles I’d like [...] Read more – ‘Oscar Nominations’.
When I left the dingy Odeon cinema in Reading after seeing Fight Club in 1999 I felt elated. The movie had surprised and thrilled me, done things I’d never seen on the screen before, and knocked me back in my seat with its last 20 minutes. Fincher’s film was brave and brash and masculine, and [...] Read more – ‘Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky dir. (2010)’.
Danny Boyle’s film begins with numerous shots of crowds: train stations, sports events, shopping malls. A collection of collections of people, teeming masses; so many of them that the screen divides into three to show their bustling activity. But the film doesn’t reveal its title card until 20 minutes or so later, by which time [...] Read more – ‘127 Hours, Danny Boyle dir. (2010)’.
For me, Wes Anderson’s first five features plot a pretty much symmetrical graph of quality. Bottle Rocket (1996)–though obviously full of heart–felt too rough around the edges, and The Darjeeling Limited (2007) seemed a little too crowded and lacking in focus. But, if the apex of Anderson’s craft is still The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), then [...] Read more – ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Wes Anderson dir. (2004)’.
As with all reviews on this site, the following contains what might be considered “spoilers”, and if you’re sensitive about such things I would advise bookmarking this page and coming back after you’ve seen the film. Sometime during the hype-storm which preceded the release of The Matrix Reloaded in 2003, I saw a preview video [...] Read more – ‘Tron: Legacy, Joseph Kosinski dir. (2010)’.
Right from frame one I’m reminded that Roger Deakins is the Coen brothers’ secret weapon. Having re-watched The Assassination of Jesse James recently, Deakins’ way of making the expansive scrub-desert environment look romantic and possessed of an almost otherworldly beauty was already at the forefront of my mind. Equally impressive is his command of the more intimate [...] Read more – ‘No Country for Old Men, Ethan Coen & Joel Coen dir. (2007)’.
I’m currently reading Dr. Nina Power‘s book One Dimensional Woman. As well as being an insightful critique of contemporary feminism it has introduced me to an entertaining (if depressing) game to play when watching movies. The Bechdel Test originates from a 1985 installment of a cartoon strip by Alison Bechdel called Dykes to Watch Out [...] Read more – ‘The Bechdel Test’.
In 1975 Jack Nicholson could do no wrong. It was the year of his firework display of a performance in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, for which he will rightly be remembered, but it was also the year he turned in a very different piece of work for Michaelangelo Antonioni’s The Passenger. The role [...] Read more – ‘The Passenger, Michaelangelo Antonioni dir. (1975)’.
In his four feature films to date Darren Aronofsky has displayed a breathtaking diversity of tone and style. The tense, claustrophobic black & white of Pi; the lurid, feverish Requiem For A Dream; the operatic grandeur and poetry of The Fountain; and then the working-class realism of The Wrestler – four very different films, any [...] Read more – ‘Thoughts on the Black Swan Trailer’.
It is Gus Van Sant’s birthday. When I think about my favourite directors the names that come to mind tend to be guys (and they are all male unfortunately) with long and varied filmographies, and Van Sant’s name is right near the top of that list. You look through his back catalogue and you can’t [...] Read more – ‘Happy Birthday: Gus Van Sant’.
“Sitting comfortably in a dark room, dazzled by the light and the movement which exert a quasi-hypnotic power… fascinated by the interest of human faces and the rapid changes of place, [a] cultivated individual placidly accepts the most appalling themes…and all this naturally sanctioned by habitual morality, government, and international censorship, religion, dominated by good [...] Read more – ‘Antichrist; Lars von Trier dir. (2009)’.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep. That last stanza, and really just those last two lines, of Robert Frost’s ‘Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening’ always struck me as a little bleak; it [...] Read more – ‘The Road; John Hillcoat dir. (2009)’.
The cinema of 1999 is memorable to me for four key experiences: the Star Wars prequel I’d been looking forward to for years; David Fincher “fucking the frame” with Fight Club; the Blair Witch Project nearly making my heart beat out of my chest, and of course The Matrix. No one saw the Wachowski brothers’ [...] Read more – ‘The Matrix, Avatar and Our Changing Attitudes to the Virtual’.
