they’re american planes, made in america

i’m trying something new.
rather than write about movies no has seen and most people would have no interest in seeing, i’m going to write about movies no one has ever see because they’ve never been made.
recently, i’ve become a fan of mel gibson the director (but not mel gibson the actor or person).  i mean, [...]

Milking the Oscars

Watching the Oscars for me is like a college football fan watching the Super Bowl. The event is concerned with something we tangentially love, but mostly we watch it as an excuse to gamble and eat potato chips. Things get a little more interesting, however, when you introduce your homophobic, ultra-conservative grandfather into a Milk [...]

Magnum Force This, Punk!

In between whining about grad school this week and watching really terrible red neck comedians in West Valley, I’ve been screening the Dirty Harry series. So far I’ve watched through The Enforcer, and with two more left to go I’ve got to come right out and say that those movies are fucked up. For their [...]

A Little More Personal

Not being in school is depressing. I’ve been working towards various diplomas and degrees for eighteen years, and this six month break has not been the most rewarding of my life. Dog walking has been fun and I really like being with animals all day instead of people, but it doesn’t really give you very [...]

President Pets are More Interesting Than President Movies

Presidents’ Day is one of those underrated holidays like Labor Day, Arbor Day, and Pioneer Day. In the aftermath of Valentine’s disappointments we are given one day to celebrate all the of mediocrity of past greatness. Because, just like Halmark’s most pink holiday, Presidents’ Day tends to remind us of some of our biggest failures.

My [...]

no, caveman! it’s wrong to kill!

have you ever seen that movie the blob?  i have and it’s excellent.  the best part?  the opening song:

i have a suspicion that someone wrote this song and then everyone realized that there needed to be a movie to go along with it.  the song’s that good.
as mentioned before, the movie [...]

Fadiman v. Winslet

The Reader was not a good movie. It seems like the director – Stephen Daldry, director of other boring movies like The Hours – saw an interesting subject and then expanded on it, stretched it out, expanded and expanded until it made the perfect, tied up little narrative that was sure to wow those Oscar people. [...]

something about text in films

am i the only person interested in the title cards in weimann’s the cabinet of dr caligari?
let me start again
i finally watched the cabinet of dr caligari.  it’s fantastic.  let’s start with the sets:  the sets are incredible — dark, menacing, crowded.  it’s kind of like the opposite of those habitat preference tests.  you know, [...]

We Can’t Wait

Over at Film Experience, I’ve been having a conversation about films I’m most excited to see this coming year. It turns out that all of my favorite directors (the ones that are alive) seem to be releasing films in 2009. Kiarostami, Haneke, Woody Allen, Lars von Trier, Quentin Tarantino, Julie Taymor, Jane Campion, Wes Anderson, [...]