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From the opening shots we are orientated to the fact that this is a Wes Anderson film. A straight on shot of a newspaper factory pressing its latest edition. Followed by the title page of The French Dispatch: of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun. Followed by a shot of the Obituary section, displaying a drawing of Arthur Howitzer, Jr. (played by Bill Murray) with the title “Editor-in-Chief Dead at 75”. Followed by a shot of the facade of The French Dispatch building in Ennui-sur-Blase, . These shots not only establish that this is a Wes Anderson film but also sets the stage for the film that we are about to view.

We get all the calling cards that we would expect when watching a Wes Anderson film. The symmetry, meticulous detail, typewriters, nostalgia, slow-motion, mellon collie, dry wit, expositive narration, familiar character actors, diorama set pieces, to the color palette and wardrobe. It’s all there. While some can feel overwhelmed by all of it, and at this point I do understand the criticisms of self parody, I still found this film quite charming.

The concept is an anthology film, with segments that portray separate articles of The French Dispatch magazine. Each article has its own distinct author/narrator that tells its own unique story. The first section of the magazine introduces us to the city. Starting on daybreak, we see the city come to life. Throughout the day we follow the narrator of this section (played by Owen Wilson) as he takes us to the different sections of the city in what seems like an earnest love letter to cities in general. From here, we get three main articles. Each section is unique in many ways but all three share those Anderson-esque qualities listed above. All three stories also share a character type. A tragic main character that is unwilling to compromise their own philosophical or moral beliefs. Often, to their own detriment.

Best performance in the film is the city of Chicago.

Narration (Joanne Woodward): There’s always a criticism about narration - Scorsese’s opinion of narration is more for the tone of the movie than as a crutch to move the story forward. From the opening titles you can see the beauty of the film. There is an emphasis on art, particularly Paintings, there are lots of paintings. The film almost resembles a painting, with dissolves like brushstrokes, beautiful lighting, and fades to red or yellow. Scorsese has publicly professed his love for early Hollywood melodramas. Obviously, Scorsese is handling his great melodrama as carefully as the works of art that he is trying to emulate.

5x5 - Directors Challenge: Almodovar

A film so beautiful I missed many bits and pieces of dialogue, not wanting to avert my gaze from the picture to read the captions. Almodóvar gives us a story of strong, independent women working together to help each other.

5x5 - Directors Challenge: Almodovar

A beautifully shot and colorful Almodóvar's noir film. A wonderful plot of a film within a film, story within a story, a Russian doll of a story. Almodóvar blurs the lines of identity and morality, as he always does so well.

Ticks off all of the Altman boxes you know and might love. A somewhat dubious moral throughline. The look and style that you’re used to when you turn on an Altman film. Altman gives us his characteristic meandering and overlapping dialogue. Elliot Gould in his freewheelin’ prime.

5x5 - Directors Challenge: Almodovar

Tremendous use of color, as you would expect from any Almodovar film. Tremendous acting on all parts. Pedro Almodovar, with Talk to Her, gives us a much more subdued film than any of his films I’ve seen prior. There are so many great little moments in the film from the opening dance number to the great silent film within the film. Great, subtle touches. A test of empathy. Flawed characters that push and are pushed to the limits of morality.

5x5 - Directors Challenge: Haneke

Set in a small village in just prior to the first world war. In what we assume is a quiet, orderly, and stable rural village up until this point; a number of heinous crimes take place on the villagers within this town. Narrated by the school teacher years after the story. We’re given, what we assume, is an objective recollection of the events that occurred. Events that, as you may suspect, are not fully explained. It is a Haneke film afterall. “It’s the duty of art to ask questions, not to provide answers.”

Rewatched. Call it nostalgia, call it what you want. No, you can call it nostalgia, there are some serious hints of that here.
Either way; I still the first time I watched this. I was in Junior High. Every other weekend I would stay at my dad’s place. We usually got to watch better movies at Dad’s place. We rented the VHS from the local video store. Thinking back I can listening to my Dad and his girlfriend voice the nostalgia for the time period depicted by Linklater.
this song? We used to play it all the time.
when cigarettes were 60 cents?
when the drinking age was 18?
Oh my gosh, those pants. I had a pair just like them.
You those big headphones? They were so uncomfortable.

Or nostalgia for the nineties. Watching this I get some serious nostalgia vibes for myself and the time period of endlessly rewatching Dazed and Confused prior to and throughout high school. I really got a sense of timelessness from this viewing. How as a High School student in the late nineties/early two-thousands I could relate so honestly to what being depicted in the lives of those coming of age in another generation. This just goes to show the universality with which Linklater writes and directs these characters, he seems to cut to the heart of the transformation that all young adults seem to make at this point in their lives regardless of the cultural time period. A film that will continue to resonate with a sense of relatability with a certain age group and a sense of nostalgia with another.

5x5 - Directors Challenge: Haneke

Simple answers are not Haneke’s prerogative. Simple readings of Haneke’s films are not the way to go about reading the film. They are meant to not necessarily confuse the viewer, but to push the audience to uncomfortable places and let them sit there. Haneke is trying to make the audience uncomfortable, make them squirm a little bit in their seats and then force them to ask uncomfortable questions. Questions that may not have answers but are definitely worth asking.

The film begins as a type of thriller. A family is being filmed by an unknown person who uses these videos to terrorize the family. Only this is not intended as a thriller because there is never any closure, no answer to the question of who is sending the videos. Haneke says so himself when asked about who may be behind the video. Haneke states “To ask this question is to avoid asking the real question the film raises, which is more: how do we treat our conscience and our guilt and reconcile ourselves to living with our actions?” What Haneke may be referring to here is the racial inequities in at the time as well as the historical injustices towards minorities, particularly the 1961 Seine River massacre. Haneke does this amazing thing where he packs a question of morality into an already fully formed film. The simple basis of the film could be a good film on its own and has been recreated with success in Hollywood versions. But what makes this film great is the subtext and the unanswered questions that it leaves you with. Also, the cinematography. It’s amazing.

Beautifully shot in black and white, Last Picture Show gives us a bleak look at middle America. High School seniors contemplating who they are and who they want to become or simply ignoring the question. The youth being burdened with the sins of their parents. The facade of a generation crumbles.

An inventive ghost story. An early look at the imagination of Guillermo del Toro and a glimpse at what he may be capable of.

Finally made the time to take in this essential concert film, rectifying a serious blindspot, at the start of lock down. I’ve been a fan of The Talking Heads for as long as I have been a fan of music. I consider a few of their albums to be masterpieces. So my late arrival to this film is difficult to understand. I guess I was just waiting for the perfect time to discover this great film. That perfect time was the beginning of lockdown, in March. Since then I’ve revisited this concert film every time I might need a lift.

The build up is extraordinary; from the singular David Byrne to the eventual jubilant, packed stage filled with a diverse group of musicians. Director, Jonathan Demme, does a great job of putting the viewer in the middle of the action. The beautiful, straight on, wide shots of the entire stage. This is just the film I needed and continue to need to placate this feeling of isolation.

Upon another revisit The Master is still puzzling, still beautiful, still a masterpiece that becomes richer with each rewatch. The framing is beautiful, every shot is a work of art. Those amazing close-ups, of such great faces. The masterful performances of the two leads. Like all great films you could rewatch this time after time and find something new with every revisit. It seems like a true labor of love from PTA that he has poured himself into. While I lament about the time in between films, seeing the detail and labor throughout every scene makes it worth it.

Essential viewing.

A classic and influential noir, directed by iconoclast Nicholas Ray. In A Lonely Place gives us more than just a noir. While we do get the flawed male anti-hero played perfectly, as expected, by Bogart and the dark wrong man crime thriller; we also get an incredible and incredibly tragic love story. The complexity of the characters and the actors who play them are what really make this film the masterpiece that it is.

Hopefully, there is a baseball season this year. This did a great job of tiding me over until then. The exhaustive look at the history of baseball does a good job of humanizing the larger than life figures in baseball's history. With an ahead of it's time theme of looking at racial inequities in the game throughout the history of baseball this feels as of the moment as any sports documentary.

The whole thing is put together extremely well. Nine episodes (or innings) in the original series and an extra inning about twenty years later. With each episode ranging from 2-2 1/2 hours long, they're asking a lot out of the viewing but they deliver every single time. So much great information and so many great baseball stories. So much stuff and I would still go back for more.

With the commentary from Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker

Listening to Scorsese talk through this film, or really any of his films, is about as valuable an experience that anyone interested in the making of films can get. Particularly here, when he’s talking about filming fight scenes inside the ring or when he’s talking with Schoonmaker about the editing of the film. Raging Bull is not my favorite Scorsese film but I think it might be his best. It may be DeNero at his best as well (although that may be even more of a debate). With his portrayal of Jake LaMotta, DeNero gives us a flawed man filled with jealousy and a propensity for violent and self destructive penance.

One bit of information from the commentary that I thought was pretty crazy was in regards to the ending of the film when Jack LaMotta recited the dialogue from “On The Waterfront”. Apparently, the real Jake LaMotta was on set to help some of the details of the film (which in and of itself is crazy). Around the period of LaMotta’s life depicted in this final portion of the film he actually did have a little lounge act where he recited soliques. What LaMotta actually recited, however, were portions from Richard III. Yeah, Shakespeare. But when Scorsese was going over this with Michael freaking Powell (that of the Archers - Powell/Pressburger), Powell recommended that Scorsese change it to that Brando dialogue. He thought Shakespeare didn’t quite sit well within an American film. Crazy. Good call, though.

Overall, a very well made film. Starts out as a comic look at a totalitarian mindset leading up to one hell of a gut punch. I’ve heard and understand the criticism but, overall, it was an enjoyable and effective film for me.

Bergman’s horror film. A surreal film that feels dreamlike throughout. As you would expect, both Max von Sydow and Liv Ullmann are fantastic. The film opens with Ullmann’s character walking to a picnic table and staring directly into the camera as she delivers her dialogue and from there you’re hooked. Sven Nykvist, the cinematographer, is an absolute master. You could pause this film at pretty much any moment and get a work of art. Bergman lets us into the tortured psyche of an artist struggling to create, struggling with his relationship, struggling with what seems to be his concept of reality. We follow him as he descends further down the rabbit hole of complete madness. Bergman continues to astonish me with his dreamlike filmmaking. An undeniable master of filmmaking, I have yet to view a less than masterfully made and intensely thought provoking film in the man’s catalogue.

Watched for the podcast “Truth vs Hollywood”, after the first part but before the second.

This movie moves, both the pace and editing of this film are incessant. This pace is seemingly due to Aaron Sorkin’s poetically fervent dialogue; but also, in part, from the direction of David Fincher as well as the droning score of Trent Reznor. Jesse Eisenberg is a perfect choice to play Zuckerberg, and that goes without saying, his pitch perfect delivery of that great script gives off an eerie motivation to be accepted while simultaneously pursuing social isolation. While The Sorkin writing demands attention, forcing itself to the forefront, this is still sneakily a Fincher film. The shot composition and the aforementioned editing display Fincher’s cool confidence in his art. With The Social Network, Fincher is at the height of his powers and his confidence is unsured - directing with minimalist perfection.

An epic documentary in story and access to one of the most well known and successful sports team in American history. This doc does a great job of intercutting the final season with the history of Michael Jordan's career with the Chicago Bulls. Exactly what I needed during this void of sports. For me, this was steeped with nostalgia having grown up in Chicago during the 90s.

There’s a lot of talk about the heist scene itself. Particularly about how it was shot with no score. This reason this is so impressive isn’t because it was innovative (which it is) or that it does such a great job building the suspense (which it does), but because it’s set up so magnificently. Almost every scene leading up to the heist scene adds to the suspense and the need for the silence. The stakes are high and this at the midpoint of the film. From here, things continue to ratchet up.

What we get from Rififi is basically a blueprint for all heist films to come. Whether we’re “assembling the crew”, planning the one last gig, executing the heist, planning what you’ll do with your share, or watching things hopelessly unravel - this is the archetype of all heist films.

No actual basketball, which is a little disappointing. Plays more like a heist film than anything else, which is a little exciting but not at all surprising considering it is Soderbergh. Enjoyed a lot about this film. Zazie Beetz is great. The whole theme of taking back what is yours and punching up against the elite is interesting. It’s obviously really slick. But I felt that the Iphone filming takes away a little from the picture. Don’t get me wrong, it really allows Soderbergh to do some interesting things but when we get characters walking down the street it just looks so stretched out. Even though it’s probably the most expensive IPhone out there, I just don’t think we’re there yet.

A great “who done it” story, masterfully told by Rian Johnson. With multiple twists and turns that keep you guessing. You think they/you solved it and there’s another wrench thrown into the gears and you have to work towards figuring that out. Just keep on pulling the thread because it’s going to take you on a wonderful journey.

SO many great actors and for each of them a great sweater. A film where you can relax and enjoy it, knowing that you are in the hands of a true master. Really looking forward to the creative output of Rian Johnson for the next twenty years.

Based off of Giovanni Boccaccio’s series of novellas written in 14th century Italy, Pier Paolo Pasolini gives us this film that takes a look at everyday life during the Black Plague. Said to be written after the epidemic of 1348 we look at the life of the middle to lower classes and how everyday life continues to go on amidst the worst plague in recorded history. Now, we don’t see any real evidence of the epidemic and I’m assuming that’s an accurate interpretation of the original work. Who would want to read about all that horror just years after it occured? So what we do get are nine short stories of sexual debauchery, life lessons, and a real devalument of religion overall. It’s important to understand how few works survive this period of human history and knowing that these writings have endured over 650 years adds heft to the original work. It also goes to show how the most carnal human characteristics come to the forefront during a time of societal breakdown.

A little late to the party on this one. Finally getting around to watching this too real for right now film by Steven Soderbergh. Now, obviously, this is a drama and an example of what could happen if we see the most extreme version of an airborne virus. However, the buzzwords like “social distancing”, recommending people not touch their face, and the explanation of “R naught” all hit a little close to home for me and made me want to go out and for my FOID card.

All that aside, it was a pretty compelling film. Soderberg does a good job of balancing the multiple storylines in a way that pays off. We all know that he is skilled at this as well as procedurals. It does feel a little overstuffed. For example, I feel like we could have spent a little more time with the Marion Cotillard or John Hawkes characters, but at a run time of 106 minutes the pacing and editing is very well done.

Now please excuse me while I go wash my hands.

Obvious comparisons to Goodfellas and Casino. With the rise and fall template, Scorsese goes hard into the debauchery with this one. After multiple viewings, I see that last final shot of an audience hanging on every word from Belfort as a mirror held up to the audiences of Scorsese. As if he’s saying “this is what you idiots look like. Stop iring these people, they’re cautionary tales!” Yet there is always that group of people, and a large group at that, that view many of Scorsese’s most vial characters as something to aspire to be. And it’s truly a paradoxical thing for Scorsese to continue to build these characters in an attempt to dissuade the continuance of them.

Barry Jenkins breaks out with this beautifully shot depiction of growing up as a black young man in modern america. A great portrait of young men being a product of their environments and how cultural expectations of masculinity impact and burden each in different ways.

Tarkovsky’s final feature film, The Sacrifice, is a meditation on the end of the world or, more importantly, the end of one person's world. This is the last of Tarkovsky’s feature films and the last one I was finally able to catch up with. Filmed with the knowledge of his cancer and his own imminent death, Tarkovsky pours himself into The Sacrifice. A film focused on the life of a retired artist and his family dealing with the news of an approaching nuclear apocalypse. The main character pleads with the god he viewed as non-existent in the opening of the film to accept a sacrifice from him in order to save his family from this tragedy.

Tarkovsky plays all his hits in this one: meditative, contemplation, dreamlike, long takes, tracking shots, religious themes. While Tarkovsky is a master and this film is pretty much flawless it just doesn’t carry the weight of his first six films. Now, you might be telling yourself - “That’s a high bar!” and you’re right, I should not be comparing this film against all of Tarkovsky’s other films. I should be able to judge this one film on it’s own merits. I’m just not sure I’m able to do so.

Tarkovsky films The Sacrifice on the Swedish island of Faro, where Ingmar Bergman lives and films most of his works. Working with a group that is partly made up of Ingmar Bergman’s troupe including the lead actor Erland Josephson and cinematographer Sven Nykvist. Josephson is great and does a lot to display his transformation the main character experiences throughout the film. Nykvist could be considered one of the greatest cinematographers of all time and it’s obvious here on this film. Working with Tarkovsky to create his long takes and tracking shots and just the framing of some of the interiors of the house is awe inspiring. Bergman and Tarkovsky are said to have had a mutual iration for each other. This is apparent in some of the shared philosophies you see in comparing their films: the existential crisis, dream-like or just straight up dream sequences, meditations on the importances art and the existence of a God. Looking back it is obvious two directors would gravitate towards each other’s work.

You hear about that climactic scene towards the end of the film, the one take of the burning down of the house. It is an amazing and dramatic long take of both the burning down of the prized house as well as the collapse of Alexander’s sanity. You always hear about how they only had the one take to accomplish this feat. However, upon viewing the documentary titled Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky, I was surprised to find out the scene was actually the second shooting. The camera jammed on the first take. Tarkovsky was so adamant that the entire film hinged on this one scene that they rebuilt a replica of this house in two days and were able to capture the scene on a second take.

Andrei Tarkovsky is considered one of the greatest and most influential Russian filmmakers. When in reality he should be considered among the greatest and most important filmmakers regardless of country or culture. His influence on directors that have come after him as well as his contemporaries of the time is unquestionable. More than just a director he is a poet, philosopher, artist, among other things. Tarkovsky deserves to be in the Pantheon of all time film directors.

This review may contain spoilers.

Bong Joon-ho creates another meditation on the division of classes in our capitalistic society. With Parasite, Bong gives us a masterpiece that demands multiple viewing and thoughtful contemplation on the multiple motifs that weave throughout the film. First and foremost is the division of classes. I’m not going to get in depth here, there are plenty of other more substantial breakdowns by much smarter people that can help provoke thoughtful discussion, but I did want to touch on a few points that struck me on my first viewing of the film.

The genius of the title Parasite is that it can apply to pretty much any character or family in the film and Bong does a great job of applying it unbiased to each from scene to scene. I found it particularly tragic to see the lower classes fighting each other for the scraps of the more well off. Probably the most talked about sequence in the film and what I think might be the crux of the film is the Kim family fleeing from the mansion, in the pouring rain, down many literal and metaphoric levels, to their own semi-basement. While just this scene alone is astonishing on so many levels, not least of which being the technical aspect of putting it together, the theme of the lower down you are physically in this world equating a lower social status seems to be encapsulated within this scene. How this environment tragedy impacts each family appears to be a microcosm of the real world polarization of climate change.

The more I sit back and think about this film, the more astonished I am at it’s genius. I look forward to revisiting this film many more times and diving deeper into this artistic creation.

Not much I can say about this Scorsese film that hasn’t already been said. So, just a few things I enjoyed about this film: First and foremost those three leads - DeNiro, Pesci and Paccino - particularly Pesci, such meditative restraint, they are all powerful. Pesci comes out of retirement to give probably his best performance of his life, expressing more with just a look then most actors can do with an entire monologue. The way Scorsese edits and paces this thing, the three and a half hours, I’m going to go ahead and say it: not too long.

Marriage Story starts out with that great opening scene which adds such depth to each character. Throughout the entire film we are reminded how each character, not just the two leads, are entirely human and completely flushed out characters. Baumbach does such a great job of allowing the viewer to live with the characters and accept them for themselves, with all their strengths and their flaws as people. There is a great Altman-esque quality throughout the film with the overlap in the dialogue that adds to this real life, lived in feeling. You bond and grow with the characters and by the end of the film you are better because of this.

Tarantino’s ninth and supposed penultimate film is one that re-lives and reinterprets a time period that seems near and dear to many cinephiles of a certain age. While Tarantino focuses on the end of this era it allows him to use that as a mostly heavy handed metaphor for himself. While I did really enjoy this film overall a lot of it was a little on the nose.

A whole lot of driving going on here and it's great. All this driving allows Tarantino to unleash his catalogue of great 1960s tunes on us. It’s also a great device to show the transition in both time and socioeconomic culture. When stuntman Cliff Booth (Pitt) leaves Rick Daulton’s (DiCaprio) house after a day of driving him around, he ditches the Caddy for a smaller beat up convertible. Cliff speeds off, showing off his stuntman driving abilities, racing from the upper class neighborhood of his boss to his trailer behind a drive-in movie theater we can see the obvious separation of class. Tarantino is so adept at shooting these car scenes. Behind the shoulder shots putting the viewing in the car with the characters. Tracking shots of the car at wheel level. Masterful use of the camera, as expected, make the excess of car scenes each new and exciting when it could have been mundane.

This film has an almost episodic feeling to it. With lengthy, slow burn scenes we are able to sit with these characters and get a fuller understanding of them. Brad and Leo are great, obviously, and it is, in part, the breath of life that they instill into their respective characters that allow Cliff Booth and Rick Daulton to live as fully formed three dimensional characters. The scene with Daulton and the little girl, the scene with Booth at the Manson ranch, the Manson kids sitting in Daulton’s cul de sac - representing an agent of change. Upon rewatch and surely with subsequent revisits, each scene has a feel of a chapter of a book.

One of the strongest themes that we see throughout the film is one of Nostalgia. The best example seems to be towards the end of the movie. As dusk sets in prior to all the characters going out for a meal we get an opening to this scene that just drips with nostalgia. About a dozen local hollywood signs turn on as nighttime sets in and everyone is going out for a good time. A nostalgia that’s a little before my time but conveyed so effectively that I felt like I was missing something that I never truly experienced. A nostalgia of the end of an era that is relatable to anyone.

Perfect way of storytelling - setting up the setting and the characters while moving the plot. It both goes without saying but also can’t be said enough, Kurosawa is a master filmmaker. Everything about this film is a masterclass on the art of cinema. From the sound design, to the iconic shots and the often imitated storytelling; we see one of the greatest filmmakers working at the height of his capabilities.

At this point, Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune have been working together for over ten years and you can tell. Mifune seems so natural in his role as this samuri and he’s so great at displaying emotions and perceptions with slight changes in his face.

Such an iconic film, this is the archetype for so many modern american westerns and for good reason. Everytime I watch a Kurosawa film I am in awe at the spectacle of it all.

5x5 - Directors Challenge: Almodovar

All About My Mother is exactly that, a film about mothers. Well, not exactly. We get multiple characters at different stages of motherhood and the director, Pedro Almodovar, does an excellent job of layering there characters and their stories together. For a film that involves transgender prostitution, a pregnant nun, and heroin addiction it is surprisingly about family and family values. Which makes sense, if you understand that only your family can see through all your flaws and accept you for whatever you are.

I’m loving all these vibrant colors that we get from an Almodovar film. This being only the second film I’ve seen from Pedro Almodovar and I’m excited to dive deeper into his film catalogue. Such inventive ways of using the camera. When we see a character writing in his journal, Almodovar gives us a shot of the pencil from the perspective of the paper. So far, I have not been disappointed and I am hopeful to discover that all of his films are interjected with so much life and personality.

A masterpiece of a film. The camera placement is great and we see inventive shots from Fincher. I think of that shot of the taxi from above, turning in sync with the car as it takes a right. That iconic shot from the top of the Golden Gate bridge. The editing is great. When we cut between characters as they realize the Zodiac killer is breaking his pattern. For such a long film that spans such a long period of time the pacing never feels like it lags.

Fincher addresses a number of thought provoking topics - freedom of the press, whether or not publishing the killers notes is a service to the public or just perpetuating the cycle, how bureaucracy can have unintended consequences - while at the same time he just tells a damn good story. Far and away my favorite Fincher film.

Jordan Peele’s Us is a haunting tale of a family being terrorized by their own doppelgangers. While Peele has been thrust into the spotlight as a modern day Kubrick or Hitchcock, I find it really difficult to compare him to any other director. While he has only released two feature films, Peele has more than scratched the surface of our modern America culture. Peele has a way of addressing modern social issues while, at the same time, alluding to our nation’s past which has, for better or worse, had a distinct impact on the form that the American culture currently takes. With Get Out, Peele gives us some obvious racial commentary and critiques the dichotomy of race in America. However, I think with Us, Peele has given us a much more nuanced film that works both as a social commentary and just a great engaging film.

All of the technical aspects of Us are top notch as well. The score is incredible, ratcheting up the tension when it needs to but also great aesthetically. A pulsing, driving, rhythmic score that sets the tone without being manipulative. The cinematography is great. Mike Gioulakis is the cinematographer here and does a great job matching his art with the tone of the movie. Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Lupita Nyong’o. She is amazing. She is perfect in every single scene in both roles.

An imaginative update of this classic marvel super hero. Spiderman: Into the spider-verse is an engrossing comic book experience, dropping you straight into a comic book. It’s a fast paced, inventive, and well done film. We get a multitude of different spider-people, all creatively done with their own origin stories. The voice acting is great across the board. I’m a particular fan of Nic Cage’s noir spiderman but honestly peter porker steals every scene he’s in. Breathing new life into what was beginning to seem like a stale genre, Into the Spider-verse is an example of what a superhero movie can really do.

The extended version.
Upon this rewatch, what really struck me was the emphasis on deception and truth versus lies. What motivates a character to lie? I am almost convinced that everything in this film is a lie, to a certain extent, but Tarantino doesn’t reveal all of them. We eventually assume that Chris Mannix is the Sheriff of Red Rocks but we never truly know. We assume that Maj Warren’s story of murdering Gen Smithers’ son is exactly that, a story with a desired purpose. When you get down to it, what’s important here is not whether something is or is not a lie but what the motivation is behind each character’s words. In a very postmodern way, the truth doesn’t matter and the truth may be subjective depending on the character’s perspective. What truly matters in the Hateful Eight is survival.

It begins with a silent-era George Melies film of a magic trick and indicates that we may be encountering a trickster of our own. Set up as more of a mockumentary, we get a mix of fiction and nonfiction, none of which is differentiated from each other. Dylan has always been known as a misleading artist and here he plays along with Scorsese as they give us embellishments and lead us down incoherent rabbit holes.

What really standouts in Rolling Thunder is the concert footage. Dylan is known for rearrangements of his classics and he really puts that on display here. Older hits like “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” and “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” are reimagined with pretty rocking guitar solos. They don’t sound the same but they are recognizable and still great songs which is a testament to Dylan’s songwriting ability. These are mixed right in with those great current (for this time) songs like “Isis” and “Hurricane”. The camerawork during these concerts is great and not at all what you would assume a found footage documentary would be.

A glorified music video. But it just happens to include my favorite working director with one of my favorite working musicians. So I was all in. Set in what looks to be a Metropolis-esque urban dystopia, we see Thom Yorke pursue and find love. Really made me feel lovesick. A nice PTA fix.

Beautifully shot film all around. Bright and beautiful lighting, vibrant colors. And those close ups of the actors looking directly into the camera are mesmerizing.

Beale Street brings up subjects of racism and injustices set in pre-civil rights era that feel just as relevant in today’s society. It’s both a testament to James Baldwin’s source material as well as Barry Jenkins’ direction. Jenkins is really emerging to the forefront of this new class of directors.

I need more Philip Seymour Hoffman. Every scene he's in he is absolutely the best damn thing on screen. I feel like he is under utilized and I can't stand Abrams quick cuts and shaky cam.

5x5 - Directors Challenge: Haneke

I never would have thought a simple shot of hands playing a piano could look so elegant. And that’s the thing, this film looks very elegant but the subject matter and the film itself is quite brutal. There seems to be a constant tension running through this whole film.

A lot has been said about Haneke, his integration of European socio-political themes, and how he implicates the viewer. I will not try to create any type of substantial or coherent statement on this subject. I am still new to the Haneke catalogue. But the juxtaposition of elegance and violence in The Piano Teacher is astonishing. The beautifully framed shots of building fronts, the long take sequence shots throughout the film, and all this without even a mention of Isabelle Huppert.

Isabelle Huppert is amazing. She says more with a look in reaction to a few notes than any words could do. While Piano Teacher is a difficult watch, you find yourself drawn in by the mastery of both Huppert’s acting and the dichotomy that Haneke creates between an almost bourgeoisie society and primal human urges. It's a film that really sticks with you.

An artist struggling to stay alive while maintaining his dignity - or, an asshole who takes himself too seriously. On second viewing, Inside Llewyn Davis feels like a slow meditative look at the American dream. A look through the pessimistic lense of the Coen Brothers. You can do what you love, work your ass off, but unless you sell out you’re not going to be able to make a living.

A great aesthetic, the Coen Brothers have always done a great job of bringing out the minute details that feel real and lived in. Just such a great film overall and a very Coen brothers film - the characters, the dialogue, the creative storytelling with the bookends, the pessimism - it’s a masterclass on storytelling through film.

The Gus Van Sant film Paranoid Park is a lyrical look at a couple of days in the life of a teenage outsider. One who was to hide and cope with a terrible secret. The film feels very genuine and an accurate portrayal of the lives of skater kids in the pacific northwest at this time. For the most part, the high school aged kids in the film are not professional actors. They mostly come off as anxious high school kids, which seems pretty accurate. The film has a dreamy feel, maybe because of the cinematography, lighting, or the non-linear structure. The sound design is probably my favorite part of the film. I feel like it added another level to a relatively deep film.

A lot of the flare that we’ve come to expect after The Big Short. I particularly enjoyed the Shakespearean soliloquy as well as the game board initiated following the 2000 election. Great performances from a great cast. A lot of bells and whistles. Not as great as Big Short but I like that McKay keeps making these types of films knowing that they’re not all going to be home runs but maybe every third or fourth will be exceptional. I’ll take that.

5x5 - Directors Challenge: Jarmusch

A psychedelic western. That about sums it up. Johnny Depp plays William Blake as he embarks on both a literal and figurative journey of transformation. Starting with a great scene on a train, we meet William Blake as he departs Cleveland for a job in a western frontier factory town. Jarmusch cuts the scenes together, changing the characters that fill the train, in order to create a feeling of the ing of both time and distance. He arrives at his location to find his job already taken and he’s ran out by the boss, played with unhinged fierosity by Robert Mitchum. From here William Blake goes to the saloon, finds a lady, murders her lover, and goes on the run from bounty hunters. On a meandering journey to the ocean, led by a native american loner named Nobody and pushed by the piercing guitar of Neil Young, Blake transforms: shedding himself his past life moving on. Jarmusch takes us on this poetic and scenic journey of this pre-industrialized American west with great shots of the naturalistic surroundings and amazing imagery that gives us a meditative view of this transformation.

Damien Chazelle follows up his musical with a biopic on the life of Neil Armstrong. Similar to Whiplash, Chazelle gives us a look into the life of one determined man. Gosling plays the lead and does well, as expected. We are pretty much isolated from the 1960s as a whole, confined to this neighborhood of astronaut families. The one exception to this is a great scene that expresses racial strife of the time. We see what looks like a protest, from a distance, and over this we hear Leon Bridges as Gil Scott-Heron giving us a rendition of “Whitey on the Moon”. This scene puts things into perspective. While this is a great accomplishment in not just US History but human civilization, there is still so much racial inequality at this time in America.

Overall, the film looks gorgeous - particularly the opening scene and the moon landing towards the end. I think we are really seeing Chazelle come into his own, as a filmmaker. I am excited to see where he goes from here.

My top twenty-five films of the twenty-first century. Pretty self explanatory. Will continue to change.

1. There Will Be Blood
2. Children of Men
3. In the Mood for Love
4. City of God
5. Inglourious Basterds
6. No Country for Old Men
7. The Master
8. Synecdoche, New York
9. 12 Years a Slave
10. The Departed

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Parasite
2. Memories of Murder
3. Mother
4. Mickey 17
5. Okja
6. The Host
7. Snowpiercer
8. Influenza

An incomplete list.

1. Raging Bull
2. Taxi Driver
3. GoodFellas
4. The Departed
5. The Irishman
6. The Wolf of Wall Street
7. Casino
8. Mean Streets
9. The Aviator
10. Killers of the Flower Moon

...plus 13 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Out of Sight
2. Ocean's Eleven
3. Traffic
4. Ocean's Twelve
5. Contagion
6. Logan Lucky
7. The Informant!
8. Haywire
9. The Limey
10. And Everything Is Going Fine

...plus 4 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Anora
2. Nosferatu
3. Conclave
4. Civil War
5. Blitz
6. I Saw the TV Glow
7. Dune: Part Two
8. A Complete Unknown
9. Kinds of Kindness
10. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

• Nosferatu
• The Lighthouse
• The Witch
• The Northman

• The Favourite
• Poor Things
• The Lobster
• Kinds of Kindness
• The Killing of a Sacred Deer
• Dogtooth

1. Parasite
2. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
3. The Irishman
4. Knives Out
5. Marriage Story
6. Us
7. The Lighthouse
8. Midsommar
9. Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
10. Jojo Rabbit

Films that I have logged with five stars on Letterboxd. No order.

• Persona
• Cries and Whispers
• The Killing
• The Master
• No Country for Old Men
• There Will Be Blood
• The Big Lebowski
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• 12 Years a Slave
• Solaris

...plus 36 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Oppenheimer
2. Killers of the Flower Moon
3. Poor Things
4. Past Lives
5. Asteroid City
6. The Holdovers
7. Barbie
8. May December
9. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
10. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

1. The Royal Tenenbaums
2. Rushmore
3. The Grand Budapest Hotel
4. Asteroid City
5. Fantastic Mr. Fox
6. The French Dispatch
7. The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
8. Isle of Dogs
9. Moonrise Kingdom
10. The Rat Catcher

...plus 5 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Zodiac
2. Fight Club
3. The Social Network
4. Gone Girl
5. Se7en
6. Mank
7. The Killer
8. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
9. Panic Room

1. Dont Look Back
2. I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco
3. Searching for Sugar Man
4. Cobain: Montage of Heck
5. Let's Get Lost
6. Gimme Shelter
7. Ain't in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm
8. Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer
9. Shut Up and Play the Hits
10. Greenwich Village: Music That Defined a Generation

1. Licorice Pizza
2. The French Dispatch
3. Nightmare Alley
4. Dune
5. The Green Knight
6. Last Night in Soho
7. No Time to Die

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. Reservoir Dogs
4. Jackie Brown
5. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood
6. Django Unchained
7. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
8. The Hateful Eight
9. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
10. Death Proof

1. Decision to Leave
2. Everything Everywhere All at Once
3. Nope
4. The Banshees of Inisherin
5. TÁR
6. After Yang
7. Glass Onion
8. Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
9. The Northman
10. All Quiet on the Western Front

1. The Handmaiden
2. The Lobster
3. Moonlight
4. Hell or High Water
5. Hail, Caesar!
6. Silence
7. La La Land
8. Midnight Special
9. The Nice Guys
10. Cameraperson

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Memento
2. The Prestige
3. Dunkirk
4. Inception
5. The Dark Knight
6. Tenet
7. Interstellar
8. Batman Begins
9. Insomnia
10. The Dark Knight Rises

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• Nashville
• McCabe & Mrs. Miller
• The Long Goodbye
• Gosford Park
• Short Cuts
• Thieves Like Us
• The Player
• California Split
• M*A*S*H
• Popeye

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. Mangrove
2. Lovers Rock
3. Blow the Man Down
4. Tenet
5. I'm Thinking of Ending Things
6. Mank
7. The Trial of the Chicago 7
8. Palm Springs
9. The Old Guard

I look at five films (that I have yet to watch) from five different directors and try to dig into their filmography. The creation of this list allows me to follow through on doing my homework of watching some classic films from master directors that have been a blind spot for me. I will create a review as I watch.

Directors
-Luis Bunuel
-John Huston
-Jim Jarmusch
-Michael Haneke
-Pedro Almodovar

• Viridiana
• The Exterminating Angel
• Belle de Jour
• The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
• That Obscure Object of Desire
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
• Key Largo
• The Asphalt Jungle
• The African Queen
• Wise Blood

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Top ten road trip movies ranked.

1. Y Tu Mamá También
2. Paper Moon
3. Wild Strawberries
4. Paris, Texas
5. Midnight Run
6. Wendy and Lucy
7. Mad Max: Fury Road
8. Into the Wild
9. Little Miss Sunshine
10. Dumb and Dumber

1. Persona
2. Wild Strawberries
3. Cries and Whispers
4. The Seventh Seal
5. Through a Glass Darkly
6. The Virgin Spring
7. Hour of the Wolf
8. Winter Light
9. Shame
10. Smiles of a Summer Night

• Stalker
• Andrei Rublev
• Mirror
• Nostalgia
• Solaris
• The Sacrifice
• Ivan's Childhood

1. The Master
2. 12 Years a Slave
3. Parasite
4. Inside Llewyn Davis
5. Boyhood
6. Certified Copy
7. Roma
8. Her
9. The Act of Killing
10. It's Such a Beautiful Day

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

I need to see more current films.

• Roma
• The Favourite
• BlacKkKlansman
• Minding the Gap
• If Beale Street Could Talk
• The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
• Isle of Dogs
• Widows
• Annihilation
• Won't You Be My Neighbor?

1. Stranger Than Paradise
2. Dead Man
3. Mystery Train
4. Broken Flowers
5. Only Lovers Left Alive
6. Down by Law
7. Coffee and Cigarettes
8. Night on Earth
9. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai

1. Certified Copy
2. The Social Network
3. Inception
4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
5. True Grit
6. Shutter Island
7. Boy
8. The Fighter
9. The Trip
10. It's Kind of a Funny Story

1. Drive
2. Shame
3. The Tree of Life
4. Take Shelter
5. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
6. Hugo
7. Moneyball
8. Bridesmaids
9. Prohibition
10. Another Earth

Top 10 contemporary period pieces

A few caveats:
-Movies from 2000 to present
-No war movies
-No westerns
-One movie per director (or else this would be all PTA and Coens)

1. There Will Be Blood
2. 12 Years a Slave
3. Inside Llewyn Davis
4. The Prestige
5. Memories of Murder
6. The Favourite
7. Gladiator
8. Zodiac
9. Milk
10. Gangs of New York

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey
2. The Shining
3. The Killing
4. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
5. A Clockwork Orange
6. Paths of Glory
7. Full Metal Jacket
8. Lolita
9. Spartacus
10. Killer's Kiss

1. Nosferatu the Vampyre
2. Fitzcarraldo
3. Aguirre, the Wrath of God
4. The Enigma of Kaspar Ha
5. Grizzly Man
6. Stroszek
7. Woyzeck
8. Heart of Glass
9. Cobra Verde
10. My Best Fiend

...plus 1 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. The Master
2. The Act of Killing
3. It's Such a Beautiful Day
4. Moonrise Kingdom
5. Lincoln
6. Django Unchained
7. Looper
8. Like Someone in Love
9. Zero Dark Thirty
10. The Place Beyond the Pines

1. There Will Be Blood
2. The Master
3. Boogie Nights
4. Phantom Thread
5. Inherent Vice
6. Punch-Drunk Love
7. Hard Eight
8. Magnolia

Syllabus: boxd.it/1jW8U

1. Broken Blossoms
2. Greed
3. The ion of Joan of Arc
4. Ninotchka
5. L'Âge d'or
6. Bringing Up Baby
7. The Rules of the Game
8. Scandal
9. Sabotage
10. Meshes of the Afternoon

...plus 42 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. No Country for Old Men
2. The Big Lebowski
3. Fargo
4. Inside Llewyn Davis
5. Barton Fink
6. A Serious Man
7. Miller's Crossing
8. The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
9. The Man Who Wasn't There
10. Blood Simple

...plus 7 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Top ten of 2017

Way too unprepared to actually create this list, but like many of these lists, this will continue to change long after 2017

1. Dunkirk
2. Phantom Thread
3. A Ghost Story
4. Faces Places
5. The Florida Project
6. The Shape of Water
7. Okja
8. Get Out
9. Columbus
10. Blade Runner 2049

An incomplete list. Updated as I continue to watch more of Hitchcock's films.

1. Rear Window
2. Vertigo
3. Shadow of a Doubt
4. Psycho
5. Strangers on a Train
6. Dial M for Murder
7. The Birds
8. The Man Who Knew Too Much
9. Foreign Correspondent
10. Notorious

...plus 14 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

1. 12 Years a Slave
2. Inside Llewyn Davis
3. Her
4. Blue Ruin
5. The Wolf of Wall Street
6. American Hustle
7. Only Lovers Left Alive
8. Snowpiercer
9. Prince Avalanche
10. Locke

1. Ex Machina
2. Carol
3. Spotlight
4. The Big Short
5. The Hateful Eight
6. World of Tomorrow
7. Mad Max: Fury Road
8. Anomalisa
9. Sicario
10. The Martian

1. Boyhood
2. The Grand Budapest Hotel
3. Whiplash
4. Inherent Vice
5. Gone Girl
6. Calvary
7. Interstellar
8. The Rover
9. Maps to the Stars
10. What We Do in the Shadows

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Jaws
3. Jurassic Park
4. Catch Me If You Can
5. Saving Private Ryan
6. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
7. Minority Report
8. Schindler's List
9. Close Encounters of the Third Kind
10. A.I. Artificial Intelligence

...plus 10 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

It was great while it lasted. Waiting for this Criterion Channel now.

• Seven Samurai
• Ikiru
• The Hidden Fortress
• High and Low
• Throne of Blood
• Drunken Angel
• Scandal
• The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp
• Black Narcissus
• A Matter of Life and Death

...plus 100 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

• His Girl Friday
• Notorious
• The Big City
• Belle de Jour
• The Double Life of Véronique
• The Silence of the Lambs
• Three Colours: Blue
• In the Mood for Love
• Kill Bill: Vol. 1
• s Ha

...plus 3 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.

Top ten films that take place mainly in one location and have a confined feeling to them.

-In chronological order-

• Rear Window
• 12 Angry Men
• The Exterminating Angel
• The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
• Dog Day Afternoon
• Misery
• Ten
• Panic Room
• Locke
• The Hateful Eight

• Apocalypse Now
• Full Metal Jacket
• The Deer Hunter
• Inglourious Basterds
• Dunkirk
• The Hurt Locker
• Ivan's Childhood
• The Thin Red Line
• The Big Red One
• The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

1. Au Hasard Balthazar
2. Pickpocket
3. Mouchette
4. A Man Escaped
5. L'Argent
6. The Trial of Joan of Arc

1. Ikiru
2. Rashomon
3. Seven Samurai
4. Yojimbo
5. High and Low
6. Throne of Blood
7. The Hidden Fortress
8. Drunken Angel
9. Scandal

Most beautiful cinematography captured to film.

1. In the Mood for Love
2. The Master
3. Three Colours: Red
4. Black Narcissus
5. Rashomon
6. Certified Copy
7. The Grand Budapest Hotel
8. Mirror
9. Paris, Texas
10. The Shining

I look at five films from five different directors and try to dig into their filmography. The creation of this list allows me to follow through on doing my homework of watching some classic films from master directors. I will create a review as I watch.

Directors
-Krzysztof Kieslowski
-Andrei Tarkovsky
-Abbas Kiarostami
-Robert Bresson
-Wim Wenders

• Camera Buff
• The Double Life of Véronique
• Three Colours: Blue
• Three Colours: White
• Three Colours: Red
• Ivan's Childhood
• Andrei Rublev
• Mirror
• Stalker
• Nostalgia

...plus 15 more. View the full list on Letterboxd.