film spiels

I feel compelled to play devil’s advocate for the silent film Häxan (aka The Witch, subtitled “A cultural and historical presentation in moving pictures in seven parts”). It was a Swedish silent film production released in 1922 and was written and directed by Danish film visionary Benjamin Christensen between 1919 -1921. It is generally considered…

This review will be different in a couple of ways: it won’t take an hour to read, it focuses on one film exclusively, and was viewed and reviewed through a series of coincidences. The film is called Past Lives, a new release from A24 in theatres now. Though it’s classified on IMDb as a drama/comedy,…

The ancient Greeks loved drama and their categories still work today, mostly because we are simple animals and our stories are much the same now as then, repeated across generations and spanning the globe. From birth to death, from first to last breath, we seek happiness and connection while struggling with the things the environment…

Now that American audiences are gorging on a steady diet of franchise films, it seems fair to compare and contrast two of the year’s bigger entries, John Wick 4 and Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (both purported to be end chapters to their respective sagas, a state of things believed by none) and offer a…

In 1999, in a move that accurately predicted America’s growing addiction to film franchises, Universal Pictures decided to repackage some of their classic horror films as Universal Classic Monsters. Over the intervening years the number of titles has grown, but initially the focus was on the bigger, more recognized classics like Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy,…

I recently pondered the question “who was my first celebrity crush?” after seeing ‘Kill Bill 2′ and hearing one of Michael Parks’ characters (the old pimp) reminisce about witnessing young Bill’s first blonde infatuation, Veronica Lake, at the movies. This memory also serves to answer the question “How long have I loved film?” When I…

Evolution has shown that intelligence can only flourish if a species can avoid being eaten. Nature is violent and those tasked with the future of their kind – mothers – can be counted on to go to any and all extremes to preserve it. There are countless documentaries full of gripping examples of mothers’ cleverness…

If you’re like me, you like to eat a variety of foods. A new restaurant opens in the neighborhood? I’m in! When one loves to eat it’s easy to get excited by the choices almost every meal. If you only eat domestic fare, your selections are obviously less than if you embraced a wider and…

I consider it it true that everyone’s taste is different. Thank the Creator! How boring it would be to only have one point-of-view, only one person’s reality tunnel to find entertainment in, no wider world of stories and experiences. When it comes to the what I might want to watch, there are some films I…

It’s summer again and that means it’s time for the another film from the Wes Anderson Universe, an singular franchise built on precise visual compositions populated by perfectly deadpan people. His youth is blown-up for the big screen, all retro hippy vibe meets modern millenial flat affect. From his start with the short- and full-length…