Movies »Time After Time

time after timeI have loved Time After Time ever since I was a little kid so, that being said, it may seem quaint and even campy if you don't have the sentimental attachment that I do, but I saw it more recently and I still think it stands as a fun, inventive mystery-comedy-thriller.

Malcolm McDowell (be still my heart) plays H.G. Wells who has succeeded in building a working time machine, only to see it used by Jack the Ripper, played by the gloriously villainous David Warner (be still my heart again). Both find themselves in the modern world (which was 1979 at the time), where they meet Mary Steenbergen (be still… well actually nevermind).

Wells bumbles in confusion and awe at the new world while the Ripper settles right into the violence of the age. This is a super fun movie to watch, perfect Sunday afternoon viewing.

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Posted on October 23, 2006

Movies »Mildred Pierce

mildred pierceJoan Crawford is scorching in the role of the heroine, a break from the coniving bitchiness of many of her other roles (see Brix Pick The Women).

Instead she plays the titular role of Mildred Pierce as a tough yet trusting woman wronged who picks herself up and begins her own restaurant empire after a bitter divorce.

Mildred weathers bad affairs and fights in her tumultuous life, but the real femme fatale of this movie is her eldest daughter – and serious bitch, Veda – also played marvelously by Ann Blyth. It is Mildred's devotion to her venomous daughter that is her undoing and Crawford makes us sympathize and keeps us mesmerized the whole time.

The lightning is wonderfully noir and the sharp script is based on a novel by famed novelist James M Cain. A classic that stands the test of time.

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Posted on October 16, 2006

Movies »Blow-Up

blow upNot only am I recommending this groovy movie, but I am recommending that you watch it at least two or three times over time. The first time I viewed it, I didn't quite get Blow-Up (I was young) the second time I learned to like it, but the third time I was unequivocally in love.

The music, featuring the Yardbirds and Herbie Hancock is beyond great and the fashion is to die for, especially on such beauties as Verushka, Jane Birkin, and Peggy Moffitt.

Based on a short story by Julio Cort?zar, Michelangelo Antonioni creates a quiet, deliberately paced, enigmatic pseudo thriller where a hip photographer and aimless jerk, played brilliantly by David Hemmings, tries to unravel a mystery involving a possible murder caught on his camera and a lovely mysterious lady played by Vanessa Redgrave.

Considered by many as a classic and a masterpiece, it is thought provoking, unique, and cooler than cool.

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Posted on October 9, 2006

Movies »Wings of Desire

wings of desireWings of Desire is one of most remarkably beautiful films ever made. Everything: from the music by Nick Cave, the touching performances by Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, and Peter Falk (as himself), the enchanting cinematography by Henri Alekan, and the wonderful, evocative writing come together to make a thought provoking, emotive, and prepossessing film that you would simply be a fool not to see.

Wim Wenders creates a universe where gentle, trench coat wearing angels look over the war-scared inhabitants of Berlin, listening to their thoughts and offering solace in silence. Ganz plays one such angel who finds love in a circus acrobat and becomes human to be with her.

On this journey (where the film changes from exquisite black and white to stunning color film) he finds he is not the only angel who has become human–Columbo himself, we find, is a retired angel as well. But the film, which is framed by a poem by Peter Handke, is so much more than its plot, it is a true modern masterpiece.

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Posted on October 2, 2006

Movies »Pompoko

From the geniuses at Studio Ghibli comes one of the most interesting and wild animations from them yet.

Pompoko focuses on the raccoons of Tama Hills and the development that threatens their land. To fight the encroachment, the raccoons use the ancient art of transformation (in Japanese folklore, raccoons, foxes, and some cats have the ability to shape shift).

Shape shifting comes into play not only in the meandering plot, but in the animation as well, which goes from realistic, to more traditional animation, to simplistic cubist styles all within one scene to show the characters' various emotional states.

Pompoko is unlike any animation you have seen due to the “outside the box” approach to storytelling and design. Part realism, with environmental messages and violence, part goofy children's animation with cute raccoons that love to party, and part modern folklore retelling, this is one wild ride of a movie that will leave you flabbergasted and happy.

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Posted on September 25, 2006

Movies »If…

if... lindsay andersonThere are so many great movies about school that could be included in this education-themed list, but most are classics that everyone has seen a million times.

If… is less well known, and unfortunately, without a dvd release date (shame on you Paramount), it is likely to remain that way unless people seek it out at local video stores. You will be rewarded with a smirky, unbelievably charming performance by the quintessential “angry young man” of the 1960s Malcolm McDowell.

This is the first in an increasingly surreal triptych of films by Lindsay Anderson (and, in my mind, the best) which also includes Oh Lucky Man and Britannia Hospital (which, strangely is the only one available on DVD).

McDowell is a prep school student becoming more and more beat down by authority until he and his friends enact revenge.

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Posted on September 18, 2006

Movies »Stand by Me

stand by meNot a single movie could suit the closing of summer better than this heartfelt coming of age story that never becomes cloying or sugary due to its source material: a Stephen King short story about a group of friends that hike into the woods to find a dead body.

I've seen Stand by Me a million times and always cried when River Phoenix faded away (as a hero in a bar brawl no less). Phoenix and all the young stars are great including a baby faced Corey Feldman who was my biggest crush in preteen years thanks to his performances in this movie, Goonies, and Lost Boys.

This movie is a classic that is both poignant and comforting. I have to mention the soundtrack too–it was a big deal in my life. Another big deal: this movie is where I first heard the brilliant phrase “Shit house rat”.

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Posted on September 11, 2006

Movies »True Romance

true romanceHaving just returned from my 10th High School Reunion, I am waxing nostalgic for the good old days (aka the nineties) and all it takes to take me back is the tinkling score of this saga of doomed lovers and cameo appearances.

While Pulp Fiction was the pinnacle of the violent, clever, Tarantino indie, True Romance (which he penned but was directed by Tony Scott) started it all. Truly a revolution to me when I first saw it, I can almost recall bells going off and angels singing songs of coolness.

I was almost afraid to watch it again now that the go-go nineties are over and the philosophizing hit man is no longer groundbreaking–but I did anyways and it felt just right, all it took was Gary Oldman as a rasta, Brad Pitt as Floyd, and that tinkling score…

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Posted on September 4, 2006

Movies »The Conversation

the conversationThe Conversation is just a classic great movie. Gene Hackman plays a surveillance expert who gets too involved in a dangerous case. It is possibly one of the best performances by the perennially brilliant actor. But everything else about this tense thinking man's thriller is perfection too.

Francis Ford Coppola made this in between the first and second Godfather films, and for my money it is just as good–if not better. He deals with issues of privacy, intimacy, paranoia, and perception in his complex script with intelligence.

Honestly, if you haven't seen this movie, you haven't seen what these two exceptional men are capable of.

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Posted on August 28, 2006

Movies »Flesh and Blood

flesh and bloodWhile there are princesses and castles in Flesh and Blood, don't expect a fairytale. This is a brutal movie, where even the most romantic scene of a lover's first kiss takes place under two swinging, rotting, mutilated corpses. Flesh and Blood feels like a story truly set in the 1500s rather than modern times with costumes.

Jennifer Jason Leigh is young, nubile and nude and does a great job of playing the role she will later prefect – weird, messed up lady. Rutger Hauer is not nude enough however but is still one of the most spell binding faces to grace the screen.

Sure, the eighties vibe mixed with 16th century barbarity may not be to everyone's taste, but for my money it is one of the best films of its kind ever. Verhoeven, it seems you win again!

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Posted on August 21, 2006