Anybody who has had a glimpse of the magnitude of my personal movie collection has long suspected that I have a problem. And they would be right. My collection is enormous thanks to the lethal combinations of my completionist streak, the increasing availability of disposable income, and the general collapse of the home video market. …
Continue reading Adventures in Criterion Vol. 1: Crime Movies
Last year was year two of my ongoing pledge to watch 52 films made by women a year. Unfortunately while I have come close, I have failed to reach that goal in both of those years. But rather than feel defeated, I'm going to take solace in two things: I have come close to fulfilling …
Paul Thomas Anderson is the great exegete of the modern American psyche. His films are portraits of broken people who are each in their own way unsatisfied with their lives regardless of the levels of success that they have attained. In his hands, these films are frequently unflinchingly intimate portraits of these people, even if …
This year I did something I have never done before. I plopped myself in front of a computer at 8:19 am sharp and streamed the Oscar announcements, finding myself completely engrossed as they announced the nominees. There are two reasons why I had never done this. The first is that for many years I lived …
Our introduction to dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock's (Daniel Day-Lewis) world is a lyrical dance. Early in the morning women line up outside the front door of his London house to be let in by Reynold's sister and business manager Cyril at precisely the right moment. They file up the stairs into his house in quiet order …
(The Hall of Fame is reserved for movies that have either shown up multiple times on Best Lists or are so beloved by the author for reasons other than being guilty pleasures. Hall of Fame movies are effectively retired from future Best Lists, making way for other lesser-known-but-still-good movies to take their place. The numbering …
As I write this, it is currently -7°C with a -17 wind chill out my window which is ironically some of the warmest winter weather we've had recently. Meanwhile a brief check on my Timehop app reveals that two years ago I was basking in the warmth of the Maui sun, my phone incessantly mocking …
(Since I'm diving deep into both the theatrical and extended cuts of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, let's just assume that SPOILERS will abound.) Like most Tolkien fans out there, the news that they were going to make a “Lord of the Rings” (LOTR) trilogy was something I genuinely geeked out about. And the feeling …
Over the course of three decades Guillermo Del Toro has built up an impressive and unique resume. He has been one of the few directors out there who has made a career out of doing genre fare (Blade II, Hellboy movies, Pacific Rim), straight-up horror movies (Mimic, Crimson Tide), and movies that have won him accolades among …
In a lot of classic Hollywood monster movies, from King Kong to Dracula to The Mummy to The Creature From the Black Lagoon, there is always the implied threat that these monsters, as horrific as they are may have the power to seduce and steal our weak-willed women and that it is the role of our straight-laced men to …
Homebody Movies 