As a filmmaker ages, one often expects for them to decline in the twilight era of their career. Seldom do they make something that would be considered one of their best.
Paul Schrader is one of the few exceptions in that age…
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In the following decade after World War II, filmmakers around the world were faced with the scars that were left by the war, so many of them made meditations to show the beauty that was in life along with the suffering…
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“You are being considered for the amazing opportunity that is life.”
I have not heard a single solitary word about this movie, not a peep, not a breath. Then I listened to last week’s episode of the podcast Filmspotting…
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“I let the audience feel and think.” Those are the words said by the late German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, who was coming out of an age in European film where intellectualism was the driving point for many filmmakers, but Fassbinder was a rebel…
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Nothing is more addictive than the past.”
The trailer for this looked so good. We saw it a bunch of times, and the anticipation just kept building and building…and then we saw the movie. Sad trombone….
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The other night I revisited Albert Lewin’s underrated gem Pandora and the Flying Dutchman, which was released 70 years ago, several decades later I was still taken in by the romantic beauty of it…
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“Not every sardine was meant to swim, son.”
“I don’t understand fishing metaphors!”
This is one of those movies that I am not certain why it never occurred to me to watch. When I think about it, people who like it are people to whom I have similar tastes, but for some reason…
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In recent years one of the most sought-after filmmakers is Italian director Luca Guadagnino. With recent works that include Call Me By Your Name, a reimagining of Suspiria, an acclaimed HBO miniseries We Are Who We Are, along with upcoming projects that include Bones & All, remakes of both Scarface, and Brideshead Revisited. He’s someone who’s been recognized for his unique style, and themes, proving himself to be…
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Once a month at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles they have Cartoon Club which is a themed collection of cartoons curated and presented by New Bev cartoon maven Jules McLean and animation historian Jerry Beck.
This has been occurring for years, to the joy of parents who want their little kids to experience classic animation of the big screen where God intended it, cartoon nerds who know all the minutia, and…
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“Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.”
I have a long and storied association with Star Wars, just like everyone else.
Every generation finds Star Wars in their own way, and I…
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“Film is a battleground. Love, hate, violence, action, death… In a word, emotion.”
Those words uttered by writer director Samuel Fuller, are words on filmmaking that could only be said by someone who’s experienced combat. His career consisted of many war films such as Fixed Bayonets!, China Gate, Verboten!, Merrill’s Marauders, and The Big Red One, but perhaps the greatest of them is his 1951 film, The Steel Helmet.
With a career that…
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“For six hundred years our ninja have brought peace to the world. But times have changed. I need Warriors like you to become the future of the clan. Join us. This is your destiny.”
When I first saw the trailer for this I was like, “This looks great! This looks terrible exciting! I love any movie where someone says portentously, ‘For SIX HUNDRED YEARS…
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