Happy New Year! The Tale of Princess Kaguya (14, B+): Could be told faster or colored bolder, but the gentle accumulation of emotion deepens so beautifully I feel precious of it. 12/2 Burning (18, B): I dug the ellipses of the first half more than the second. Intrigues a lot, but still feels limited. Three…
Category: 2018 post
November 2018 Viewing Log
And hey! There’s a real review here too. Suspiria (18, C+): I had an impressed but chilled response to Suspiria that I’m just gonna hold onto until I see it again. Had too many turn-around with contemporary horror to trust my initial thoughts, even if I felt less challenged by this than several others. 11/1/18…
Can You Ever Forgive Me? (18, B+)
Hi! In keeping with Can You Ever Forgive Me? and the post-court epiphany of its heroine, I don’t believe I can proceed with anything before I write about myself for a bit. First, sorry for the general lack of activity here. I really did want to finish the Where Were They Then series and keep…
October 2018 Viewing Log
The Birds (63, B): Misogyny, weak first half, occasionally odd construction limit it, but big set pieces keep going strong after the party. – 10/1/18 Me, Melina, and our boyfriends spent a lot of time talking about the very odd relationships all the women had with each other. Was Annie a repressed lesbian (yes)? was…
September 2018 Viewing Log
Hiya! In regards to the most recent bout of inactivity, I’ve gone full bore into GRE prep, grad school applying, class paper writing mode. Effectively, I’m gonna end full-on write ups for the Where Were They Then? writing project for now, but might continue with shorter write-ups. As for now, keep expecting less, though I’ll…
Where Were They Then?: Sid & Nancy (86, C)
Why this film?: Because Sid Vicious seemed about as far from Winston Churchill as you could get, and the prospects of seeing Gary Oldman this early in his career and Chloe Webb’s critics prize winning performance were two equally tantalizing points of interests. The film: When Sid & Nancy opens, Sid Vicious is staring off…
The Fifties for 2018
Picture A Ciambra – Assembled with the precision of a watch but adds flourishes without cleaning itself up; staying as hard-scrabbled, smart, urgent, and perceptive as its lead Ava – Reveals its characters as multifaceted beings and as part of a damaging, systemic cultural structure as one girl fights against being worn down to nothing…
Where Were They Then?: Hostiles (17, C)
Why this film?: Because oh, Timothée Chalamet had another movie released in 2017? Let’s go three for three on this one. The film: There are two major reasons that Hostiles is not remembered as part of Timothée Chalamet’s breakout year. The first is that it barely got a proper rollout, getting the kind of unfathomably…
Where Were They Then?: Short Cuts (93, B)
Why this film?: My original choice was Aeon Flux, purely because I wanted to see McDormand in a ridiculous getup that made her look a lot like St. Vincent (can you believe her other collaboration with Charlize Theron in 2005???) but that stopped feeling like a worthwhile reason pretty quickly. I’ve already watched the Coen…
July 2018 Viewing Log
Rogers Park (18, B): Does right by its main characters even as they struggle to stay afloat. Modest and well acted. Sevigny best in show. 7/2/18 Hanna (11, B): Unapologetically delirious, for better and worse. Missteps in key areas but wildly impressive in others. Goes for it. Absolutely wild to see Vicky Krieps in a…
It's Just Like The Movies 