The Wise Kids (12, B): So generous towards its characters and their complexities you forgive some lag in the filmmaking. 12/2/19 Henry Gamble’s Birthday (15, B+): Expands its canvas of characters and questions, a little thornier but just as empathetic. 12/2/19 I’d call Princess Cyd my favorite of Cone’s films, which has two genius performance…
Category: 2019 post
November 2019 Viewing Log
Lights Out (16, D): Has its scares, engaging (so blunt!) depression allegory, but keeps souring its rules and its messaging is hideous. 11/2/19 It doesn’t help that so many films of late have tread this ground with more nuance and filmmaking bonafides, but even on its own terms it’s sensationalist and crude. Nostalghia (83, A):…
October 2019 Viewing Log
Note: Any film with a parenthesis around it indicates it was something I got to see at this year’s Chicago Film Festival, which was super awesome. Any film with an asterisk indicates a different grade from when I originally saw it. Mr. Turner (14, A-): Firmly situated not just in time and place, but in…
September 2019 Viewing Log
The Dark Crystal (82, B+): Jaw dropping worldbuilding and visual effects. Not all story aspects are equally interesting but damn does it work. 9/1/19 Eyes Wide Shut (99, A): Dizzying, hypnotic energy, seductive and repellent all at once. So rich in mood and atmosphere even as it observes its protagonist with bored pity. 9/1/19 The…
Crawl (19, B+)
I watched Crawl in the middle of the worst thunderstorm I’ve witnessed since moving to Chicago, which feels like a solid backdrop to watch a movie about a daughter and father fight off alligators during a hurricane. At a tight 87 minutes, the sheer focus of Crawl’s narrative and the amount of scares it’s able…
Joy (19, A-)
There are a lot of echoes in Joy, as Nigerian women with different degrees of authority and experience as part of an international prostitution ring evoke their histories as sex workers and speculate on their uncertain futures. Often these echoes are evoked with simple questions – “what did you think you were getting into?”, “what…
August 2019 Vieiwng Log
Smiles of a Summer Night (55, A): As someone who had no idea Bergman even had a funny bone, this was such a delightful surprise. 8/1/19 It’s so horny on main too, which I didn’t expect but probably should have, given the genre and plot. And such gorgeous emotions to it – the moments it…
1960 Supporting Actress Smackdown
Hi! Unlike last month, where I ended up being a little bit early in posting my thoughts on the 2001 Supporting Actress race, now I’m a little bit behind on the party! Blame my ongoing plans to move to Chicago, where the fiancé and I had to leave our current apartment and stay with friends…
June 2019 Viewing Log
Mulholland Drive (01, A): Tommy is having a visceral reaction to the last 45 minutes and I am loving it about as much as I love the movie itself. – 6/1/19 Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster (65, B): Goofy as fuck monster fights. Pretty fun human nonsense. Charming, even when it’s too silly. 6/1/19 Hedwig and…
2001 Supporting Actress Smackdown
Hi all! How’ve you been? Due to not having a job for the first two thirds of May, I managed to watch a lot more films than usual for this month’s (last month’s?) Supporting Actress Smackdown. The 2001 vintage features a quintet of performances I mostly like but can’t help feeling a little unimaginatively selected…
It's Just Like The Movies 