Author Archive
What We’re Watching – 5/26/2011
Looking over some of the films I’ve recently seen, I’ve noticed that my taste in movies ranges dramatically. From a 1950s Italian comedy to a 1980s tense thriller to a 2011 movie with pirates and mermaids, it seems that there really isn’t a place in…
READ MOREAn Appreciation – Au Revoir Les Enfants
There comes a point in time when—tragically—the innocence and naïveté of youth moves aside and makes way for the harsh realities of the world. One can’t pinpoint exactly when this happens, as it is different for everyone. But when it does, it changes a person…
READ MOREAn Appreciation – Annie Hall
Woody Allen begins his film Annie Hall (1977) with a monologue in which he addresses the audience directly. Within this speech, he describes a joke that he first attributes to Groucho Marx, saying that he would never want to be a part of a club…
READ MOREFilm Review – The Beaver
It’s hard to separate Mel Gibson from the man he plays in Jodie Foster’s The Beaver (2011). Here is an actor who was once on top of the world, a strong leading man with infinite charisma, charm, and likeability. An award-winning filmmaker, there was a…
READ MOREFilm Review – Thor
Thor (2011) is a film that I walked into wanting to like, I really did. I was hoping to see a slam bang, no holds barred superhero movie with lots of fun action set pieces, and for a while there, that’s exactly what I got.…
READ MOREAn Appreciation – Dr. Strangelove
“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here, this is the War Room!” What a strange world it must have been to live in during the years following WWII. It was a time of constant fear, doubt, and anxiety. With the fall of Nazi Germany, other countries…
READ MOREAn Appreciation – The Red Shoes
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s masterpiece The Red Shoes (1948) is a film that has grown on me over time. I remember watching it years ago, and admiring it for what it was, but not entirely loving it. As time passed, I found myself somehow…
READ MOREAn Appreciation – Modern Times
One of the most iconic images Charlie Chaplin ever gave to the world came in Modern Times (1936). It happens early on in the movie. The Little Tramp, working diligently on an automated assembly line, gets distracted and starts to lag behind. Desperate, he jumps…
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