If you haven’t seen the amazing Bresson film, you should. I first saw it in my Film 101 class at UofT, where my classmates had a habit of talking through every goddamn movie, Citizen Kane included. When A Man Escaped was shown, though, you could’ve heard a pin drop. Sadly, this was also the case […]
Category Archives: movies
Dancing Books
A nice little viral video, hosted (if not paid for – is this an ad or a public service announcement?) by a Toronto bookstore. I dare you to watch it without smiling. Or wanting to visit!
A Certain Kind of Death
At the death of a year in which far too many of my loved and admired ones passed away, I stumbled across this documentary about the procedures of death – specifically, those who die without next of kin. The YouTube description is “unblinking and unsettling”, and there are scenes of dead bodies in various states […]
Marxes in the Mirror
Reading a bit about the Marx Brothers, who, it turns out, resembled each other a lot more than the stage makeup and costumes would have you believe. It was pointed out that the mirror scene in Duck Soup illustrates this. Sure enough, ask and ye shall receive wildly entertaining proof.
Dear Zachary
I’d read enough about this film to know what the shocking plot twist would be, but that didn’t lessen its impact: This is a well-made independent film that everyone involved with it wishes didn’t exist. It’s not a happy event, but it’s well worth your time. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Zachary:_A_Letter_to_a_Son_About_His_Father
A Man Escaped
Roger Ebert reviews one of my favourite movies. I took a Cinema 101 course in University. The prof was kind of a dink and most of the movies were awful, but this new-to-me film made it entirely worth the registration fee. The class (who nattered through every other film) was dead silent, and we were […]
All Is Forgiven, Woody
Woody Allen has been cranking out some pretty terrible movies over the past decades, and every once in a while, the germ of a witty plot idea suckers me into watching. Everyone Says I Love You was nowhere near as engaging as I’d thought it might be, but was worth watching for this sublime scene […]
Bespin, Cushion City
Empire Strikes Back is, arguably, my favourite movie ever, so it’s wild seeing these behind the scenes stills which remind me even more than Mark Hammill’s acting (which in fairness was pretty great in Empire) that it was all just a lot of smoke and mirrors. Or, to use another phrase, “simple tricks and nonsense”. […]
“Mesrine,” “Scott Pilgrim,” and “The Expendables” : The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/cinema/2010/08/16/100816crci_cinema_lane Anthony Lane’s movie reviews are few and far between, compared to newspaper scribes like AO Scott and Roger Ebert, but I’m convinced this is because he requires time to build up for the explosion of wit that infuses his reviews. That simplicity carries over into Richet’s film, which performs the unlikely trick of being […]
Dazed and Confused (1993) – Memorable quotes
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106677/quotes A happy “glorious Fourth” to my American pals! I can’t think of the Fourth of July without flashing back to this terrific line from Dazed & Confused: Okay guys, one more thing, this summer when you’re being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth Of July brouhaha, don’t forget what you’re celebrating, and that’s […]