CATCHING UP WITH FILM - FILM CRITICISM WITH AN EYE ON A PERSONAL CANON

Inspired by the 1001 Movies to Watch Before You Die, Edgar Wright’s 1000 favorite films and other lists, I am striving to come up with my own personal canon of films. Though A Nos Amours starts with a young girl (Suzanne, played by Sandrine Bonnaire), rehearsing lines for a romantic period drama, this is the closest that this film will come to the teen romance genre, a deservedly maligned one with its most heinous culprits filling young minds with unrealistic expectations of

Inspired by the 1001 Movies to Watch Before You Die, Edgar Wright’s 1000 favorite films and other lists, I am striving to come up with my own personal canon of films. Watching Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind now, it seems to be a story that has been told many times. Big budget pictures with environmentalist themes are a favorite for directors like James Cameron (Avatar). Movies with strong, capable heroines are getting slowly more popular (Moana, also with environmentalist

I’ve always been a sucker for pub trivia, and I almost like creating trivia quizzes more than competing in them. The answers to the first nine questions are all connected by a theme, and the tenth is the theme. Feel free to share this quiz, and no Googling when you’re trying it! (What’s the fun in that?) Answers will be posted next week with the newest quiz. The part of a man’s tights or closely fitted pants that covers the crotch. What a clue that is meant to mislead is some

K-pop is perhaps the most interesting and innovative pop music in the world right now, so I will be examining some of the most distinctive and artistically compelling K-pop music videos for April. It is not unheard of for music videos, K-pop music videos especially, to suggest large worlds within their relatively short running times. Hell, there is even an implication that certain music videos take place within the same “cinematic universe.” But no video has made me more curi

For April 2018, I will be exploring films that feature indigenous people in leading roles and feature narratives about the identity of such people and the society that has inevitably oppressed them. When Virgil St. Raise (Chaske Spencer) wakes up in a ditch at the beginning of this story, it kind of feels like he and (we the viewers) never really escape it. Virgil stumbles through life in a haze of alcohol and sex. In true male fashion, he thinks he can find some redemption i

Inspired by the 1001 Movies to Watch Before You Die, Edgar Wright’s 1000 favorite films and other lists, I am striving to come up with my own personal canon of films. As inventive and delightfully quirky as Juzo Itami’s Tampopo is, its skeleton is quite recognizable. It is an underdog story about an embattled woman, Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto), who seeks the guidance of an older, somewhat grizzled mentor (Tsutomu Yamazaki), to become the best ramen chef possible. Stripped of th

Inspired by the 1001 Movies to Watch Before You Die, Edgar Wright’s 1000 favorite films and other lists, I am striving to come up with my own personal canon of films. On first seeing The Fly, I knew I was watching something more than a mere horror picture even though it is one of the best examples of the genre. Of course, knowing that it was directed by David Cronenberg probably prepped me to evaluate this film higher than from some relatively unknown genre director, but I co

I’ve always been a sucker for pub trivia, and I almost like creating trivia quizzes more than competing in them. The answers to the first nine questions are all connected by a theme, and the tenth is the theme. Feel free to share this quiz, and no Googling when you’re trying it! (What’s the fun in that?) Answers will be posted next week with the newest quiz. Popular and potentially very messy game that Jimmy Fallon plays on his show with guests such as Anna Kendrick, Channing

K-pop is perhaps the most interesting and innovative pop music in the world right now, so I will be examining some of the most distinctive and artistically compelling K-pop music videos for April. K-pop is a bit of a misnomer since not everything that constitutes “K-pop” is not strictly Korean. For instance, for this song, the composers and producers include LDN Noise, a British songwriting duo who have written songs for Nick Jonas and Chris Brown. The choreographer is Willda

For April 2018, I will be exploring films that feature indigenous people in leading roles and feature narratives about the identity of such people and the society that has inevitably oppressed them. Aila is a tough cookie. She has to be. She grew up on the Red Crow reserve, raised by her uncle, but really fending for herself most of the time, selling drugs. Her dad is in prison after her mom accidentally ran over her younger brother with a car while both were on drugs. Her mo