[93]
A fascinating film to me for several reasons, the biggest of which might be its demonstration of cinema as a cantilever of force on a national stage as well as its ability to not only maintain relevance, but actually garner more traction over a century after its release. Granted, that traction is not of amicable nature—it is an ugly, reprehensible agency, but an agency nonetheless, and to ignore its influence on not just cinema but the United States of…
[91]
After being highly receptive of every Tsai film I’ve seen thus far, I figured it was about time I tried to dive more in-depth about the essence of his very style, and why I find his particular brand of stoicism fundamentally more alluring and captivating than many others’. THE RIVER completely knocked my socks off, and not only does it contain some of the most painfully lingering sequences in Tsai’s canon (and I say that as a good thing),…
Favorite Albums from Q3 - 2021!
Since March of this year I have watched precisely one (1) new movie, and it was a twenty minute short. (Tscherkassky’s TRAIN AGAIN, for those wondering. Might eventually get around to scrobbling some thoughts on it, but it’d take a few more viewings to firm up my feelings toward it.) But I can assure you I’ve supplemented my lack of filmgoing with an increase in consumption of music. So much so that I sometimes…
Since my last quarterly music checking at the end of Q1 2020, I have watched exactly three movies - two Leone westerns (only one of which I wrote about), and TROLLS approximately twenty-seven times because my son fell it love with it and now requests that we watch it all day every day. So, while my movie perusing is still quite stifled, my music consumption is as colossal as ever.
But before we get to my current Q2 favorites, which…
[57]
I am frankly sick and fucking tired of this movie and the dichotomy it has created within the film community. You’ve got a surprising majority of people claiming it’s a cinematic masterpiece - the next CITIZEN KANE, 10/10, A++, “would let Chris Nolan fingerbang my senses again” - alongside a smaller but equally vocal minority lamenting that it’s the most vile, disgusting, contrived, and overrated waste of space ever created. With all respect, I will never understand people who…
[47]
Wasn't even feeding into my most deep-seated contrarian instincts as the credits rolled and I asked myself, “what do people see in this?” Perhaps I know too much about Cuarón and his obsession with ostentatious construction to not be annoyed by the barrage of slowly oscillating (and equally inconsequential) long takes. Seriously, over half the movie is filmed like the final scene of THE CONVERSATION; at least there it served a metaphorical purpose. While others have cited “immersion” and…
