Review

There are 1,836 posts tagged Review (this is page 30 of 263).

Criterion Month Day 13: Pink Flamingos

Pink Flamingos (1972)

After I watched John Frankenheimer’s Seconds for my last review, I really wanted to write something. After I watched Pink Flamingos, I wanted to film something. NOT like anything in this film. Oh god no! What appealed to me wasn’t the shit eating or the singing asshole, but the camaraderie between John Waters and his cast, lovingly referred to as the “Dreamlanders”.

Early John Waters’ films remind me of when I was high school making films. Again, I want to reiterate we did NOT make films like this. But there’s a kind of “on-the-fly” to John Waters’ early work. As if he and all his Dreamlanders didn’t necessarily know what it was to make an actual film, they just shot what they thought was funny, or filthy. And even after fifty years, Pink Flamingos still feels fun and still feels filthy.

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Criterion Month Day 12: The New Land

The New Land (1972)

Last Criterion Month, I reviewed The Emigrants, a surprising Best Picture nominee that I believe was the longest movie we’ve ever reviewed during one of these months. Well, that record is swiftly being broken by the film’s sequel (or perhaps more of the second part of one epic story) which clocks in at a hefty 202 minutes. I, of course, wish I’d had a little more time between my last review to fully digest this film before reviewing it. But, that’s rarely the way these things work, and I just finished up watching the movie (took me a few sittings). Not sure if that puts me in the best mindset to tackle this epic tale of Swedish immigrants settling down in America in the mid-19th century, but it’s hard to deny that the film leaves you with plenty to chew on. Continue reading →

Criterion Month Day 9: The Young Girls of Rochefort

The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967)

Last year, Sean dived into The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a musical I remember loving but it’s just been a little too long since I’ve seen for me to remember all the specifics of why. Still, I imagine a lot of the reasons were similar to why I had a wonderful time watching Jaques Demy’s follow-up to that film, The Young Girls of Rochefort. Much like Umbrellas, this film is extremely colorful, filled with lots of music, illuminates the mundane, and takes place in a French city that is decidedly not Paris. That said, there is a more traditional Hollywood optimism in The Young Girls of Rochefort‘s approach to the movie musical, which makes it all the more beguiling why it has never been super beloved outside of France. Continue reading →

Criterion Month Day 8: Seconds

Seconds (1966)

My favorite dramatic show of all time is The Twilight Zone. The chic black and white style, the nightmarish sci-fi, and rich social commentary. The theme song is even my ringtone! Scares the hell out of me every time. So of course I loved John Frankenheimer’s 1966 sci-fi horror cult classic Seconds. The only thing I’m trying to wrap my head around is how did this movie happen?

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Criterion Month Day 7: The Tale of Zatoichi

The Tale of Zatoichi (1962)

First introduced as a minor character in a 1948 novel by Kan Shimozawa, Zatoichi, The Blind Swordsman, has grown into one of Japan’s most enduring characters. Beginning with The Tale of Zatoichi, Shintaro Katsu would go on to play this role in 25(!) movies between 1962 and 1973, then continue in the TV series (which lasted 100 episodes across four seasons), and finally return to the big screen for one last movie in 1989, which he also directed. It’s hard to think of a Western comparison to that kind of commitment to a role. Katsu made more Zatoichi movies than there are James Bond movies. Like in total. Can anyone else’s time playing one role even compare? I guess some legacy sequels are gonna have bigger time spans, like Dan Aykroyd has also technically been playing Ray Stantz in Ghostbusters movies for 37 years and Nick Castle has been Michael Meyers for 43 years compared to Katsu’s 27 as Zatoichi. Kelsey Grammer as Frasier? Maybe Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard? That’s my best guess, he could have more screentime (178 episodes of TNG, four movies, plus 20 episodes of Picard) over a significantly greater span of time, 36 years (1987-2023). But I don’t think anybody ever played such a concentrated dose of one character. Which begs the question: What makes Zatoichi so special?

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Criterion Month Day 6: A Raisin In The Sun

A Raisin In The Sun (1961)

As you might guess, my desire to watch and review A Raisin In The Sun came out of the passing of the great Sidney Poitier earlier this year. While the film may not be one of the most widely seen in his filmography, it still feels crucial in capturing what might be Poitier’s defining role on the stage. After diving a bit into some of Poitier’s other films throughout this year, it was refreshing to see Poitier here in the kind of role that’s a little pricklier than the film roles he’s known for. Virgil Tibbs is probably the definitive example of the ultra-competent professionals he plays in movies that are just as much about his characters themselves as they are about white people’s relationships with their own prejudice toward them. However, in this film with an almost entirely Black cast written by one of the shining stars of mid-20th century theater, he’s able to do something a little more complex and nuanced, which can also be said about the film’s depiction of an African-American family trying to escape their cramped apartment in Chicago. Continue reading →