Archive for the 'film' Category

Scrapple

Scrapple
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Tension? Check.
Sarcasm? Check.
Passive aggression? Oh yeah.
That sinking feeling when intention and expression don’t match up? Check mate.
From the Duplass Brothers, this short film has more emotional terrain to unpack in its ten minutes than most do in ninety. There’s no “tells” or “short-hand” explanations here, just […]

A Sense of History

Written and performed by the wonderful Jim Broadbent, directed by Mike Leigh. In this, maybe my all time favorite short film, a member of the British landed gentry, the 23rd Earl of Leete, tells of his family history.
Hint: the real story is found between the dialogue; in the gazes, gaps, and pauses. […]

Husbands

Sony Pictures is doing the humanitarian service of finally getting John Cassavetes’ Husbands released on DVD. Netflix, buy, steal, Youtube it, do whatever you gotta do to see this work of art. Just know that unlike 99% of all other films, your hand will not be held as you watch and navigate through […]

USA or Bust

So thanks to the Dr. for keeping a flow of content here for the 5 or so people that read this blog. I’d been away on a long car ride, slicing through this here America like a knife through a loaf of bread. Above is a recap of what was seen on the […]

Burn After Watching

I really didn’t like Burn After Reading. And I’m gonna go out of my way to state why…

Staff Benda Bilili

Staff Benda Bilili are a group of paraplegic street musicians who live around the grounds of the zoo in Kinshasa, Congo. Four senior singers/guitarists on makeshift wheelchairs are supported by a young, all-acoustic rhythm section, plus a 17 year-old prodigy performing infectious guitar-like solos on a one-string electric lute he designed and built himself out […]

Waltz With Bashir

Rising high above the fray of films worth seeing is Waltz With Bashir, an animated documentary about the 1982 Lebanon War. The synopsis:
One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari Folman about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. […]

The Shopocalypse

November 2007 saw the release of the film What Would Jesus Buy? which satirically focused on the commercialization of Christmas and materialism at large. The film stars activist/performance artist Bill Talen, who goes by the alias of “Reverend Billy,” and his troupe of activists, whose street theater performances take the form of a church […]

Punishment Park is a 1971 film written and directed by Peter Watkins. Conceived as a pseudo-documentary, it is hands down one of the most intense works ever in political cinema. To set the stage for the film… the Vietnam War escalates with Richard Nixion’s “secret” bombing campaign in Cambodia. Faced with a growing […]

WALL-E

I went and saw this film the day it came out, on a lark really. I had been outside the US the previous month and consequently missed any marketing of the film. But it looked neat, I enjoy animation, and had time to kill… the perfect storm.
And what a film it was. […]

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