THE DANMAN CAN

As cynical as I can tend to be, I can't help getting sentimental when I watch Capra   films, even if they are idealistic, as this one so clearly is.   James Stewart is at his impassioned best here and Jean Arthur 's reactions frequently make me tear up. Politics are still the same.

Copying my review from first viewing below... Danny Boyle   is a director that I'm largely hot and cold about - I love  Shallow Grave   (1994), very much enjoy  Trainspotting   (1996), hated  Sunshine   (2007), was lukewarm for  Slumdog Millionaire   (2008), I used to really like  28 Days Later  (2002) and now I'm lukewarm on that as well. I wasn't dying to see  Steve Jobs  (2015) but ended up enjoying it much more than expected. The dialogue by  Aaron Sorkin   is what shines.  Boyle  does some interesting things with the camera and his images and that's expected as well, though I don't feel that every choice works. All the actors inhabit their roles well, particularly  Fassbender , who was inspired casting, portraying a man who truly was an innovator, yet was a flawed human being, as we all are. The film is very humorous and largely avoids falling into "feel-good" territory. Definitely recom...

Finally got around to seeing this. I wish Soavi   had been able to make more horror films. Argento ’s stamp is all over The Sect (he did write and produce, and even some of the shots are similar to his style), but I was also reminded of Guillermo del Toro ’s early work. For fans of Rosemary’s Baby , Cronos , Phenomena ,   and dreamy, surreal horror.

Focus On Film   Episode 57  is up! D&R reminisce with Nostalgia Through Film, mom jokes, hot babysitters + more! Download the MP3  HERE In this episode: December 2017  Criterion Collection  Titles Announcement Criterion Most Wanted Best & Worst Of The Month   – Triple 9  (2016), Hell In The Pacific  (1968), It  (2017), The Last Circus (2010) Revolving Topic

Orgazmo   (1997) still makes me laugh so much. I can't believe it's 20 years old and I can't believe I still like it so much. Now I'm a man.

Bruce 's previous two books are incredibly entertaining, just like his performances and persona. Hail To The Chin  (2017) is no different. I'll devour future books in a heartbeat. Definitely one of my heroes.

Enough is never enough. The Stuff (1985) is an effortlessly rewatchable  Cohen  cult concoction.

Mother!   (2017)   is a dizzying, heavy-handed affair. It's easy to see why it would divide most (American) mainstream audiences with a love it or hate it response. I sit somewhere in the middle. Being that I watch a lot of "challenging" cinema, I've seen enough disturbing, perplexing, WTF films that this is nothing new to me. The first half of the film reminded me very much of  Andrzej Żuławski  with dashes of David Cronenberg . The tight close-ups, handheld camerawork and grainy 16 mm look all give a sense of claustrophobia. The frenetic pace and explicit sound design all heighten the sense of everything being constantly "off." Some of the scenes get a bit too "shaky cam" for my tastes though. This is the first time that Aronofsky hasn't worked with composer  Clint Mansell . He instead intended to work with the also excellent  Jóhann Jóhannsson  (R.I.P.) but the decision was made to use no score. While this heightens the tension c...

Reposting my review from my first viewing below but subtracting a 1/2 * for the film itself because I don't think it held up as well and subtracting another 1/2 * for the terrible English dub. Beautiful visuals, highly stylized, but a bit silly and takes itself a little too seriously, trying to incorporate real life events.  The Last Circus (2010) had the potential to be  really  cool and bizarre, but plays by the numbers in the last quarter of the film. It starts out very promising, but turns into a series of clichés. It reminds me of  Santa Sangre  (1989), but not nearly as good.

I'm going to tip my hat to my friend Brian   and agree that It (2017) was A Nightmare On Elm Street  (1984) meets Stand By Me   (1986). I've never read the novel and have only seen the 1990 film once, as recently as 2015 (and merely thought it was decent), so I can't comment on faithfulness as an adaptation, but as a horror movie with heart, this one is a winner. As a child of the 80s, I certainly felt a pang of nostalgia and It hit all the appropriate beats nicely, despite some bunk CGI and a few shaky cam scenes. Minor quibbles really and hopefully this one will stand the test of time. The character moments meant the most to me and not the jump scares (although those were good too). Also, this film is pretty funny. I saw some young teenagers in the audience and they were excitedly chattering about the film after it finished. This is exactly the kind of film I would have been extra thrilled with at that age, the kind that hits you at just the right time in your lif...

A Malick y existential piece with infuriatingly long takes and uncomfortable silences in Academy ratio.

I was re-reading my review of the previous QOTSA  LP, ...Like Clockwork ,  here  and remembered how it seemed that a lot of fans were let down by that album. Well, I think Villains   (2017)   is the album that is really going to alienate fans, split camps, and I don't think Josh Homme   really cares. Of course, as many were, I was wary of the fact that Mark Ronson   produced this album and the first single, "The Way You Used To Do" didn't do  a whole lot for me (it's still my least favorite track but works within the context of the album). As a QOTSA album, it's definitely their cleanest, slickest sounding LP (and my least favorite of theirs) and I'm a bit adverse to the sound. But I've listened to it a bunch of times through now and I like it, honestly. I kind of see it as a spiritual cousin to 2007's  Era Vulgaris   (which is definitely much better), but pushed much more in the pop direction.