THE DANMAN CAN

Schindler’s List (1993) is a film that truly makes one reflect on the idea of commodity—the value of human life versus the value of material and profit—and on the nature of power and how it corrupts. It’s a motion picture filled with fear, desperation, humiliation, humility, atrocity, and empathy. It presents its charming yet imposing central figure (the enigmatic Liam Neeson ) as flawed yet realistic—a womanizer, a shrewd businessman, and, eventually, a reluctant hero. Steven Spielberg 's film remains an exhausting, unflinching, haunting emotional tour de force, and serves as a reminder of both the tremendous good and evil that human beings are capable of.  Steven Spielberg Feature Films Ranked Top 20 Directors

If Mario Bava had made The Colossus Of Rhodes (1961) it would have been shorter and campier, with more interesting lighting. I mention this because Bava made similar films around the same time (see Hercules In The Haunted World released the same year). As it is, TCOR is kind of campy but not in an over the top enough way that demands the attention of the viewer. Much like  Spartacus  (1960) (my review here ) for  Stanley Kubrick , there is no Sergio Leone stamp whatsoever in TCOR . It very much feels like a work for hire job. It seems clear the producers were cashing in on the sword-and-sandal craze and I suppose I’m just not a great lover of the genre. That’s OK, not everyone hits it out of the park with their debut and Leone only made six more features, basically all of them masterpieces, so it’s no big deal (technically 1959's  The Last Days Of Pompeii  was Leone's debut but he went uncredited). The filmmaking in TCOR  is very technically...

With The Revenant   (2015),  Alejandro González Iñárritu  channels  Terrence Malick  but leaves most of the poetry and heart at the door and replaces it with carnage. The film is basically a 2 1/2 hour endurance test (particularly for lead Leonardo DiCaprio , I can imagine) but a technically incredible, beautifully shot, and sumptuously scored one. The film continues to remind me of  The New World  (2005), which cinematographer  Emmanuel Lubezki  also shot, and I absolutely love the minimal score by  Ryuichi Sakamoto .  This was my third time viewing the film and the first time in 4K, so it was an extra treat to see it looking the best I've seen, especially because of all the gorgeous landscapes. I've written before that I felt a bit disconnected from the film, despite the many visceral and tense moments. I suppose that's changed slightly and my appreciation for the film grows just a bit more each time I see it. The Revenant is...

While it may not be as controversial as it was upon its release ( an effort to ban the film was carried out by the Roman Catholic advocacy group the National Legion of Decency), Elia Kazan 's Baby Doll (1956) ( Tennessee Williams ' first solo screenplay) remains a fantastic, fearless, and sexually frank film.  Williams' dialogue is awkward, funny, and it's fascinating to watch the power struggle at play. Carroll Baker  is luminous, Karl Marlden  is incendiary, and  Eli Wallach  is magnetic—all three give some of their best performances. Kazan's expert direction and Boris Kaufman 's beautiful cinematography create a truly lived-in world that sets the perfect backdrop for this saucy southern drama. You can find my  Elia Kazan Feature Films Ranked  list  here . You can find my  Tennessee Williams Feature Film Adaptations Ranked  list  here .

King Of New York (1990) has held up well. I hadn't seen KONY  since probably the late '90s and as I rewatched it (via Arrow Video 's stunning 4K UHD ), I remembered the thirty-year-old film quite vividly and enjoyed it even more than I had on previous viewings (though I always did like it a lot).  Released the same year as Scorsese 's landmark  GoodFellas   (my review here ), Abel Ferrara 's film   is an entirely different type of gangster movie—one heavy on mood and improvisation over traditional narrative stylings. Christopher Walken  as the titular King, Frank White, is simply electric here, and Laurence Fishburne , as the superbly-named Jimmy Jump, all but steals every scene he's in.  White's attempts at redemption and his desire to do good, to give back to his community—all while trafficking drugs and bumping people off left and right—provides a fascinating duality to the character, which Walken expertly  channels.  KONY  features ...

Following the trajectory of 2019 into 2020, the previous  D B Mix Series  was created last August and here we are on the 16th day of February with a new one! Read on for  DB Mix Series 10 – Some Songs About Dreams And Sleep . For those unfamiliar with these music challenges—my cousin Bryan and I alternately choose a concept, we each choose the appropriate number of songs, make a playlist, share with each other, then I mix the playlists, design the album art, and share with you! You can check out the previous  DB Mixes  here . The concept this time was chosen by me—each of us was to make a mix of songs about dreams and sleep (with the obvious nod to Talking Heads in the title of this series). The rules this time around were: 20 tracks, soundtracks songs were OK, score tracks were not OK, and lastly, we couldn't use Fleetwood Mac 's " Dreams "—I still love that song but it gets enough play (Bryan cleverly used another FM tune). He was a bit more creative with his...

Kevin Smith 's 2008 feature Zack And Miri Make A Porno is a sweet-hearted rom-com that is actually less raunchy than his usual fare. I sorta avoided this one because it was released during a time when I wasn't really dying to see KS films, and while it's not exactly landmark cinema, I had a fun time with it and liked it perhaps slightly more than expected. Traci Lords doesn't have enough screen time and neither does Justin Long , who is pretty hilarious in this. No real surprises here and the humor is way over-the-top, but Z&M  is an enjoyable enough way to spend about a hundred minutes.  You can find my  Kevin Smith Feature Films Ranked  list  here .

Review

Much in the way that 1944's  The Curse Of The Cat People   ( review ) is less a "horror" film than a psychological drama, so is  The Leopard Man (1943), producer Val Lewton 's third and final collaboration with director  Jacques Tourneur  (and one of a whopping four B movies that Lewton cranked out for RKO in 1943).  In TLM there's no on-screen violence at all and no supernatural element (despite what the gorgeous poster advertises). And despite recycling the "bus" jump scare from Lewton's first collaboration with Tourneur, 1942's  Cat People   ( review ) in a tunnel scene here (honestly just as good and just as scary), the filmmakers craft an engaging serial killer picture and make wonderful use of light, shadow, and sound (or lack thereof) to create dark, beautiful imagery and tension.  TLM 's economical 66-minute run time packs more character development and story into this lean little film than your average episode of premium c...

Review

Giuseppe Tornatore 's film  Cinema Paradiso   (1988) is a heightened, melodramatic version of real life, but it's beautiful and poetic, funny and touching. It plays like the less violent cousin of  Sergio Leone 's  Once Upon A Time In America   (1984)—exploring the bulk of one man's life and employing the same grandiosity and scope, but with a gentler touch. The performances are spot on, the images masterly, and the score by  Ennio Morricone  sweeping and consuming. Cinema Paradiso  is a love letter to the power of film to build community, of the many emotions that love (of cinema, of humans) can instill. It's a story of lost romance, of nostalgia, of the loss of youth, of family (by blood and otherwise), of following your dreams at the expense of all else. Screencaps courtesy of  Filmgrab

Chasing Amy (1997) is not without its problems regarding its characters and portrayals but it's still a very good romantic comedy, in this viewer's opinion. You can certainly tell that the film was written by Kevin Smith (a hetero male), but personally I don't feel that invalidates it. There's no doubting that this film wouldn't get made today, at least not anything like how it turned out in 1997.  In a way, I appreciate its now antiquated view of the LGBT world, if only to recognize that Smith, 26 at the time, was taking a risk with the subject matter (remember this was a mainstream film). Even if he was going to make a fool of himself (and even if large parts of the film haven't aged well)—he felt he needed to tell this story, from his perspective. I do think there are parts of Chasing Amy that have held up well, insomuch as some of the dialogue still feels relevant and I think Smith's heart was in the right place. The filmmaking itself isn't terribl...

On The Rocks   (2020),  Sofia Coppola 's latest film, is easily her most straightforward work. It's very much a Woody Allen / Noah Baumbach esque New York film, and by that I mean it concerns semi-wealthy people's marriage problems.  Bill Murray  is, as always, absurdly charming, even when he is delivering his sexist character's hilarious but embarrassing dialogue. I can't really complain about  Rashida Jones  here but nothing she did excited me and  Marlon Wayans  has a totally thankless role.  There are some laughs to be had and there is a breeziness that is hard to deny. It feels a bit like Coppola was trying to make a simple, classic rom-com in the vein of a Roman Holiday  (1953) ( review ) but it doesn't quite get there—it's too predictable in a safe way (rather than a satisfactory way) and it's mostly forgettable immediately afterward.   You can find my Sofia Coppola Feature Films Ranked list here .

From former Astron-6 member Steven Kostanski comes Psycho Goreman (2020), an over-the-top bloodfest with incredible low budget creature f/x that mashes up  Hellraiser (1987) ( review ) with  The Last Starfighter   (1984) ( review ).  I wasn't quite as taken with the comedy or characters in PG as I was in other Astron-6 related films like Father's Day (2011) or The Editor (2014) ( review ), but the film definitely strikes a similar, very specific brand of callous humor that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. Still, there is a good deal of fun to be had here, the score and songs are great, and really the whole thing is mostly a showcase for the deliriously inventive and eye-popping makeup and costumes.  Recommended for fans of Manborg (2011), The Gate (1987), and  Turbo Kid   (2015) ( review ).

Oof. Jay And Silent Bob Reboot (2019) started out pretty decent and I was digging the first maybe twenty minutes or so. As soon as Harley Quinn Smith showed up it took a nosedive (she really is not a good actor and the film relies far too heavily on her to drive the story). The film as a whole is not terribly funny, it's obnoxiously meta, and it tries way,  way too hard to be current with all the woke characters and dialogue (something I honestly think won't age well at all).  While I can appreciate Smith trying to make Jay ( Jason Mewes ) a bit more conscientious and less "bro-y," he just feels flat here. And Smith himself as Silent Bob (and as himself) is insufferable in both roles. Everything just feels really forced. There are a few scenes that tug at the heartstrings but overall J&SBSB  is far too "heartfelt" and safe.  I'm not sure if this was a letdown exactly, as I wasn't expecting much, but it was definitely worse than I expected, and...

Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) holds up pretty well for what it is—a crude, silly, road trip comedy populated by  Kevin Smith 's  View Askewniverse  characters. A lot of the humor is still pretty funny, the cameos are mostly fun, and Jay ( Jason Mewes ) even kind of has a story arc. I also love the references and allusions to Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)—it being my favorite film and all (my blogpost for that film here ). Everyone just looks like they had a really good time making this film and there is a goofy charm that is hard to deny. You can find my  Kevin Smith Feature Films Ranked  list  here .

The Fox And The Hound (1981) is not the best nor the worst Disney animated feature film I've seen. The animation is good but not great, the story is affecting but well-worn, the characters are cute but not captivating, and the songs are very forgettable. The theme of/allusions to tribalism/speciesism/racism is present but never satisfyingly explored, nor is the friendship of the titular characters. A solid film featuring some talented voice actors, but not a classic.