THE DANMAN CAN

Absolutely essential viewing for fans of Paul Reubens and Pee-wee Herman . There is so much rich life history that was new to me. Amazing and fascinating photos and footage. I wish this documentary was twice as long.

A good, solid old-fashioned court drama,  Clint Eastwood 's Juror #2   (2024) updates  Reginald Rose 's 1954 teleplay  Twelve Angry Men   ( 1957 film review , 1997 film review ) with a slight twist. Clint Eastwood Directed Films Ranked

Just like  Mad Max: Fury Road  (2015) ( review 1 , review 2 ), I felt like I was watching a video game half the time that I was viewing Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) (the CGI in this one is even more obvious than in FR and, my goodness, there is so much of it). (Side note nitpick: I'm guessing  George Miller  was contractually obligated to use the MM  subtitle, but it's still annoying and unnecessary; people know what the movie is and Furiosa ,   on its own, makes a much bolder title.) In many ways, these modern  Mad   Max  films look and feel too much like other franchises (Marvel, the modern Planet Of The Apes , Star Wars , the Villeneuve Dune s) for my tastes. Everything is so clean and perfectly color graded; I just can't get past that. I miss the grittiness and genuine sense of danger of the first two films (reviews for those here and here ), and even 1985's  Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome  (1985) ( review ), the weakest fil...

A cinematic symphony of violent revenge, Lady Snowblood (1973) is the immensely entertaining tale of an asura  avenging her parents and brother, leaving piles of bodies in her wake. Essentially the even-more-poetic femme equivalent of Lone Wolf And Cub   (and likewise based on a manga series ), which was adapted into six feature films beginning the year prior,  Snowblood similarly sprays blood arterially on screen and contains many beautifully composed and edited shots. The result is an influential and satisfying western-inspired action drama with heavy replay value.

Philip Kaufman 's  Rising Sun  is very dated in numerous ways (politically, representationally, technologically) and it's not even in the same league as that other little 1993 Michael Crichton film adaptation. Still, it's a solidly entertaining and stylish thriller—in some ways reminiscent of '70s espionage pictures, in other ways, the giallo. It's got a great cast (the Connery / Snipes  buddy cop pair-up provides plenty of amusement) and strong cinematography by Michael Chapman . Philip Kaufman Films Ranked

While  Dennis Hopper 's Colors (1988) is one of the earliest examples of a hood film —preceding both Boyz N The Hood (1991) and Menace II Society  (1993), two of the most popular movies in the subgenre—it lacks the edge of either of those well-known examples. And while  Colors  does give a decent amount of screen time to its gang members (portrayed by familiar faces like Don Cheadle , Grand L. Bush , and Damon Wayans ), it favors the junior/senior buddy cop dynamic of Sean Penn and Robert Duvall above anything else ( Maria Conchita Alonso also gets short shrift). It's an entertaining picture but it doesn't bear much of Hopper's stamp and it doesn't delve too deeply into the implications and systemic issues of its subject matter. Dennis Hopper Films Ranked

As a teetotaler, all of the "wine stuff" in Sideways (2004) went over my head—though the situations and dialogue are very amusing—but I still loved the film. With his fourth feature,  Alexander Payne  strikes a near-perfect balance of breezy comedy and thought-provoking existentialism, succeeding in making the audience care about two deeply flawed human beings. To quote my friend Sean (whose insistence spurred this " Payne Train " filmography deep dive), Sideways  is an "authentic meditation (of) masculinity,   vulnerability, and ego." An incredibly honest and funny film about life, loneliness, and the search for meaning—you know, relatable midlife crisis stuff. Alexander Payne Feature Films Ranked

I get that  Days Of Thunder   (1990) is basically just  Top Gun   (1986) ( review ) with race cars but I only watched the latter film for the first time a few months ago and I saw DOT when it was released (and more than a few times since). As mentioned in my TG review, neither jets nor cars interest me all that much and  Tony Scott , while being a slick commercial talent, was never a top director for me. However, DOT  is a fun, exciting film with a great cast and a lot of heart. It's also neat to see Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman basically falling in love while shooting their scenes. You don't have to turn off your brain completely for this movie, but it helps if you drop the hammer and just enjoy the ride. Tony Scott Feature Films Ranked

Steven Soderbergh 's  Kimi   (2022) is a fun, lean, modern-tech paranoid thriller with a good central performance by  Zoë Kravitz , cool sound design, and a great score by  Cliff Martinez .  Kimi  makes a nice companion piece to Soderbergh's earlier  Side Effects  (2013) ( review ) and  Unsane  (2018) ( review ). Recommended for fans of  Rear Window   (1954),  The Conversation  (1974) ( review ),  Marathon Man  (1976) ( review ), and  Panic Room  (2002) (which shares this film's writer,  David Koepp ). Steven Soderbergh  Feature Films Ranked Top 20 Directors

Steven Soderbergh  taps once again into the realm of  Elmore Leonard  with 2021's No Sudden Move , a twisty-turny, all-star crime caper filled with fun, backstabbing characters, and just the right amounts of humor and politics. The film is filled with typical stylish Soderbergh cool,  David Holmes delivers another customarily groovy score, and Don Cheadle working with Sodie again is a boon. Recommended for fans of Out Of Sight  (1998), Jackie Brown (1997), and Get Shorty   (1995). You can find my  Steven Soderbergh  Feature Films Ranked  list  here . You can find my  Top 20 Directors  list  here .

Following many years of development ,   Freddy Vs. Jason   (2003) arrived nine years after the previous (non-canonical)  NOES  entry,  New Nightmare  (which saw  Wes Craven  return to the franchise), and two years after the previous  Friday The 13th  entry, Jason X  (one dumb film). Chronologically, FVJ takes place after 1991's  Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare  and 1993's  Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday .  I saw FVJ  in the theater when it was released and I remember having a blast with it then—there was definitely a lot of buzz surrounding the film. I was in my early 20s at the time and I recall being very excited for it, to the point of wearing my  Freddy  glove and a fedora at the screening I attended. A co-worker of mine wore a Jason mask as well and it was fun to root for our "team." The film ended up being the highest grossing of either franchise.  I've seen FVJ  a n...

1.    Possessor   **** ( Review ) 2.    1917  (2019) ***1/2 ( Review ) 3.    Portrait Of A Lady On Fire  (2019) ***1/2 ( Review ) 4.    Corpus Christi  (2019) ***1/2 ( Review ) 5.    Palm Springs   ***1/2 ( Review ) 6.    Deerskin   (2019) ***1/2 ( Review ) 7.    I'm Thinking Of Ending Things  ***1/2 ( Review ) 8.    Sound Of Metal   (2019) ***1/2 ( Review ) 9.    Gretel & Hansel  *** ( Review ) 10.  The Lodge  (2019) *** ( Review ) Biggest Disappointments Da 5 Bloods   **1/2 ( Review ) Bill & Ted Face The Music   **1/2 ( Review ) Rebecca  **1/2 ( Review ) (Click image above for Letterboxd link)

With Let Them All Talk (2020) Steven Soderbergh does just that. Largely improvised and shot using natural light and scant equipment during a two week cruise across the Atlantic aboard the Queen Mary 2 , the film concerns an author ( Meryl Streep ) on a cruise with her friends ( Dianne Weist and Candice Bergen ) and her nephew ( Lucas Hedges ), as she attempts to write a new novel and reconcile past mistakes.  As a whole the film is a breezy affair (aided by the jazzy score by Thomas Newman ), but it has some heaviness here and there. Weist is feisty and fun, Bergen is conniving and curt, and Soderbergh's direction and editing is straightforward and simple. LTAT loses steam at some points, but it's a stronger film than Sodie's previous collaboration with Streep, 2019's  The Laundromat   (my review here ). It's not always the most interesting film, but I appreciate that Soderbergh always seems to find new ways to make them. You can find my  Steven Soderbergh  Fe...

Unlike  Knight Of Cups   (2015) (my review here ), I felt more connected to the characters in  A Hidden Life   (2019) and it felt a bit less meandering. Unfortunately though, the film feels unnecessarily long at just shy of three hours. I think the same ideas could have been delivered in a two or even two and a half hour long film.  AHL is based on the true story of  Franz Jägerstätter  (played here by  August Diehl ), an Austrian who refused to fight for the Nazis in WWII. Franz's resistance and refusal to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler led to him being imprisoned and eventually executed in 1943. The performances/narrative are typical of what you'd expect from a  Terrence Malick  film—lots of gazing off, upward or downward, touching the earth/objects/other characters, little dialogue, poetic voice-over. Nothing bad, just a bit formulaic for Malick at this point (what used to feel spontaneous now comes off as staged). Of cour...

If you want a good laugh Teen Witch (1989) is your film. I never saw it when it was released (as a 9-year-old boy I wasn't exactly the target demographic), but I became aware of the notorious " Top That " scene and the film's cult status only a few years ago. I can honestly say that watching it now was a lot of fun.  It's a pretty poor Teen Wolf (1985) imitation (which I haven't seen since probably the early '90s, so who knows how well that film has held up), the acting isn't top notch, and it's goofy as all get out, but some of the songs (clearly aiming for a Madonna sound) are actually pretty enjoyable and there is an undeniable charm.  In today's climate, it's fine to recognize the whitewashed rap appropriation, the message sent to girls about priorities, and other problematic areas in Teen Witch ,   but I don't think it's worth getting offended by those aspects because it's a silly, cute, and harmless movie. Robyn Lively ...

Deerskin  (2019) is another great slice of absurdist cinema from surrealist Quentin Dupieux . If you've seen his films Rubber (2010) or  Wrong (2012) there's a good chance you'll really dig this one too (and have an idea of what to expect). A tale of one man's obsession with his jacket and the lengths he'll go to please it, Deerskin is a lean little picture that's full of often laugh-out-loud comedy and tinged with hilarious horror elements. Recommended for lovers of bizarre movies where the less explained the better. You can find my Quentin Dupieux Feature Films Ranked list here .

Review

Kasi Lemmons ' 1997 directorial debut,  Eve's Bayou , is an effective drama with a dark undercurrent, superb cinematography, and wonderful costumes. The performances by the mostly female cast are fantastic across the board ( Samuel L. Jackson —who also co-produced—is, of course, really good too). I quite enjoyed the film but I did find the story and the presentation a bit Spielberg ian in its approach. That's not a backhanded compliment—I really like Spielberg, but sometimes his work can be a bit saccharine.

Having just partaken in a double feature of Larry Cohen 's two 1973 Tommy Gibbs films ( Black Caesar   ( review ) and  Hell Up In Harlem   ( review ) yesterday, followed by the fun 2017 documentary about the maverick, King Cohen , today, I was in the mood to seek out films directed and/or written by him that I have yet to see and also to revisit some that I'd seen before but hadn't watched for many years. As I began to add films to my JustWatch queue (a great service to find out where films are streaming; not a sponsor) I was simultaneously looking up my and other users' ratings for films written and/or directed by Cohen on Letterboxd . Just prior to this, I had decided to watch Special Effects (1984), as it was one of the Cohen films I hadn't seen. But then I saw that I had rated the film on Letterboxd. Wait, really…I had already seen it (and only given it two stars)? So I checked my "Films Watched" log (yes, I keep a file, in addition to using LB,...

Spielberg (2017) is a very enjoyable doc about one of our greatest living directors and arguably one of the greatest directors ever. I kind of wish the director of this doc/HBO had chosen to make this a multi-part serial though. I would have liked a more comprehensive delve into each and every film (not to mention the man's many endeavors outside of just directing). Some were barely touched upon ( Always  (1989) was curiously the only one of his films not even mentioned, unless I blinked and missed it) and not enough time was spent on the Indy films IMO. You can find my Steven   Spielberg  Feature Films Ranked list here . And if you are so inclined please check out the special Spielberg  episode of the Movie Matters Podcast that I guested on  here .