Rachel Getting Married

We don’t spend much time with the woman in the title, which is a shame because she is by far the most interesting character in the film.  With a mess of a sister, a passive father, a mother who barely gives a damn, and a host of family tragedies, a woman who still pursues hope [...]

Special

“I’d realize that I could fly.  No, that’s not quite right.  I’d realize that there was no reason I couldn’t fly.”
The following doesn’t serve greatly as a synopsis.  The events and sentiments of the film truly need to be seen to be believed.  The premise alone is fascinating: man has adverse reaction to drug trial [...]

A Woman Under the Influence

“I don’t care if you’re a lunatic,” Peter Falk tells his wife as she winds down raving t the other end of a dirty dinner table.  Despite the plethora of slapping and shouting to follow, that statement is the truth of the relationship, the center of this film.  
The DVD envelope summary said something about [...]

Dear Zachary

I wept.  I can’t remember the last time I could say that about a film.  
There was so much in a project with such a simple premise.  Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne wants to create a memorial for his best friend, Andrew Bagby, after his death.  He crosses the country and an ocean to gather information from [...]

Head

The movie wasn’t even half over when I was split between a desire to know more about this film, and the desire to set it aflame and never have to tangle with it again.  Maybe the later is a tad extreme, but it certainly is true, even a few days later.  This is another movie [...]

Kung Fu Panda

I don’t really have anything sensible to say about this one.  It was a sweet film that truly made my day, though the vodka slushis my friend and I snuck in didn’t hurt.  The best thing about the movie, aside from the hilarity of seeing a big fluffy panda in little shorts, is that it [...]

THX: 1138

Being severely low on funds, the majority of my film viewing has revolved around the American New Wave in the 1970s (frankly, I think we’re far due for another one), jumping off of the viewing list from a book I’m crawling through, Easy Riders, Raging Bulls. This film, George Lucas’ first feature, based on [...]

How to Spot a Film Snob (remix)

Recently a friend of mine told me that the last movie he saw was The Maltese Falcon.  I’m not sure if he asked me how I felt about it, or if it was just a knee-jerk response, but I know I told him I didn’t care for that movie much.  Then he told me that [...]

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

My delay in writing about this movie has more to do with laziness than having any real fear, though I have thoroughly enjoyed taking time to hear all of the controversy, both pro and con.
Fervent fans would most likely brush my opinions aside from the start. I’m not a particular fan of the movies, [...]

The Orphanage

I watched this movie Tuesday night and have been spending the last two days trying to figure out how to write about it.  I still don’t know.
The film left me reeling.  Tears in my eyes, not because the ending was so radically grieving but because I was in awe of it all.  It has been [...]