My second time viewing it, first since theater in 2004, and what a revelation It’s a captivating multi-layered web narrative trapped in a world with transcendent visuals "a rapturous masterwork" in 4 stars from Travers “Almodóvar mixes Hitchcock with Double Indemnity, a song from Breakfast at Tiffany’s and countless other movie references into a hot-blooded tale of deception and murder” Wesley Boston Globe “This is a brilliantly structured hall of mirrors that wrapsCatholicism and the movie industry into a tasty film noir” The titles are very Hitchcockian—Saul Bass-like. They’re stunning- I’m upset I couldn’t find a screengrab to share

Like all of Hsiao-Hsien Hou’s work it’s observational in style--we are tracking the life of Qi Shu’s Vicky—mostly in one room— Hou’s camera is often lingering at a distance in long takes right on her shoulder as she goes about her day to day. Sometimes she’s fighting with her boyfriend, but often just hanging out, drinking, listening to music Many critics call it “minor” Hsiao-Hsien Hou—tough to say but there are a couple of inarguable highlights like the opening as we track Qi Shu in a great slow-motion shot. Her hair is bouncing and cinematographer Mark Li Ping-bin (he

There are three stand-alone bravura sequences in Scorsese’s The King of Comedy: the freeze frame credits, the shot of De Niro with the cardboard audience backdrop, and the lighting of the house of Sandra Bernhard—all three scenes are detailed below—masterful The #5 for Scorsese on the TSPDT top 1000 behind the obvious big 3 and Mean StreetsStarts with the ugly tape recording of De Niro’s standup Very quickly we get to that incredible freeze shot of Sandra’s hands on the windshield. It’s stunning- one of the best uses of the stylistic technique in cinema history. It holds throughout the

An impressive film—Richard Wilson is no auteur but the direction is beyond competent, Lucien Ballard (Peckinpah’s best work) is the DP, Rod Steiger gives a tour-de-force lead and the writing and ensemble are great, tooHalf of the main cast is from On the Waterfront—Steiger of course—but the always solid Martin Balsam and Nehemiah Persoff (really good as well) Half of the main cast is from On the Waterfront—Steiger of course—but the always solid Martin Balsam and Nehemiah Persoff (really good as well) Steiger—big and bold performance. Method. Big swings in emotion- scenes of fighting and shouting. It’s a resume-enhancerThe

Most memorable for being (I believe) cinema’s first freeze-frame. But it isn’t just in the archives for this one cinematic flourish—this film is a series of high-wire stylistic exercises Trojan-horsed in a pretty bland narrative  The freeze-frame is brilliant- and it’s important—Truffaut is the auteur most aligned with the freeze and it makes sense that it’s from Hitchcock. You can trace the roots back. Silent, comedy—the set-up (a lot of light flapperism that is a distant cousin plot to 1934’s Oscar-winner It Happened One Night Bookend visual flourishes- shot through the champagne glass- ingenious bookend visual flourishes- shot through

Not groundbreaking by any stretch but the cast and consistent southern soundtrack lug it through into the archives Shia LaBeouf certain has found something with his southern hobo trashy (almost like he’s auditioning for a Harmony Korine film) charming romantic lead—he plays on a variation of American Honey here- his greatest role to date- and he’s strong here carrying the film93 minutes- key- breezy, lots of sweet montages of comradery The ensemble is strong- John Hawkes doesn’t have more than 30 words but it’s a role if you were closing your eyes you’d cast him as (southern villain in

From the onset of the film with the Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo from Mascagni with slow-motion photography and the fog behind the ring you know you’re witnessing a masterpiece From the onset of the film with the Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo from Mascagni with slow-motion photography and the fog behind the ring you know you’re witnessing a masterpiece The sequences in the ring I think have a strong case for being the greatest directed cinema in the art form’s history – Scorsese masterfully speeds up and slows down the photography. He uses flashbulbs for lighting, for psychological effect, and for those

It’s exceedingly worthy of praise and study and not simply for the mind-expanding mental gymnastics required to stay up with the various scenarios and narrative slivers Auteur-driven animation is pretty rare and Satoshi Kon has a narrative and visual style as unique as (but surely very different) Hayao Miyazaki—surrealism, reflexivity, narrative ambition and dexterity A film about unrequited love- tragic--  and really dueling pursuits-- Chiyoko Fujiwara’s relentless pursuit of the man she loves—and the fandom and pursuit of her from the former co-worker and fan/documentary filmmaker Kon is a master of storytelling structure—not different from Kurosawa, Lynch, Nolan—the film

Transcends (that word choice may be an overstatement) beyond guilty pleasure mainly because of Kumble’s writing—it’s such a deliciously wicked—Machiavellian-- adaptation of the 18th century book by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos and excellent (superior to this film) 1988 film by Stephen Frears The debt owed to the Frears film is clear—we have the casting of Swoosie Kurtz (the psychiatrist in the uproarious opening) – clearly the name is just a quick synonym searchThe houses and opulent settings these live in could easily be from Dangerous Liaisons or Marie Antoinette or Tom Hooper’s The King’s Speech 97 minutes- it snaps