Tag: film
Hollywood Parking in The Intern: A Sweet Tune Undermined by False Notes
There’s a cliché in American movies and television known as “Hollywood parking.” You know the drill. Middle of New York City. Hero drives up to some swanky spot and parallel parks in front of the door. It’s the kind of thing that never actually happens if you are not in a movie. It’s the kind…
Bad Movie Magic: Why the Junk of Yesteryear Tops the Junk of Today
Would you rather watch a bad movie made incompetently or a bad movie done well? Let me be more specific: Manos: The Hands of Fate (1966) or 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)? I know which one I’d prefer. And it’s the sad state of crummy filmmaking that validates my decision. Once upon a time,…
Three films about Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a ‘worthy’ issue and such issues don’t often make for great films. Even the most successful have their moment of exposure and then fade away like memories. That said, Alzheimer’s is an issue with inbuilt dramatic thrust. What could be more scary than a disappearing self? I’ve a special interest in dementia,…
Reflecting on the Saw Series: A Cut Above or a Bloody Mess?
My daddy, before going off to parts unknown, left me with two warnings about life. The first, as you probably could guess, was to never get involved in a land war in Asia. The second was to never trust the title “Final Chapter” when it is applied to a popular film franchise. With news cropping…
Dolares de arena: Small Pleasures, Deep Hearts and Dreams to Explore
The story goes that when financiers of Carl Theodor Dreyer’s silent film classic The Passion of Joan of Arc screened his initial cut, they were appalled. They had invested quite a bit of money so that Dreyer could recreate the court in Rouen where French clerics would ultimately find Joan guilty of heresy. Yet Dreyer’s…