handcrafted by maryann johanson (human) | 100% free of AIs and algorithms
The thinking movie fan will find it hard to know which aspect of this repulsive “comedy” is more offensive: the fact that it celebrates ignorance, boorishness, mindless rutting, and noisy bowel movements, or the fact that there is absolutely no attempt at a story upon which to hang the obnoxious festivities. Not that I recommend … more…
The Automatons for Jesus who really, really need to see this movie will avoid it because they’ll have been told it’s anti-Christian, and Automatons for Jesus do what they’re told. Saved! isn’t anti anything, except perhaps intolerance. And self-righteousness. And the idea that slapping a “Christian” label on anything makes it holy. American Eagle Christian … more…
Compulsively compelling, in the same way that you just can’t help but glance through the Weekly World News while you’re standing online at the supermarket checkout.
It’s kinda like improvisational jazz, a riffing on the downbeats of movies, this collection of short films by Jim Jarmusch. And like jazz — sez me, who’s not a big fan of most of the form — it’s not always successful, sometimes flowing smooth and funky and sometimes just clunking noise falling over itself. But when it’s good in *Coffee and Cigarettes,* it’s really, really good.
Sixteen-year-old Sora does what lots of kids only fantasize about: she runs away and joins the circus. Arriving on a whim from Japan, she lucks into an audition with the Kaleido Stage, a kind of Ringling Brothers meets Cirque du Soleil, an amazing coincidence, considering that snagging an audition was precisely what brought her to … more…
Who on earth invented the term “reality show”? There’s nothing “real” about them: they’re game shows, manipulated, artificial situations in which people compete for monetary reward. The worst of the breed are the “dating” ones, which verge on prostitution, and surely the worst of that bunch is cable network Bravo’s Boy Meets Boy. Positioned as … more…
An excellent example of cultural differences rendering a story nearly incomprehensible. Oh, sure, the behavior of the characters onscreen are easily described — the mansionful of teenaged girls hang out and talk about boys and cook meals together and do various other everyday tasks of no consequence. They even bathe together and compare the size … more…
It’s like indulging in a monastic retreat in itself, exquisitely calm and beautifully restorative and pointedly observant about human nature and circles of life. From the moment we fade in and move slowly across that placid lake in that remote mountain valley toward the tiny Buddhist monastery floating on a raft, you’re no longer sitting in a movie theater but utterly enrapt, swept away to that place, the tinkling of the wind chimes in the breeze, the gentle rustling of the fresh spring leaves of the trees on the shores.
He’s a temperamental, moody musician who haunts dive bars and intones earnest, half spoken-word songs. She’s a shy, awkward mouse barely surviving her latest dead-end job serving hot dogs at a kiddie amusement park. Neither is likely to ever make a break from their depressing existence in the rural South. In a desperate, last-ditch effort … more…
The charming Leonor Watling’s turn as a neurotic wannabe writer saves this exercise in Almodóvarian family dynamics from deflating too early, but even she’s not enough to save the entire film from an uncomfortable combination of self-importance and too-airy casualness. When divorced Madrid pianist Sofía (Rosa María Sardà) announces to her three grown daughters that … more…
sample sponsored post (sponsored) - Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce quis risus odio.
