weekend watchlist: a timely cure for collective cultural amnesia
Plus drone warfare, murder most genteel, and more. (First published May 7th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)
Gosford Park
Downton Abbey: A New Era movie review: should we improve society somewhat, or nah?
Steady your heart palpitations: it’s the same old era for the nicest feudal hangover. The delusional reactionary fantasy of wealth and privilege for some, cheerful servitude for others remains intact.
Downton Abbey movie review: embarrassment of riches
Wherein the working class revels in servitude, and wealth and privilege are deserved. Deeply reactionary and unlikely to please anyone not already enamored of the show. I get Anglophilia, but really?
question of the day: What is the longstanding appeal of British costume dramas, like the new ‘Downton Abbey’?
For me, it’s the bottling up of emotion required by the (stereotypical) British stiff upper lip, until it just won’t stay bottled up anymore, which results in exquisitely drawn out encounters full of subtext and seething with feeling, and eventually explosive outbursts. You?
December 18: DVD alternatives to this weekend’s multiplex offerings
We know how it is: You’d like to go to the movies this weekend, but you really hate those 3D glasses– oh, who are we kidding: you’re gonna see Avatar this weekend if you have to knock over someone’s granny for a ticket. But just in case you’re feeling the slightest bit guilty about having … more…
top 11 movies of 2001: the great, the good, and the really, really ugly
Another year of really, really crappy movies was saved, in the end, by a Bohemian storm, a magical ring, a robot boy, and a lonely mademoiselle. A feeling of the otherworldly permeates every movie on my best-of list this year, even the one documentary. And the weird thing is that most of these films were … more…
Shortcuts
These reviews have moved — sorry for the inconvenience. click here for ABCD review click here for Big Fat Liar review click here for The Business of Strangers review click here for Charlotte Gray review click here for Final review click here for Gosford Park review click here for How to Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog … more…
Gosford Park (review)
Robert Altman’s latest saga is a sprawling yet intimate upstairs/downstairs murder mystery set at a shooting party at an English manor in 1932, a story much concerned with subtle class warfare and how very nasty very proper people can be. But don’t see it for that. See it for the catty gossip, the cheap rich … more…
