curated cinema: two great movies by Rob Reiner
Watch 1984’s This Is Spinal Tap and 1987’s The Princess Bride and be reminded why Reiner was a gentle genius.
Monty Python
daily stream: condemned to repeat the past, etc…
2017’s The Death of Stalin is on Hulu and Kanopy in the US, Prime and Apple TV in the UK.
weekend watchlist: an all man-(and woman)-versus-beast(s), all both-sides-of-the-pond special
In honor of the silly glory that is Idris Elba punching a lion in Beast. (First published September 4th, 2022, on Substack and Patreon.)
Beast (2022) movie review: he fights the lion
Idris Elba fights a lion. This is what we are promised and this is what we get. The purity is sort of beautiful. But is it a failure of the movie, or a success, that it treats such nonsense earnestly?
Godzilla: King of the Monsters movie review: gives new meaning to the phrase “disaster movie”
An absolute mess, and nowhere near enough monster action. Does not give good disaster. No fun at all. Makes me long for guys in rubber monster suits awkwardly sparring. At least you could see them.
Oscar Nominated Live Action Shorts 2018 (90th Academy Awards) review
My pick: I think the quietly shocking “DeKalb Elementary” may win for its very of-the-moment story about a school office worker’s attempt to de-escalate an invading gunman’s rage via patience and empathy.
#LFF2017: Blade of the Immortal, Gemini, Makala
Quick takes from the now-wrapped 61st London Film Festival.
The Death of Stalin movie review: the great dictator
Audacious, outrageous, bleakly funny. Not since Charlie Chaplin sent up Hitler and invited us to laugh at terrible reality has there been a movie like this.
Sully movie review: he’s good people (and so is everyone else)
The ultimate anti-disaster movie. A supremely gripping and powerfully emotional film about, paradoxically, what happens when everything works as it should.
Doctor Who blogging: “The Girl Who Died”
Ah, so that’s my problem with the show lately: it’s a bit too Monty Python.
