Much to consider this month. Fandor is yet again is stacked with treasured, timeless items. Mubi has Lav Diaz’s lengthy From What is Before. We live in exciting times. — Movies Blackhat (iTunes) Blaise Pascal (Fandor) Bluebird (Netflix) Blue Velvet (Netflix) Chappie (iTunes) From What Is Before (Mubi) Fruitvale Station (Netflix) Grizzly Man (Amazon Prime) […]
Gett is the end of a series of films about the failed marriage of the Amsalems. In To Take A Wife (2004) and 7 Days (2008), Viviane is already desperate to leave their marriage, which has grown cold over differences in observance of Jewish law, tradition, and Elisha’s efforts to conserve his Moroccan heritage. These films are all dense […]
These last two episodes of Mad Men have felt either disproportionate or clumsy. This is, I think, because life is both disproportionate and clumsy. It is common for critics to excuse the shortcomings of TV shows with this same logic. A script takes a left turn into fan service, or really fumbles some aspect of a series […]
Playing off Mad Men as a series of object lessons in modernity is like shooting fish in a barrel. Time and time again, the show has justified the utility of its repetition of Don’s moods and fantasies as an evocation of this era. Around him play out the little dramas of an ad agency and its growing […]
This is a booming month for a few streaming services, as there are a lot of titles/series from 2014 finally making their way onto our devices. And Fandor has an incredible line-up in store. If you have ever wanted to join or start their trial, this is the month. Otherwise, here are a bunch of […]
Peter Chattaway is, as always, right on top of the announcement that there is a film about Paul in the works, with Hugh Jackman in the lead. Given the famous anecdote in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla which describes him as short, bald, bow-legged, and unibrowed, I have always pictured Paul more as Wallace Shawn than the strapping […]
In a recent review of the excellent FX cold war era spy thriller, The Americans, an Atlantic writer asked: “Do any Christians watch this show? I’d be curious to learn whether they think the show has become too offensive toward religion for its own good.” Yes, Christians do watch this show. I haven’t written much […]
Here are some things to keep in mind after you finish up Season 3 of House of Cards… All of these are available for streaming in March. Movies: A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (iTunes – March 20) Angriest Man in Brooklyn (Netflix) Chef (Netflix) Song of the Sea (iTunes) Paisan (Fandor, March […]
I have only had the opportunity to see a few of Aleksei German’s films. But watching either Khrustalyov, My Car! or Hard to Be a God is like seeing 8 1/2 or 2001 or The Mirror for the first time. You know that what you are seeing is going to change the way you watch […]