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Category Archives: Movies Watched In 2016
Tale of Tales (2016)
It’s easy to get lost in this movie for the initial stretch because of the gorgeous world-building and visuals. There’s a barrage of heightened, fantasy imagery shot like grotesque pastels. It’s a storybook reality and one of the best I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in Movies Watched In 2016, Reviews
Tagged John C. Reilly, Matteo Garrone, Salma Hayek, Stacy Martin, Tale of Tales, Vincent Cassell
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Hell or High Water (2016)
The film’s quiet greatness is way more potent upon rewatch. So much to chew on here. The slow-burning sense of the inevitable that looms over everything is really something. It’s not exactly dread, it’s sadder than that, more human. There are car … Continue reading
Posted in Movies Watched In 2016, Reviews, Rewatch
Tagged Ben Foster, Chris Pine, David Mackenzie, Hell or High Water, jeff bridges, Taylor Sheridan
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The Box (2009)
“I like mystery. Don’t you?” Man, seven years have done The Box a lot of favours. It’s jumped up at least two stars since I first saw it and watching it today, in 2016, every weird and puzzling little flourish feels less … Continue reading
Posted in Movies Watched In 2016, Reviews, Rewatch
Tagged cameron diaz, Frank Langella, James Marsden, Richard Kelly, The Box
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The Aviator (2004)
Has the bones of generic biopic but is made even stronger by Scorsese and screenwriter John Logan’s decision not to tell the full Howard Hughes story, but a very specific chunk. DiCaprio’s performance is gargantuan as is the electrifying filmmaking from Scorsese. … Continue reading
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
“It’s a siege. It’s a goddamn siege!” About as close to perfect as low-budget, economic genre filmmaking can get. Carpenter’s spartan, precise camera glides around capturing glorious PanaVision compositions. This is still early Carpenter and you can feel him finding … Continue reading
Posted in Movies Watched In 2016, Reviews, Rewatch
Tagged Assault on Precinct 13, Austin Stoker, John Carpenter
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Shocker (1989)
Shocker was a staple of my VHS collection in the good old days and, as a Craven nut, it’s a strange movie I’ve always been very fond of. This was Craven’s hard swing for some franchise cash after New Line took … Continue reading
Posted in Movies Watched In 2016, Reviews, Rewatch
Tagged Mitch Pileggi, Peter Berg, Shocker, Wes Craven
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The Eyes of My Mother (2016)
Beautiful to look at and full of grotesque ideas, yet the rigid compositions and emphasis on “distance as atmosphere” make The Eyes of My Mother yet another entry in the “art horror” wave that constantly leaves me unfulfilled. Basically The Texas Chainsaw Massacre viewed … Continue reading
Cursed (2005)
Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven re-team to pepper some Scream magic onto the werewolf genre…and fail. That being said, there’s a lot I enjoyed in this dumb old movie. Christina Ricci is perfectly cast. She is so feline and otherworldly that the whole experience … Continue reading
Silver Bullets (2011)
More focused than other early Swanberg stuff I’ve seen and also, apparently, with purpose. Silver Bullets also gains bonus points for featuring a strong central performance from Kate Lyn Sheil who, only now in 2016, finally seems to be having her moment. … Continue reading
Posted in Movies Watched In 2016, Reviews
Tagged Joe Swanberg, Kate Lyn Sheil, Silver Bullets, Ti West
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I, Daniel Blake (2016)
Like a blunt instrument, Ken Loach’s angry, timely I, Daniel Blake forgoes any sense of subtlety or restraint in favour of focused, heavy-handed beats – in both plot and character – that you will see coming from a mile away. Essentially a … Continue reading
