Agnès Varda circa 1985 on set for Vagabond, courtesy of CNN
Who is the greatest figure of the Nouvelle Vague, or French New Wave? Most people would likely select Jean-Luc Godard or François Truffaut, undoubtedly the two most iconic and influential auteurs of the movement. Others may choose someone less well-known internationally like Jacques Rivette or Éric Rohmer.* Although I’d have difficulty choosing who was the best director, I’d have no problem picking my favorite: Agnès Varda.
Posted in Movies, News | Tags: Agnès Varda, Faces Places, French New Wave, La Pointe Courte, The Beaches of Agnès, The Gleaners and I, Vagabond
1. First Reformed (Paul Schrader)
First Reformed was the best movie of 2018. When I had first saw it in June, I knew I enjoyed the movie, but after weeks of reflecting upon the story I realized what a deep, poignant film Schrader had crafted. A second viewing only compounded my appreciation for the picture; it combines the setting of Ingmar Bergman’s Winter Light, the anguish of Robert Bresson’s Pickpocket, the tortured masculinity of John Ford’s The Searchers, and the surreal escapades of Andrei Tarkovsky’s The Sacrifice to convey the social uneasiness and moral ambiguity of the modern day world.
Posted in Movies, Review | Tags: 2018, Alex Garland, Annihilation, Ari Aster, Armando Iannucci, Asghar Farhadi, Barry Jenkins, Bob Persichetti, Boots Reilly, Burning, Coen brothers, Cold War, David Leitch, Deadpool 2, Ethan Coen, Everybody Knows, First Reformed, Hereditary, Hirokazu Kore-eda, If Beale Street Could Talk, Joel Coen, Lee-Chang Dong, Lynne Ramsay, Orson Welles, Paul Schrader, Pawel Pawlikowski, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Shoplifters, Sorry to Bother You, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Death of Stalin, The Other Side of the Wind, You Were Never Really Here
Some very exciting news: this year, I’m happy to announce that I will be attending the 71st Cannes Film Festival this May. As a film buff growing up, I’ve always wanted the opportunity to attend Cannes, and going to the festivities this year is a dream for myself. Earlier this week, Cannes announced their lineup for their 2018 Festival this May, and there are some pretty big heavy hitters, featuring new films by Jean-Luc Godard, Spike Lee, and Lee-Chang Dong competing for the Palme d’Or. Cate Blanchett will be the Jury President for the Main Competition, while Benicio del Toro, Ursula Meier, and Bertrand Bonello will preside over the Un Certain Regard, Camera d’Or, and Cinéfoundation and Short Film contests respectively.
Posted in Movies, News | Tags: 10 Years In Thailand, 2001: A Space Pdyssey, 71st Annual Cannes Film Festival, Angel Face, Arctic, Asako I&II, Asghar Farhadi, Ash Is Purest White, At War, Benicio del Toro, Bertrand Bonello, Blackkklansman, Border, Burning, Camera d'Or, Cannes, Cannes Film Festival, Capernaum, Carrosse d'Or, Cate Blanchett, Cold War, Dead Souls, Dogman, El Angel, Euphoria, Everybody Knows, Friend, Girl, Girls Of The Sun, In My Room, Jafar Panahi, Javier Bardem, Jean-Luc Godard, La Traversée, Lazzaro Felice, Le Grand Bain, Le Grand Cirque Mystique, Le Livre D’Image, Lee-Chang Dong, Leto, Little Tickles, Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Manto, Martin Scorsese, My Favorite Fabric, Palme d'Or, Pawel Pawlikowski, Penélope Cruz, Pope Francis – A Man Of His Word, Sextape, Shoplifters, Sofia, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Sorry Angel, Spike Lee, Stanley Kubrick, The Gentle Indifference Of The World, The Harvesters, The Spy Gone North, The State Against Mandela And The Others, Three Faces, To The Four Winds, Un Certain Regard, Under The Silver Lake, Ursula Meier, Yomeddine
The late, great Harry Dean Stanton in Lucky, one of 2017’s best films
A few weeks ago, I admitted to a couple of my friends that I thought 2017 was a lackluster year for movies, missing a film as grabbing as Son of Saul or Green Room. Yet after compiling this list, I’ve come to the realization that 2017 was actually a very solid year for cinema, providing us a number of pictures that provided intelligent looks at contemporary racism, class conflict, and social dysfunction. So, without further ado, here are my 10 favorite movies from the past year:
Posted in Analysis, Movies | Tags: 2017, A Ghost Story, Agnès Varda, Aki Kaurismäki, Ben and Josh Safdie, Ben Safdie, Blade Runner 2049, David Lowery, Denis Villeneuve, Faces Places, Good Time, John Carroll Lynch, Josh Safdie, JR, Lucky, Paul Thomas Anderson, Phantom Thread, Ruben Östlund, Safdie Brothers, Sean Baker, The Florida Project, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Other Side of Hope, The Square, Top 10 Lists, Yorgos Lanthimos
Today is the last day of 2017, and while we’re all making resolutions for the next twelve months, I thought I’d look back at some of the favorite movies I saw this past year. Though I’m still compiling my best of list for 2017, I did see a plentitude of great pictures from other years, whether it be films from classic Hollywood era or the Japanese New Wave.
Posted in Movies, Questions | Tags: 2017, A Man Escaped, Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, Coen brothers, Daisies, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Paris Texas, R.W. Fassbinder, Raúl Ruiz, Red, Robert Bresson, Shirley Clarke, The Connection, The Man Who Wasn't There, The Three Colors Trilogy, Three Crowns of the Sailor, Věra Chytilová, Wim Wenders
Like the past several years, 2017 has been particularly grueling, for reasons I don’t think I have to explain. Yet bad times can bring out the best in music, and 2017 had no shortage of good albums. So lo and behold, here are my 10 favorite albums of the past 12 months.
Posted in Analysis, Music | Tags: At the Drive-In, Bell Witch, Clairvoyant, Converge, Crossover Ministry, Curse of Conception, Darkest Hour, Dead Cross, Eroded Corridors of Unbeing, Full of Hell, Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora, Heartless, in•ter a•li•a, Iron Reagan, Lifeless God, Lunar, Medusa, Mirror Reaper, Mutoid Man, Ne Oblivisciris, Nightbringers, Nightmare Logic, Oxbow, Pallbearer, Paradise Lost, Phobia, Power Trip, Royal Thunder, Spectral Voice, Spirit Adrift, The Black Dahlia Murder, The Contortionist, The Dusk In Us, Thin Black Duke, Trumpeting Ecstasy, Urn, War Moans, Wick, Without Waves
Another month over, another round-up written. This past October I managed to catch up on several new releases (most notably the Palm d’Or winner The Square), multiple documentaries, and a few classics I shamefully haven’t seen before.
Since I didn’t post my round-up for last month, I thought it would be best to incorporate the films I viewed in both August and September in a single list. These past two months I caught several new features, some classic pictures, and some other movies I’ve been meaning to see for a while.
There are few actors who brought more electricity or magnetism to their roles than Harry Dean Stanton. In the over sixty years he had been working as an actor, Stanton has had one of the most solid resumes in Hollywood, having starred in such work as Paris, Texas, Repo Man, and Escape from New York. Though in many of his films he played supporting or side characters, Stanton’s charisma made him often outshine his fellow costars, prompting the late Roger Ebert to declare, “No movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton… in a supporting role can be altogether bad.”
Posted in Movies, News, TV | Tags: David Lynch, Escape from New York, Harry Dean Stanton, Paris Texas, R. I. P., Repo Man, Roger Ebert, Twin Peaks
Another month, another round-up. This July, I managed to catch some more new releases as well and a few classic features.
