I learned a somewhat interesting fact from watching Paul Schrader’s 1982 quasi-remake of Cat People. Actually, I had to look it up afterward. Regardless, now I know that leopards and panthers are the same species, differentiated mainly by color. Perhaps that’s common knowledge to others, but I’d never given it any thought previously, until confused… Read More Kinski Skinski | Cat People (1982) 4K Ultra HD
Vegas, baby! The Film After 11 podcast travels to the city of sin this week, in the company of George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and a whole bunch of famous friends. Yes, Film After 11 takes on Ocean’s Eleven in an 11-minute review with a 12-year-old viewer. Maybe I should have done this last year for… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Ever since the phrase “auteur theory” was coined in the early 1960s, audiences and film connoisseurs who care to notice such things have typically considered a director to be the main artistic guiding force behind any movie. That thought often applies even in retrospect to older films, but wasn’t always the case, especially not during… Read More I Like the Dark, It’s Friendly | Cat People (1942) Criterion Blu-ray
While Christopher Nolan may not have invented the ingenious “backwards” gimmick, he did perfect it. Memorably, even Seinfeld beat Nolan to the punch in a famous episode three years earlier. Perhaps the most innovative prior example was Harold Pinter’s play (and 1983 movie) Betrayal. Even if the reverse-chronology narrative isn’t Nolan’s invention, nor is it… Read More Forth and Back | Memento (2000)
We’re all done with that alphabetical marathon on the Film After 11 podcast and, at the moment at least, not beholden to any specific theme. If you think of one, please let me know. In the meantime, this week’s episode is timed to correspond with the theatrical release of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. I figured… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Batman Begins (2005)
Part Western, part noir, and mostly a bunch of tough guys glaring at one another for 80 minutes, Bad Day at Black Rock was a collision of B-movie and prestige picture when it was made in 1955. Headlined by a couple major stars, one veteran character actor, and some other notable talent on the rise,… Read More We’re Suspicious of Strangers, Is All | Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) Blu-ray
We’ve finally hit the end of our alphabetical marathon on the Film After 11 podcast. That of course brings us to the letter “Z,” for which I thought Ben Stiller’s fashion industry parody Zoolander would be a good choice. That movie’s rated PG-13, right? No, it’s rated R? Turns out, both are true. I explain… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Zoolander (2001)
How does one describe a movie like Absolute Beginners? That’s a question I’ve been pondering since first watching it recently, a Blu-ray copy having sat on my shelf for just over a decade. I’m not sure it can be described. The best I’ve come up with is that the film feels like it exists in… Read More You’ll Never Stop Me from Having It All | Absolute Beginners (1986) Blu-ray
As the Film After 11 podcast nears the end of its alphabetical marathon, we’re stuck with the letter “Y” and not a lot of good choices for a 12-year-old to watch. I very nearly picked the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, but had reviewed that myself just last year and wasn’t too eager… Read More Film After 11 Podcast | Young Guns (1988)
Not even the troubled production and financial failure of his masterpiece Brazil could prevent director Terry Gilliam from embarking on an even bigger and more elaborate project next. His subject: the filmed biography of a man who was, at one time, the most famous and revered individual on the Earth and its moon. As recounted… Read More This Is Precisely the Sort of Thing That No One Ever Believes | The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988) Criterion 4K Ultra HD
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