I seem to be out of step with both critical and popular opinion on Guillermo del Toro’s new stop-motion animated remake of Pinocchio. I watched that one without so much as checking Rotten Tomatoes or Letterboxd and thought it was kind of awful, only to find nearly everyone else in the world proclaiming it a… Read More No Strings on Me | Pinocchio (1940) Blu-ray
For The Banshees of Inisherin, writer/director Martin McDonagh reunites Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, the stars of his 2008 cult hitman comedy In Bruges. The two films may be very different in terms of story, incident, and tone, but both share an incisive wit and blisteringly funny ear for character dialogue. The lead actors’ previous… Read More Niceness Doesn’t Last | The Banshees of Inisherin (2022)
I am frankly puzzled at why anyone felt the world needed two Pinocchio remakes in the same year, much less two bad ones. Disney’s official live-action adaptation directed by Robert Zemeckis was a pretty big bust when it streamed on Disney+ just a few months ago. Now we have another Oscar-winning filmmaker, Guillermo del Toro,… Read More These-a Puppets I Do Not Like | Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)
I awoke Monday morning to two surprises: snow on the ground (the first of the season) and the 2023 Golden Globe Award nominations being announced on the Today show. I thought we as a culture were collectively over the Golden Globes? It appears that the show’s banishment from broadcast was just a temporary measure –… Read More Oh, Are We Supposed to Care About the Golden Globes Again? – 2023 Nominations
Made for a pittance by an untested young writer-director, Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs caused a sensation at film festivals from Sundance to Cannes, was enormously hyped when it played in limited theatrical release, and would prove to be one of the most important titles of the 1990s indie boom. Of course, it would also launch… Read More Let’s Get Rambling | Reservoir Dogs (1992) 4K Ultra HD
Once a decade, to much fanfare and debate, British magazine Sight & Sound publishes its so-called “Greatest Films of All Time” poll. People take this seriously for some reason. The latest results were released last week, crowning a new champion and also, notably, kicking a bunch of established classics to the curb. Much virtual ink… Read More Brief, Probably Inconsequential Thoughts on the 2022 Sight & Sound Greatest Films Survey
Back in the days when a proper live-action adaptation of The Lord of the Rings still seemed impossible, George Lucas (riding high off the success of the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises) got together with Ron Howard (who’d done very well with Splash and Cocoon) to mount their own high-fantasy adventure copycatting the J.R.R.… Read More An Unexceptional Journey | Willow (1988)
Sequels cranked out rapidly following the success of a hit movie too often fail to recapture the magic, but 1993’s Addams Family Values manages to improve upon its predecessor. The film doubles down on all the parts that worked the first time around, eliminates or fixes the parts that didn’t, and generally feels like a… Read More Let’s Not Forget Our Cheery Little Chippewas | Addams Family Values (1993)
The 1991 theatrical film adaptation of The Addams Family is, without question, a shameless example of corporate assembly line filmmaking and I.P. whoring. Somehow, it also kind of works and remains suitably entertaining even a few decades on. In industry terms, the movie was a nearly perfect package, pairing up a beloved pop culture property… Read More Do What They Wanna Do, Say What They Wanna Say | The Addams Family (1991)
Making a sequel to a beloved holiday classic that countless families have a tradition of watching every year is a tricky proprosition that rarely works out. Anyone who’s suffered through Frosty Returns can attest to that. Thankfully, HBO Max’s new A Christmas Story Christmas mostly pulls off the task. The film may not be a… Read More The Old Man Would Be Proud | A Christmas Story Christmas (2022)
