Tag: Film from Z to A

Pretentious French Movies About Pretentious French Movies Are Still Pretentious | Irma Vep (1996) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

Irma Vep (1996) - Maggie Cheung

Like countless fictional films about the making of other fictional films (Day for Night, The Player, etc.), French director Olivier Assayas’ 1996 comedy (?) Irma Vep attempts to blur some sort of line between fantasy and reality. However, this one begs a particularly frustrating question: Can a movie really be a satire of pretentious French… Read More Pretentious French Movies About Pretentious French Movies Are Still Pretentious | Irma Vep (1996) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

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You’ll Get Your Rags All Dirty | Jabberwocky (1977) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

Jabberwocky (1977)

During an early scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a Medieval peasant woman digging in a pool of mud calls up to her son (Michael Palin), “Dennis, there’s some lovely filth down here!” Wallowing in filth is the best either of them can hope for, and is likely better than their current circumstances.… Read More You’ll Get Your Rags All Dirty | Jabberwocky (1977) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

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The Sin, the Glitter, the Wickedness | Klute (1971) Blu-ray

Klute (1971) - Jane Fonda

The movie that won Jane Fonda her first acting Oscar, Klute deserves equal credit for director Alan J. Pakula, master of the 1970s paranoid conspiracy thriller. If not a conspiracy story, per se (though a little bit so), Klute is certainly rife with paranoia, and Pakula subverts the thriller genre in unexpected and remarkably effective… Read More The Sin, the Glitter, the Wickedness | Klute (1971) Blu-ray

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Friday Night’s a Great Night for Football | The Last Boyscout (1991) Blu-ray

The Last Boyscout (1991) - Bruce Willis & Damon Wayans

I have one serious gripe against the 1991 Bruce Willis action movie directed by Tony Scott. IMDb, Wikipedia, and just about every other reference source I can find today insist on spelling the title as The Last Boy Scout (four words total), even though the movie’s poster art and opening credits clearly (as I read… Read More Friday Night’s a Great Night for Football | The Last Boyscout (1991) Blu-ray

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Some Days Just Go Like That | Mystery Train (1989) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

Mystery Train (1989) - Joe Strummer, Steve Buscemi, & Rick Aviles

The appeal of films by Jim Jarmusch, especially his early work, is difficult to explain to someone who’s never watched one, and frankly even to some who have. His movies don’t exactly feel or behave like anything you’d expect from a regular movie. 1989’s Mystery Train, for example, has little story or plot to speak… Read More Some Days Just Go Like That | Mystery Train (1989) Criterion Collection Blu-ray

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No Escape from the Real World | The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988) Blu-ray

The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988)

With a narrative premise that sounds like a gimmick, if not the basis for a comedy, The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey is in fact a very heavy drama with significant physical, emotional, and spiritual stakes for its characters. Although imperfect, the movie is quite an impressive artistic achievement that seemed at the time to signal… Read More No Escape from the Real World | The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988) Blu-ray

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There Can Be No Doubt About His Sex | Orlando (1992) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Orlando (1992) - Tilda Swinton

Adapted from a supposedly unadaptable 1928 novel by legendary author Virginia Woolf, Orlando was a key work of the early 1990s independent film movement and continues to reverberate in select areas of popular culture decades later. Spanning a period of some four hundred years, the story is a sweeping meditation on historical significance, personal identity,… Read More There Can Be No Doubt About His Sex | Orlando (1992) 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

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She Really Is a Woman of Your Dreams | Paprika (2006) Blu-ray

Paprika (2006)

The human mind’s dream state has fascinated filmmakers since the earliest days of cinema. Arguably, no other artistic medium has come closer to being able to capture and depict the peculiar logic, or illogic, of dreams than the movies have. The animation medium seems well-suited to that task, and Japanese anime in particular even more… Read More She Really Is a Woman of Your Dreams | Paprika (2006) Blu-ray

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Do We Have Any Real Gunmen in This Room? | The Quick and the Dead (1995) 4K Ultra HD

The Quick and the Dead (1995) - Sharon Stone

With the huge success of Dances with Wolves and Unforgiven, Westerns made a big comeback on cinema screens in the early 1990s. Not all of them were awards bait, however. The likes of Tombstone or Young Guns II were just rowdy fun, while director Sam Raimi (creator of the Evil Dead franchise) dabbled with a… Read More Do We Have Any Real Gunmen in This Room? | The Quick and the Dead (1995) 4K Ultra HD

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