Writer, Teacher, Stage Manager, and Groucho Marxist.
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Flow 2024
An imaginative, apocalyptic parable about a solitary black cat, "Flow" is an amazing piece of filmmaking and an equally incredible work of art. With animation that is equally stylized as often as it is realistic, the film is a feast for the eyes that immediately draws the audience into the world of the protagonist black cat.
The story is told, as Hitchcock would say, as "Pure Cinema." The only sound is the meows of the cat, the barks of the…
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Gloria 1980
I have only seen one other movie written and directed by John Cassavetes, his 1974 opus "A Woman Under the Influence," which also starred the late Gena Rowlands, so I knew that I would get a gritty, character-driven film. That is exactly what this film is.
The plot is fairly simple; Gloria, a gun-moll, takes in Phil, a young Puerto Rican boy, after his family has been killed by her associates, and the two go on the run. Shot in…
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Safety Last! 1923
Despite getting an MA in Screenwriting, I'd (shamefully) never seen a Harold Lloyd film before this one, though I knew of the often-referenced clock sequence from the movie. I also knew of Lloyd through studying film history and that, along with Keaton and Chaplin, he is regarded as one of the great silent screen comics.
"Safety Last" concerns a young man trying to make his way in the world and earn enough of a living to support his soon-to-be wife.…
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The Holdovers 2023
This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
Alexander Payne's latest opus, a story of a boarding school student left behind during the Christmas break and supervised by a cantankerous misanthrope teacher, consistently wanders close to cliché without becoming one. Featuring strong performances by Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, and Da'Vine Joy Randolph, the film deals with people who are dealing with trauma in isolation.
The film has some remarkable photography which seemed reminiscent of 1980's "Ordinary People" (although, that may be coincidental since both films are set around…
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