This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
The Alamo Draft House is running a retrospective series of David Lynch in the wake of his passing (Jan. 16, 2025). Since 1986, I've loudly proclaimed Lynch as one of my favorite directors. Almost 50 years later, I feel obligated to at least explain why. I'
Last night I took my wife to see LOST HIGHWAY and there were multiple moments during the movie when she askednquestion: who is this? What is happening? Why is he looking at her that…
The endless homage to classic horror films had me scratching my head. I wanted to take this ride without being distracted by the obvious nods and winks to other movies. So let me count the ways I was distracted.
1. The use of the fish-eye lens screamed both Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL and Kubrick. In BRAZIL, the main character - Sam Lowry - visits his mother (Ida) who is obsessed with the rejuvenating plastic surgery/face lifts.
2. The overt use of…
I'm not a fan of the MCU, but in a limited way I enjoyed GOTG Vol. 1 despite the entire tale (and characters) being a Doppelgänger to Star Wars: ANH. Moreover, these characters don't seem completely aligned with their comic book origins. I'm not a Marvel reader, but after reviewing various references, it appears that the movie version of these characters are not true to the source material. So I'm just on a ride with James Gunn. Ugh.
That same…
Similar to THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL in structure ( a meta narrative story within a story within a story), Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola have created a dense and fast paced story that includes jarring sequences which unexpectedly remove us from the foreground. Wes' screenplay explores a multitude of ideas without any definitive "answers". Then suddenly we are introduced to background material. The various transitions create a layered and head-spinning experience. Anderson gives us a choice to decide what is…
