“Cinema is the most beautiful fraud in the world.” —Jean-Luc Godard
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Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles 1975
The Criterion Challenge 2022
#16: Directed by Chantal Akerman
Progress: 34/52This is not merely a slice-of-life film, but a whole heapin' helpin' of life. It's rare that a movie can be at once austere and audacious, but Chantel Ackerman manages the trick. The viewer is spared no (occasionally excruciating) detail as the daily routines of middle-aged widow Jeanne are revealed over the course of three days. We watch her shine her son's shoes, prepare a meat loaf, wash the…
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In a Lonely Place 1950
Criterion Challenge #13: 1950s
Progress: 21/52As Dix Steele (no, this isn't a porno), a screenwriter who finds himself under investigation for murder, Humphrey Bogart is astonishing. He depicts Steele's Jeckyll and Hyde persona with a manic precision that both charms and terrifies. Steele is a creative genius who's his own worst enemy, whose imaginative brilliance for violence seems poised at any moment to manifest into reality (and sometimes does).
Steele is a bit of a sadist even at his…
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The Poseidon Adventure 1972
We will be discussing this film as part of a Cinema Chop Shop episode focusing on Gene Hackman.
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The Thing 1982
Hard to believe that one of the all-time greats of horror cinema was reviled both critically and by audiences at the time of its release, so much so that it basically derailed Carpenter’s career. It may have just been too much for mainstream audiences, as the special effects are shockingly gory even by the standards of today. The paranoia that quickly sweeps over the group creates palpable tension and the high stakes guessing game is edge-of-your-seat stuff. And it’s just plain creepy. Ennio Morricone’s pulsating score deserves special mention as well. I don’t suspect this classic will ever go stale.
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The Batman 2022
A moody, neo-noir near classic—“near” because some fat could’ve been trimmed off the 3-hour run time. Paul Dano steals the show in an astonishing performance as an appropriately contemporary, incel-ed version of the Riddler.
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