Reviewed on The Goods: A Film Podcast
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Dead Poets Society (1989)
Author: Dan Stalcup
Funnier, stranger, and more beautiful than I remember. The astonishing Technicolor, all-time soundtrack, and world-class production are grounded by Judy Garland’s humane role as Dorothy (at age 17!)
A post-Wes Andersonian end-of-high school comedy that’s simultaneously charming and a bit dull, despite a lean sub-90 runtime. Cast is full of winners but led by a blank slate.
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The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
In the the late 1910s and 1920s, a bunch of German filmmakers invented the tone and aesthetics of horror movies amidst postwar defeat drudgery in a movement called “German expressionism.”
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Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
The script and story are flimsy in comparison to the visuals, which are rousing. Epic action sequences and world-building, with some apocalyptic moments. Heavy Avatar: The Last Airbender vibes. Enjoyed but wanted more.
A bizarre documentary about pet cemeteries that manages to be both hilarious and perhaps the most probing look at the human condition that I’ve ever seen.
The animation is astoundingly beautiful, the story epic and Shakespearean, the Zimmer score aggressive but stirring. The politics are wonky and the protagonist uninspiring, but the overall product is still mesmerizing. Near-masterpiece.
Noisy, dumb, and bloated — but phenomenal spectacle. The broad characters work just well enough, and the effects that matter (the exploding buildings) are real good.
The problem with choosing “intolerance” as a theme for your time-sprawling opus is that it is so shapeless and blunt as to lose all meaning.