From the podcast recording: “I wanted to be fond of it, because there are lots of things on the surface level I want to root for, and maybe kind of like, but none of it actually pulls through. “
Category: Podcast Rating
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The Elephant Man (1980)
Still a biopic with too many biopic-y moments. But it’s David Lynch so there’s plenty of weirdness, dual-sided themes, and moral grayness. (Though it is the most conventional Lynch I’ve seen.) Looks amazing, sounds brilliant (Lynch was the sound engineer, too!).
The makeup/prosthesis is masterpiece-level, and John Hurt is phenomenal underneath it, too. Observing a person gradually emerge from something that looks so viscerally grotesque is the film’s greatest strength.
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The Circus (1928)
What a delight. Chaplin in fine form, with one sketch after another that plays to the setting well. (A high-wire monkey attack is, in particular, chaotic perfection.) There’s also a strong undercurrent of reflection on the life of performer and authenticity in entertainment, and an ending unusually bittersweet for early/mid-Chaplin.
Update: I’ve since published a full review of this film.
“It’s fire, it’s freedom, it’s flooding open”
There should be more big budget original non-animated musicals
Reviewed on The Goods: A Film Podcast during Circus Month
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Paper Towns (2015)
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The Iron Giant (1999)
Reviewed on The Goods here.
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Tokyo Drifter (1966)
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Tourist Trap (1998)
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American Graffiti (1973)
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My Octopus Teacher (2020)
The footage is superior, but it is actively undermined by some of the most self-serving, anthropomorphizing narration I’ve ever heard. To quote one of my favorite Letterboxd reviews: “i did not care about this man or his problems or his face”