Categories
Review

Turning Red (2022)

The premise of Turning Red — thirteen-year-old Mei Lee transforming into a red panda whenever she gets agitated — is very clearly metaphoric.

Categories
Review

The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

The Darjeeling Limited has a reputation as a minor Wes Anderson work

Categories
Revision Candidate Legacy Review

Hotel Chevalier (2007)

Hotel Chevalier is best known for 1) being better than The Darjeeling Limited, the feature film it ties with, and 2) the one time Natalie Portman got naked in front of the camera.

Categories
Review

The Big Lebowski (1998)

A layer under the surface, stoner comedies and hard-boiled detective stories actually have a lot in common

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Review

Garden State (2004)

Garden State’s reputation has fallen out of favor in the 18 years since its release, and understandably so.

Categories
Review

Casablanca (1942)

“Is it really that good?” I wondered as I hit play for the first time in a decade.

Categories
Legacy Review

Midnight in Paris (2011)

Ever visited a city and felt so entranced by it that you start imagining yourself living there? Wandering the streets and living out some long-lost glory years?

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Review

The Truman Show (1998)

I recently read Ed Sikov’s Film Studies: An Introduction, and a point he makes early in the book feels obvious once you think about it

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Review

The Rescuers Down Under (1990)

To watch the first fifteen minutes of The Rescuers Down Under is to wonder if you’ve stumbled upon some lost Disney masterpiece: The animators, using their new “CAPS” technology that would define the look and feel of 1990s Disney animation, bring us soaring through the Australian outback. The nuanced color and lighting bring a simultaneous crispness and softness to the visuals that is the polar opposite of 1977’s The Rescuers, to which this is a sequel.

Categories
Review

12 Angry Men (1957)

Few movies have endured with such a sterling — even ascendant — reputation as 12 Angry Men.