Category Archives: Movies

Notes on “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead”

Posted on May 12, 2016 by Fenster

Fenster writes: Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead is a documentary film chronicling the life and death of the highly influential humor magazine National Lampoon. It is worth viewing but don’t expect all that much humor.  It is not a revue or … Continue reading →

Posted in Humor, Movies, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 10 Comments

“The Hateful Eight” Partial Review

Posted on May 5, 2016 by Fenster

Fenster writes: Here, I wrote a “non-review” of Django Unchained.  As I wrote then, I’d fallen for Pulp Fiction and felt compelled to return to Tarantino, repeatedly, looking for that sugar high.  But most all of his later work I … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

“Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell”

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Paleo Retiree

Paleo Retiree writes: A brightly-colored, super-polished confection starring Gina Lollobrigida that crosses two genres of its era: the marriage-is-impossible farce and the Americans-touring-Europe-by-bus comedy. (I watched in on this disc.) My wife hated it, and we both wondered if it might not … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

“The Birth of Saké”

Posted on April 23, 2016 by Paleo Retiree

Paleo Retiree writes: This film (which recently appeared on Netflix Instant) isn’t an informative, clear, traditional documentary. It isn’t an expressive cine-essay, like “Sans Soleil” or “Be Here to Love Me,” either. Instead, it’s an impressionistic, reverential, dark thing — almost … Continue reading →

Posted in Food and health, Movies, The Good Life | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

“30 For 30: Fantastic Lies”

Posted on April 20, 2016 by Paleo Retiree

Paleo Retiree writes: Marina Zenovich’s new documentary about the 2006 Duke lacrosse case, which is currently available on Netflix Instant, is a perfectly adequate run-through of that fascinating, distressing episode. If you didn’t follow the story closely at the time, the film … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Politics and Economics, Sex | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

“The First Monday in May” (2016)

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Blowhard, Esq.

Blowhard, Esq. writes: I semi-enjoyed this new documentary about the annual exhibition and fundraising gala for the Metropolitan Museum’s fashion wing. Every spring The Costume Institute mounts a major exhibit that opens on May 1st with a lavish party attended by … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Women men and fashion | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

No Man Needs Nothing

Posted on April 17, 2016 by Fabrizio del Wrongo

Fabrizio del Wrongo writes: David Lean’s “Lawrence of Arabia” is unusual in that it attempts to build a character-based epic around an enigma. I am not among those who find this strategy unproblematic. In fact, I think the movie loses … Continue reading →

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Notes on “No Escape”

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Fenster

Fenster writes: If Bone Tomahawk is a mashup by intent No Escape is a mashup, but an inadvertent one.  The tale appears to have aspirations to a coherent whole–American family caught up in a revolution, with some political commentary present … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Notes on “Bone Tomahawk”

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Fenster

Fenster writes: In the past couple of years I don’t think I have enjoyed a movie more than Bone Tomahawk.  But will I respect it in the morning? Instincts first and reflection later so let’s start with what prompted satisfaction.

Posted in Movies | 6 Comments

Double Feature: “Hope and Glory” and “Queen and Country”

Posted on April 2, 2016 by Fenster

Fenster writes: I wrote here about Linklater’s Before . . . films, which examined two lives in more or less real time, covering 18 years in three separate films.  And Fabrizio wrote here about Gett, the third film in a … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | 2 Comments