[written by Cole Clark] A Stone in Your Shoe How can a filmmaker make anguish engaging? It takes a certain amount of confidence, and material that’s provocative enough to ruffle some feathers. Michael Haneke and David Lynch, for example, craft stirring films from tortuous content. Haneke’s The Piano Teacher and Lynch’s Twin Peaks: The Return are…
Kern: This week’s topic we want to discuss is franchises, but not just how we think of it in today’s terms of shared universes and whatnot, but more broadly. We’re bringing you in, Chris, because I know you take a particular interest in film franchises and series and I have to ask upfront: what about…
Read more In Conversation: Sequels, Prequels, Remakes, and Reboots
Though we’re stuck inside and unable to go see new films in the cinema, it doesn’t mean discussion of film has to stop. Every week, Kern, Henry, and the occasional special guest will discuss some film related topic that’s been on our minds and transcribe our conversation here. Kern: I wanted to start this off…
The Dardenne brothers are two of the greatest modern filmmakers. Their films are consistently bursting with compassion, with their sharp focus on naturalism able to generate unbelievable amounts of tension and pathos out of premises that seem relatively mundane on paper – if you had told me a movie about a woman individually begging her…
[written by thehipsterllama] There’s only one way to begin this review because really, there’s no beating around the bush, or dancing around the point on matters like this. The fact is that Ordinary Love is one of the best films, if not the best film of the year. The filmmakers (Lisa Barros D’Sa, Glenn Leyburn)…
A Serious Man The Coen brothers have made a career of great films so distinct in style that there is no confusing them for anyone else’s work, yet so different from each other that everyone has a different favorite. After winning their Oscars for No Country for Old Men, the brothers made the type of…
Kiki’s Delivery Service Kiki’s Delivery Service is the nicest film of all time. The plot follows a young, kind-hearted witch as she moves to a new town and navigates independent life, growing as a person thanks to her newfound profession delivering food. There is no villain, and the instances of conflict or hardship are minuscule:…
Cinema Etc. 