Spa Night (2016)

I love cinema (this is brand new information, isn’t it?), and perhaps what I find most alluring about cinema is how it is formed out of the creative need to simply tell stories. Perhaps one can accuse blockbuster tentpole films and franchises of simply seeking out the solace of the almighty dollar, which is an…

Blue Velvet (1986)

By this point, I don’t even need to explain that I adore David Lynch. Every review of his work I write ends up being just a radical praising of his career as cinema’s greatest surrealist. Yet, here we are again, and today I’m going to be reviewing arguably his most important film, Blue Velvet. The…

Beatriz at Dinner (2017)

Perhaps the best way to describe Beatriz at Dinner is to consider it as a mumblecore dramedy as made by Darren Aronofsky and Terrence Malick. That isn’t to praise Beatriz at Dinner as anything close to what those two filmmakers have made, but there are several themes in this film that locates it alongside the…

Paris, Texas (1984)

I first read about Paris, Texas years ago, when I was still a young burgeoning cinephile. I read how it is considered one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful films ever made, and a film that takes a unique look at the United States of America. My question is this: why is it that I waited…

The Room (2003)

There are great films. There are good films. There are mediocre films. There are bad films. There are terrible films. There are films. Then there’s The Room. There is just something about this film that proves to make it one of the most sincere and unintentional masterpieces in cinema history. There is very little doubt…

Fox and His Friends (1975)

A little while ago, I watched Satan’s Brew (German: Satansbraten). It was, in my personal opinion, one of the lowest moments in the professional career of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, a filmmaker I have grown to be tremendously interested in. This film came only two years after one of the most extraordinary films I have ever…

The Best Offer (2013)

There are some films that just pass by without making much of an impact. It isn’t for the lack of important individuals being involved, or that the film is low-budget or obscure. It is just a matter of story – often smaller films are not noticed simply because they don’t boast a story that can…

Fists in the Pocket (1965)

A tagline for the play and subsequent film adaptation of Tracy Letts’ August: Osage County reads “misery loves family”. The theme of dysfunctional families is not foreign to cinema – there have been some truly memorable instances of troubled families in cinema – some of them hilarious, some of them depressingly sad. I am not…

Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes (1966)

Sometimes the most touching films come in the smallest packages. One recent film I saw that I found truly wonderful is Santa Claus Has Blues Eyes (French: Le Père Noël a les yeux bleus), a charming and lovely little film that may not technically qualify as a short film, but clocking in at just under…

Dutchman (1966)

I am not entirely sure what drove me to watch this film, other than a brief recommendation and a strange curiosity to watch a film that I had only known the existence of for about 10 minutes prior to watching it. Perhaps it was the run-time (clocking in at just less than an hour), or…