As you might expect, I first heard about this film back when the announcement for its remake this year was made. The talk on Broken Forum was mostly about how much they liked the original. Given that this version as a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes while the new one has only 63%, I feel pretty justified in choosing to watch this.

This is considered Abbas Kiarostami’s last film though it was first screened a year after his death and was more generally released only this year. As its title indicates, this is not a movie at all but an experimental film consisting of 24 scenes shot with a completely motionless camera. Humans are almost entirely absent and there is no dialogue. Yet Kiarostami proves that he is still able to tell a story with such minimal materials.

I decided that I wanted to watch this early on based on the strength of its trailer, something that pretty much never happens. Its take on the character of Miles Morales was pitch perfect and the quality of its animation is something rarely seen outside of Japanese productions. The fact that it also features a plethora of Spider-related characters never before seen on screen is just an extra bonus.

So this looks like the last of the films by River Phoenix that I will cover. He did appear in a number of other films before he died but it looks like they are all mediocre ones at best. This was directed by Gus Van Sant, and I have to confess that I haven’t watched any of his films before this, not even the very well-known Good Will Hunting. That is certainly a film that needs to be added to the list immediately.

As I mentioned last time, I only watched the first film because I had heard about how good this sequel and here we are. This one still has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes a year after its release which is quite an achievement. Like the first one, it is a children’s film but one that is so earnest and unwavering in aiming to be wholesome that it appeals to adults anyway.

Continue reading Paddington 2 (2017) →

I usually like to let a bit of time pass before I watch two films by the same director but this one was added to the list quite some time ago and I didn’t quite realize that it had the same director as One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. This was made before Miloš Forman moved from his native Czechoslovakia to Hollywood and is in fact his first film. It is apparently considered an important film of the so-called Czech New Wave.

Continue reading Loves of a Blonde (1965) →

When my wife asked me what this film is about, I described it as a Coen brothers film that isn’t actually by the Coen brothers. This isn’t quite true as director Martin McDonagh is British and his visual style is different but between having Frances McDormand as the lead, it being set in a small American town that is named in the film’s title and its dark comedic drama tone, you have to agree that there is at least a superficial resemblance.

Continue reading Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017) →