Analysis & Commentary and Ozu Rick on 07 Jun 2008
If you were asked what director had the most consistent, immediately recognizable style, what would you say? Although that sort of thing is hard to quantify, you’d be safe if you answered Yashujiro Ozu (right), the director of an astonishing 54 films over his 36-year career. He’s known for a style so minimalist as to [...]
Analysis & Commentary and Reviews Rick on 05 Jun 2008
The Brothers Coen are not known for explaining themselves. In fact, they often go out of their way not to.And the height of this obfuscatory impulse is Barton Fink. Perhaps not coincidentally, until No Country for Old Men, it was their most critically well-received: it won the Palm d’Or at Cannes, as well as Best [...]
Analysis & Commentary and News Rick on 31 May 2008
It’s Holly Hunter time, all the time, over at Variety. In something called “Holly Hunter: Profile in Excellence” you will find five — count ‘em: five! – articles on the Georgia-born actress. There’s a piece on her TV show Saving Grace, one on how her career got jump-started via a meeting in an [...]
Analysis & Commentary Rick on 24 May 2008
The first thing you notice about Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is how drop-dead gorgeous it is. A wheatfield glows in the twilight; light dapples through an alder wood, granting halos to two-bit thugs; a grassfire splits the night, like an open gateway to the netherworld. [...]
Analysis & Commentary Rick on 17 May 2008
Over at Film of the Month Club, they take a movie a month and a bunch of film fans watch it, then they write about it. The idea is to get a little more in depth commentary and discussion going than might be usual in the blogosphere. For its debut, girish (of the [...]
Analysis & Commentary and News Rick on 13 May 2008
So the other day, I walked into my local Movie Gallery, looking for I’m Not There and maybe even The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, both of which I missed because they didn’t play here in the wilds of West Alabama, when what to my wondering eyes should appear but a [...]
Analysis & Commentary and News Rick on 10 May 2008
For cinephiles, the news last week from Criterion that they were coming out with thirteen Blu-ray titles was a mixed blessing at best. With four-hundred-some Criterion titles and counting, the question becomes how many titles will come out in the format and how fast? What will the announcement do for sales of their [...]
Analysis & Commentary and Federico Fellini Rick on 06 May 2008
Note: This is part of the Invitation to the Dance Blogathon at Ferdy on Films.
To paraphrase Freud, sometimes a dance is just a dance . . . but sometimes it’s not. And among the more entertaining celluloid examples of when it’s not are by Federico Fellini. Actually, Freud doesn’t quite fit — [...]
Analysis & Commentary Rick on 29 Apr 2008
Dear Guillermo:
I’m really glad that you’ve gotten the plum directing gig in the known universe, and I hope you get a boodle of cash out of it (and if you want somewhere to spend it, my email’s in the profile). As a public service, and because you seem like a nice boy and all, [...]
Analysis & Commentary Rick on 28 Apr 2008
There’s a piece I wrote over at MovieZeal; its one of the Final Things in their month-long tribute to Joel and Ethan Coen, and it’s called The Coen Brothers and the Spirit of Chaos. Check it out, and while you’re there, peruse Evan et al’s fine site, with beaucoup reviews and analysis almost any [...]
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