Some Dude Reviews Movies

Bildungsroman  is a German term that describes a novel or story that deals with the education or growth of a typically young protagonist. Nowadays we call these stories "Coming-of-Age" stories. But I prefer bildungsroman  because I'm a snobby asshole who likes fancy words. These stories have fascinated us, as a society, for time immemorial. As long as people look back on their youth and long for those halcyon days, the Bildungsroman  will have a place in popular culture. They are easy, usually cheap, and reliably crowd-pleasing affairs. Each decade has had a defining Bildungsroman  movie: The Graduate (1967), American Graffiti (1973),  The Breakfast Club (1985), Can't Hardly Wait  (1998) and  10 Things I Hate About You (1999), and  Superbad (2007). The Bildungsroman  as a genre, however, has started to become a bit stale. How many times can you see a group of teenagers do drugs for the first time? Have their first ...

John Wick (2014) was one of the most surprisingly delightful new IPs in the last twenty years. The formula is simple: give a man a reason to seek revenge, then surround him with goons, then watch the blood spatter. What set the Wickiverse apart was its keen sense of style, fascinating world-building, and ballet-like choreographed violence. John Wick: Chapter 2 dropped in 2017 and, while it remained true to the gun-fu absurdity that defined its forebear, it also widened the scope of the film's lore and universe in interesting ways. It was clear that the team behind this series, director Chad Stahelski and lead writer Derek Kolstad, had grand designs on an epic franchise. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum  (you are not hallucinating, that is an unwieldy title) dropped this weekend. So where does our titular assassin go, when you've killed his dog, destroyed his house and car, and made him excommunicado? I. What Is It? This is the story of John Wi...

So I liked my brief foray into the work of Wong Kar-wai. So I decided to head back to his magical cinematic space one more time. And wouldn't you know it, The Criterion Channel had some more of his films on deck. I've heard about 2000's In the Mood For Love , and its beauty, and I knew I had to watch it. The film's reputation precedes it, and I wanted to see the master at work. So on a lazy Saturday, I fired it up. And, oh boy. I. What Is It? This is the story of two people in 1960s Hong Kong. They discover that their spouses are having an affair with each other, and find a real connection as they work through their traumas and insecurities. II. An Emotional Affair So many movies about love affairs tend to lean on steamy sex scenes. They are physical affairs. Wong Kar-wai keeps his film rated PG-13, but skimps on none of the passion, or tension, or electricity. He serves us an emotional affair. He shows that you can tell a story of v...

If you are a fan of film, you have probably heard the name Wong Kar-wai. When people talk about visionary filmmakers who defined and impacted the medium, Wong Kar-wai's name comes up again and again. And I hadn't seen any of his films. Not a one. So I decided to change that. I. What Is It? This is the story of two lovesick policemen in Hong Kong, and their attempts to waylay their heartache. II. Dreamlike This movie is absolutely gorgeous. Director Wong Kar-wai has a knack for dream-like imagery and a knack for eliciting impeccable photography from his cinematographers, Christopher Doyle and Lau Wai-Keung. He'll have the main characters performing their action in slow motion, while the scene around them occurs in hyper fast time lapse: one character languidly drinks a cup of coffee, while blurry shapes flit in and around him, while his scene partner stares on. It gives the sense that these people are caught in a moment with each other, and it is v...