Some Dude Reviews Movies

And now we arrive at the film that really put Tarantino on the map. The one that netted him his first Academy Award. The one that shot past the sophomore slump and onto pop cultural super-stardom. Let's talk about Pulp Fiction (1994). I. What Is It? This is a series of intertwined stories: two philosophical hitmen, a hardluck boxer, the gangster's moll looking for a good time, and many others. The stories are told out of order, and weave in and out of each other over the course of the film's run. This is Quentin Tarantino's ode to hard boiled genre pulp. II. Shuffled Anthology I really dig the way Tarantino shifts and plays with accepted film structure. Not only is he telling multiple stories, he is telling them out of order. But the order they are shown in is no act of randomness. Tarantino's structure allows him to reinforce the themes he's playing with, notably the philosophical awakening of Jules (Samuel L. Jackson, owning every ...

After the disappointment of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood  (2019), I was in a strange place, as a fan of Quentin Tarantino. It seems like his latest film stumbled blindly into every single criticism that had ever been lobbed at him. And I couldn't defend the movie, as I had done so many times before with his previous films. So, were the critics right all along? Was I blinded by nostalgia? Or by Tarantino's cool? Was I one of those shitty movie bros? I decided that I needed to find out for myself. I decided that I would head back down Tarantino's rabbit hole, and do a series of retrospective reviews on Tarantino's canon. And either justify my fandom... or, ya know, let it go. Let's start at the beginning, shall we? I. What Is It? This is the story of a diamond heist gone bad. When the thieves retreat to their rendezvous, they begin to suspect that one among them is a rat. II. It's a Stage Play The thing that made Tarantino famous wa...

I am a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino's films. I am an ardent defender of his style and oeuvre. I certainly think that his films exist on a spectrum, but I never thought that he ever made an outright "bad" movie. I even liked  Death Proof  (2007). I originally wrote this review in a fit of pique. And I have been thinking a lot about it since. I have decided that I would edit this review to include new observations and epiphanies that occurred to me after a week's worth of thought and a second viewing. So, here we go:  Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood  (2019). I. What Is It? This is a movie about a fading movie star, and his stunt double. It's a story about the Manson Family. It's a story about Sharon Tate. It's a movie about the loss of innocence and a city of legend on the edge of a turning point. II. Some Incredible Scenes There is something incredibly sweet about the way Tarantino frames Sharon Tate going to the movies and wa...

I'm a fan of wuxia  films. I can't say that my familiarity is deep, or that I am a genre-devotee. But I do love the wuxia  films I've seen. I love the grandeur. I love the larger-than-life drama and the ballet-like fight sequences. I have watched a lot of things on The Criterion Channel. You know what I haven't dipped my feet into? Wuxia . And it turns out that there is a wuxia  masterpiece on there: King Hu's artful opus,  A Touch of Zen  (1971). I. What Is It? This is the story of a runaway noblewoman, an evil eunuch (yeah, baby), a lazy scholar, and a group of badass buddhist monks. There are fights, discussions on philosophy and haunted manor houses. Strap in, it's a great time. II. Jaw-Droppingly Beautiful Imagery Director King Hu is an absolute master of imagery. He lets his camera roam over fog-roiling woodlands, with shafts of light beaming through the trees. His fight scenes are elegant: the combatants leap and float around the ba...

I've been catching up on my European cinema, but I haven't made a serious stop in Germany. Like, ever. So I asked a friend, and got a recommendation: Rainer Werner Fassbinder. He's the bad boy of German cinema. He was prolific in his time: churning out plays, television and movies with zeal. Upon his death in 1982 at the age of 37, he had produced forty feature films and twenty four plays. Here we go. First stop? The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978). I. What Is It? This is the story of Maria Braun (Hanna Schygulla): married during the siege of Berlin in World War II. Her husband goes missing, and Maria is left to survive in a world that is rebuilding itself from the ground up. It is the story of unbridled ambition and tragedy. II. She's a Survivor Maria is a survivor. A real one. She is never a victim. She doesn't dwell in her misfortune. Rather, she constantly schemes and plots to pull herself out of her situation. Unlike in many ta...

This is the summer of filling in my cinematic gaps. That necessarily requires frequent trips to European cinema. Today I travel to Italy, to visit the work of Federico Fellini. I opted to watch Amarcord (1973), as it was billed as a comedy, and I needed something to lighten the philosophical burden of Tarkovsky and Bergman. I. What Is It? This is the story of the village of Borgo San Giuliano, and all of its colorful denizens. It is a coming of age tale, a tale of politics, a tale of small-town life, and a tale of teenagers masturbating in an old car. II. Charming Slice of Life There is a central story, here, but the film makes its bread and butter exploring the lives of everyone in the village. From the buxom tobbaconist, to the local fascist party, to who I have dubbed Motorcycle Guy, who rides his motorcycle everywhere, at speed. Life in this little Italian village is funny and spirited and heartbreaking. We see a boy come to terms with his own sexuality...

Ari Aster roared onto the scene in 2018 with Hereditary . That film was a word-of-mouth success. I watched it last month and I have to say that I was impressed. I wrote a fairly gushing review of it, too. I said it was one of the best horror films in the last decade. Then I watched Midsommar (2019). I. What Is It? This is the story of Dani (Florence Pugh) and her grief. She goes on a summer trip to Sweden with her boyfriend and his friends. What she finds there will force her to come to terms with her trauma, and indict her relationships with the people around her. Midsummer, after all, is a time of rebirth. II. A Powerful Meditation on Grief and Enduring Trauma I will start with generalities before moving into spoiler territory. Writer and director, Ari Aster, has crafted a deep psychological horror film that leans into the horrors of our own minds, as opposed to demonic or supernatural horrors, like he did in Hereditary  (2018). Midsommar  explo...

The first era of the MCU came crashing down around our ears with Avengers: Endgame  (2019). It was an emotional affair. But Marvel wasn't quite ready to end what they called their "Infinity Saga" just yet. Spider-Man: Far From Home  (2019) is supposed to be the final film in this series, before the MCU starts something new. It's a kind of period on the end of a sentence. So how did it do? I. What Is It? This is the story of Peter Parker, and his high school class, living in the aftermath of The Blip (known to MCU fans as The Snap), where half the population of the earth disappeared, only to re-appear five years later. Peter and his class are going on a summer trip to Europe. He's ready to take a break. To stop being Spider-Man for just a little while. And then Nick Fury calls. II. A Palette Cleanser The first Spider-Man movie (in this series, at least) struck the perfect balance between teen comedy and superhero melodrama. There were l...