THE LINCOLN LAWYER: In Cold Blood
I felt dirtier walking out of Brad Furman’s THE LINCOLN LAWYER than its idol THE LONG GOODBYE, and not just because all that hero worship makes us into peeping toms.
TRUE GRIT: City of Mann
Comparing the Coen Brothers’ latest western, the chase film TRUE GRIT, to its predecessor, the camp classic (double entendre!) that finally won John Wayne his Oscar, is a triflin’ quarrel. Never mind that the original TRUE GRIT is dated by its tomboys with Mia Farrow voice, comic mugging accompanied by jaunty woodwinds, and an overall [...]
DOGTOOTH: Adventures in home-schooling
The night after I got to see Yorgos Lanthimos’ bone-dry Greek family comedy DOGTOOTH at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, that same room saw the Houston Film Critics Society name THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO the best foreign language film of the year. In the year Houston hosted CARLOS, WHITE MATERIAL, MOTHER, A [...]
THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE: The Body Politic
When I’m not carving topical jack-o-lanterns and funding my dentist’s third home, I treat Halloween as an opportunity to catch up with the horror greats I spent my adolescence cowering from (thanks to vividly traumatic childhood experiences with The Shining and The Exorcist that may or may not have involved pants-peeing). No longer new to [...]
Bowie Knife
The first scene of Nagisa Oshima’s ‘Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence’ (new on DVD and Blu-Ray from Criterion) is occupied with the horror of a soldier being forced to cut his intestines open as a punishment for being in love with another man. The last image of the film is the smiling face of a soldier [...]
Violence and Sentimentality in the Movies: A Dangerous Pair?
Richard Brody at The Front Row has this interesting reflection on violence and the movies/media in general: “There does seem to be a great deal of research on the question of violence and of quantity of viewing; but very little, if any, on the subject of treacle. I do worry about the effect of violent [...]
The Teeth of Gilgamesh
It was another special edition at TFT Central this afternoon when Jett had his first experience of ‘Jaws’, and I saw it in a cinema for the first time, having grown up afraid of swimming due to repeated pan-and-scan broadcasts on probably all four of the terrestrial channels granted me in childhood, but never having [...]
The Movie of the Year 2009: Overtures
[Read the first part of this post here] OVERTURES Three opening sequences have embedded themselves in my mind this year: Youssou N’Dour’s anthemic call, at the beginning of Elizabeth Chai Versalihis’ ‘I Bring What I Love’ to the young people of Africa, tears streaming down his face, asking his people to be guided by their [...]
TFT 92 – The New York Film Festival – Lebanon / Inferno / Room and a Half
In this week’s episode: In association with our friends at the Film Society of Lincoln Center we delve into the 2009 New York Film Festival – Lebanon / Inferno / Room and a Half Get TFT delivered weekly via iTunes Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe to our blog Follow us on Twitter
'Unforgiven' and the Roots of Violence
I took another look at ‘Unforgiven‘ the other day – one of those films whose original impact was muted by the fact that I saw it amidst hype, and, precisely half a lifetime ago, when I didn’t know that I had no idea what I was talking about. The difference today, I suppose is twofold; [...]
The Film Talk – Part 86 – Inglourious Basterds / Taking Woodstock
This Episode: Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds / Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock / A preview of Those Crank Guys’ Gamer / Click Here to mail us your entry in our Taking Woodstock Competition Get TFT delivered weekly via iTunes Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe to our blog Follow us on Twitter
'The Hurt Locker' – The Myth of Chaos Into Order Through Violence
Let’s get one thing straight: I have no idea what war is really like. I’ve seen ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and ‘The Thin Red Line’, and I grew up in a place colonised by a long-running civil conflict, and I’ve been to Jerusalem and Bethlehem and all kinds of other places where people inhabit the false [...]
Three Terminator Haikus
A Depressing Haiku about ‘Terminator: Salvation’ The age of machines Has already begun, right? Skynet’s in your house. An Amusing Haiku about ‘Terminator: Salvation’ McG is the name Of the Director. Makes him Sound like an android. A Serious Haiku about ‘Terminator: Salvation’ Robots kill people. People kill back. But don’t ask Why we like [...]
The Film Talk – Part 54 – Taken
Films Reviewed This Week: Taken / Atanarjuat / Emerald Forest Get TFT delivered weekly via iTunes Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe to our blog Follow us on Twitter
'Watchmen' Re-visited
Regular listeners will already know that my genial co-host and I didn’t much care for ‘Watchmen’. Jett, as a long term fan of costumed avengers felt it missed the point, to say the least; I wasn’t sure. I saw it again the other night in the hope that my thoughts might clarify themselves. So, for [...]
Why Kung Fu Panda is Not Better than Wall-E
A few weeks ago my genial co-host Mr Jett Loe acclaimed Dreamworks’ gorgeous, fun and sassy animated astonishment ‘Kung Fu Panda’ in the wake of its upset victory over ‘Wall-E’ at the Annie Awards. He included some rather delightful screen caps to bolster his case. I got around to watching last week, delayed by other [...]
