artsfiend’s Film Reviews

36 Films have been rated or reviewed by artsfiend.

Kiki's Delivery Service (1989): This is more or less the perfect family film, because it doesn't contain an antagonist – and doesn't need one.; DVD $29.95 | Blu-Ray $39.95
Parade's End (TV Mini-Series) (2012): Hall\'s performance here is one the best pieces of acting I\'ve seen. Sylvia\'s actions wreck her own life as well as others, but we come to understand exactly why she does what she does. Cumberbatch is also excellent.
Wild Grass (Les Herbes Folles) (2008)
Mon Oncle D'Amerique (My American Uncle) (1980)
Last Year at Marienbad (L'Annee Dernier a Marienbad) (1961)
Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959)
Nuit et Broulliard (Night and Fog) (1955)
Scarlet Letter, The (1995): Possibly the worst desecration of a classic novel ever committed on screen – and I don\'t even like Hawthorne\'s prose.
Wittgenstein (1993): Despite being a narrative fiction, makes a surprisingly good fist of explaining the Philosophical Investigations. Not the Tractatus of course, but that was hardly going to be possible, was it. Also a good story.
Wanda (1970): in classic hollywood, passivity is most always a virtue in its women, as it allows them to be rescued in heroic fashion. Loden asks us to watch how ridiculous such virtues look in a world where children are a burden and men use you.
Serious Man, A (2009): Perhaps the best of the Coens\' half–dozen–or–so great films, the cinematography (particularly in the stoned bar mitzvah) is stunning, the humour devastating.
Generation Kill (TV Mini-series) (2008): Forget the Hurt Locker, THIS is the only cinematic depiction of the Iraq War which you really need to see. Utterly sympathetic towards most of the soldiers, utterly unsympathetic towards the war.
Hurt Locker, The (2008): 80% of the film is a poorly executed macho action flick. The Beckham subplot brilliantly depicts troops utterly baffled about what they are doing – but the director fails to make anything out of this, and returns to more boring action scenes. Irritating.
Birth of a Nation (1915): "If we let negroes vote, they'll slouch around in parliament with no shoes, eating fried chicken and chasing white women!" Many very good directors have called this the first masterpiece of cinema; really it's a waste of good charcoal.
Persona (1966): Makes much more sense as a sequal to the Silence than as a standalone work, but where the Silence struggled to fit its ideas into an engaging film experience, Persona soars.
Wild Strawberries (1957): In which Bergman disproved the idea that writers for the movies have to tone down the intelligence of their dialogue to get a hit.
Matrix, The (1999): Besides the fact that the action scenes and soundtrack are AWESOME, I love this film because now whenever you're trying to explain Descarte's evil demon to someone, you can just mention this film and they'll understand what you're rambling about.; DVD ~~$14.95~~ $11.20
Dog Day Afternoon (1975): Pacino's greatest performance, with lumet dragging hitchcock's tension through the gutters
Scarface (1983): Pacino gives the greatest one–dimensional performance ever – but it's still one dimensional, since De Palma is a hack who doesn't really know how to ask for anything more.
Lancelot Du Lac (1974): The first five minutes sum up Bresson's view of the romance of the middle ages: two guys in heavy armour slowly bashing each other to bits. Awesome prologue, but then he repeats the same message for another hour with a bunch of dudes who cannot act.; DVD $34.95
Trial of Joan of Arc, The (Procès de Jeanne d'Arc) (1962): Tediously doing the same thing Dreyer did with such genius.
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966): Like Mouchette, Bresson here asked cinema goers to look at the cruelty of people doing the things they do to one another. Yes it's pretty, but seriously critics, stop saying the Donkey gave an amazing performance.
Man Escaped, A (1956): The simple depictions of the minute details of the Man\'s escape attempts are interesting enough and of course well shot, but I\'m not convinced there\'s much below the surface.
Mouchette (1967): For once Bresson's use of non–professional actors and demand for stoic acting actually pays off, and the effect is something that is both cruel and moving, rather than dull.
Pickpocket (1959): Bresson's best – for once his sparse and cruel beauty is supplemented by engaging dialogue, and brilliantly shot demonstrations of the art of the pickpocket.
Day of Wrath (1943): In which Dreyer invents the most kickass moving camera, gracefully prowling around the witches and bigots.
Rashomon (1951): People be lying and cheating.
Ran (1985): Hidetora leaving the burning castle is my favourite shot. Kurosawa's lifelong insistence on editing his films "in camera" to prevent bosses messing them up allowed him to film such a chaotic once–or–never take with the calm to make it so pretty.
Lawrence of Arabia (1962): greatest hollywood epic – probably greatest epic of any sort – because the stunning landscapes revolve around such a compelling character and performance: o'toole's sizzling hot sadomasochist warrior with piercing blue eyes.
Passion of Joan of Arc (1928): cinema's most beautiful portrait painting
Happy Together (1997): tony leung and leslie cheung give the greatest performances of their impressive careers
Chungking Express (1995): crazy beautiful losers
New World, The (2006): wonderful to look at, but just like gere in days of heaven, farrell just looks around confused as to what he's doing; DVD ~~$20~~ $15
Days of Heaven (1979): Even more beautiful than badlands, but suffers from a gaping hole where richard gere's performance is supposed to be. Fortunately Linda Manz manages to carry it.
Badlands (1973): not particularly ambitious, but i think the most perfectly constructed film, and unnervingly funny
Dancer in the Dark (2000): simply the most emotionally devastating and manipulative thing on celluloid.

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artsfiend’s Film Reviews