remembering the films that the audience forgot
“I didn’t read reviews earlier in my career, but I read them now as I’m older. I read them all.”
— Steven Spielberg
In 2007 the Coen brothers gave us No Country For Old Men which was a masterpiece. Then in 2008 they gave us Burn After Reading which was kind of fun and entertaining, but ultimately disappointing and unsuccessful as a complete film. In 2009 they gave us A Serious Man and wth it the Coen brothers were back on track.
Read MoreDries is a famous writer. One day three losers ring his buzzer and ask him to be the drummer in their band. Sounds like that could be the start of a funny, family-friendly rock and roll movie right? Well, IT ISN'T! It’s the start of the flemish film, Ex Drummer.
Read MoreT.J. and his dad have recently suffered a tragic loss. Then one day Hesher comes into their lives. Actually, he does more than come in to their lives. He literally moves in - without asking.
Hesher is a loner with long hair, who lives in his van, listens to heavy metal, smokes cigarettes and pot, likes to set things on fire has a tattoo on his back of a hand giving the finger and one on his chest of a stick man blowing his brains out.
"Hesher is a "feel good" movie that doesn't want to be a "feel good" movie - and that's what makes it so good. It makes the drama, the pain and the laughter genuine and ergo our reactions to it all.
Read MoreThe movie takes place in 1972-73 during the height of the Watergate scandal and the collapse of the Nixon presidency. Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams play two high school girls who become unwittingly involved in the Watergate scandal when they witness G. Gordon Liddy in the hotel during the bugging. They also get separated from their class during a tour of the White House and run into President Nixon himself (played by under-appreciated character actor Dan Hedaya).
Read MoreTimofey, a worker at a Russian nuclear facility gets exposed to a lethal dose of radiation. In order to provide for his family, he steals some plutonium to sell on Moscow's black market. He meets a bumbling criminal with problems of his own who tries to help him in order to help himself. Welcome to PU-239.
Read MoreJosie And The Pussycats is a film that I think could have appealed to two very separate audiences but instead just ended up getting lost to both.
Read MoreWorld's Greatest Dad is a dark comedy from the mind of Bobcat Goldthwait. Who you might remember from his role in three of the Police Academy movies. Or from his infamous appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno back in 1994 when, on impulse, he set the couch on fire. Or maybe you are familiar with his first film, 1991s Shakes The Clown? No? Well, it doesn't matter, because based on that resume one would probably not be expecting much from World's Greatest Dad. But, much is exactly what we got (and I mean that in a very good way).
Read MoreAt Home By Myself... With You is a small Canadian film I discovered back in the day on Netflix Canada (not sure if it’s still there). Now, don't let the "quirky" "romantic" Netflix tags scare you off. We all know that romantic comedies - quirky or not - are generally predictable by nature, not always that interesting and often not really that funny. But, it doesn't have to be that way, as At Home By Myself... With You proves.
Read MoreAway We Go is a great little romantic-dramedy that takes our main couple (Burt and Verona) on a road trip of sorts, as they try to decide where to make their life with their baby that is due in three months.
Sam Mendes, known from much darker and dramatic fare (American Beauty, Road To Perdition, Revolutionary Road, 1917...) does a really great job with this film. And the script from Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida (Eggers' wife) is great.
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