tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-148710132011-09-14T02:56:02.251-07:00P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.comBlogger1131100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-68814904518680111872009-07-10T11:05:00.000-07:002009-07-10T11:07:00.991-07:00

Wonderful meat-and-potatoes Michael Mann, along the lines of his amazing and underrated Heat. Johnny Depp is great, as always, and I'm falling harder for Marion Cotillard every time I see her. But, while I found their courtship charming, I was even more impressed with them when they were on their own than when they shared the screen. Except for the love scene. It's been a while - I guess

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-66402879725859122152009-07-10T11:04:00.001-07:002009-07-10T11:04:58.721-07:00

A little film by Sam Mendes (of American Beauty and Revolutionary Road fame), and one that's missing (to its credit) his trademark artistic stamp. The couple in this story are a far cry from the dysfunctional couples of his other films, and it's refreshing to see a story that puts obstacles in people's way without making it about their happiness with each other. I found this story very easy to

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-56558611729557777482009-07-10T11:03:00.001-07:002009-07-10T11:03:40.341-07:00

Truly an amazing film, and probably the best that I've seen about the Iraq war. It doesn't have a message or an agenda. It's just about a few guys and their experiences. The main character is played by Jeremy Renner, and he's an expert as dismantling bombs. In fact, he's so good at it that it's made him a bit reckless and danger-seeking. That works well for him through most of the film, but

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-36854903312502135372009-07-10T10:58:00.000-07:002009-07-10T11:02:39.072-07:00

Hilarious a lot of the time, but not all of the time, it follows pretty much the exact same "weirdo on a journey" plot as Borat (rendering it disappointingly predictable), and after that film's notoriety, you can't help sitting there during every "real person" encounter wondering how real or scripted it really is. As I understand, the steel cage rumble scene at the end and the interviews in the

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-59594946125006773882009-06-17T08:45:00.000-07:002009-06-17T08:48:51.617-07:00

IMDB's daily links list is often a rich source of interesting blog posts, but it's sometimes also a rich source of posts that make ME want to blog right back. Case in point, Entertainment Weekly Online's 24 Rom-Com Cliches We'd Retire. I agree with some of these, but others are downright ridiculous, and some only have a couple of examples - hardly a cliche. Let's have a look, shall we? (

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-8687066996611114682009-06-13T15:48:00.000-07:002009-06-13T15:50:29.833-07:00

I'd heard murmurings about this film for a while, but hadn't really looked into what it was about. All I knew was that it starred Sam Rockwell, who I consistently find one of the more fascinating character actors working in films, period. He's not a star in the traditional sense, and certainly the bulk of his roles have been supporting ones. But he's the kind of actor who, though he might not

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-52096294963330572062009-01-07T11:32:00.000-08:002009-01-07T11:57:29.313-08:00

I've written about Grindhouse before, and I have kind of a dumb thing about revisiting movies (which I should really stop, because anything worth writing about is worth writing about more than once). But these two films are this month's selection for the Final Girl Film Club, so I'm revisiting them.This was a great idea that the studio didn't know how to sell, which resulted in not many people

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-22872516189491784762008-10-27T09:48:00.000-07:002008-10-27T09:54:20.220-07:00

As we begin this last full week of what Jon Stewart has called the "Long, Flat Seemingly Endless Bataan Death March to the White House," we're going to look today at a film that was made 46 years ago, but which feels very familiar in our current political climate. Advise and Consent is possibly the best political movie ever made, in that it deals specifically with the monster of politics and not

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-91573686171071210302008-10-22T11:57:00.000-07:002008-10-22T11:58:11.304-07:00

I've typed the first half of the title of today's post several times now, but today it made me smile, because "Countdown" - Keith Olbermann's nightly MSNBC news and commentary show is a direct descendent of the subject of today's movie, the great television newsman Edward R. Murrow.Good Night and Good LuckThis was the film where George Clooney proved he was more than a pretty face and

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-59508011908130693572008-10-21T10:01:00.001-07:002008-10-21T10:02:23.086-07:00

Taking a break from American politics today to talk about a politics of a much more vicious and painful nature...High school politics.ElectionAlexander Payne's brilliant and biting Election is the perfect portrait of a school election as microcosm of American politics. Reese Witherspoon plays Tracy Flick, the epitome of overachieving A-personality. Always the first to raise her hand in class.

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-8742670470382168722008-10-19T11:20:00.000-07:002008-10-19T11:21:14.542-07:00

I have to say that, between this film and the Oliver Stone films of the last two days, this is probably my favorite. It's probably not as great an achievement as a piece of film, but as a character study and a compelling narrative, it has a lot to offer. And since the events depicted are mostly things I lived through and watched on the news, I felt like I had a much better hold on the story.W.W

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-40085807989799628292008-10-18T18:52:00.000-07:002008-10-18T18:53:14.843-07:00

Not nearly as successful as JFK, but still quite compelling. Richard Nixon was arguably the most controversial president we ever had, and he was a very complex man who had to deal with a very complex time. I think out of all of Oliver Stone's films, this is the hardest one for me to follow. It would have been difficult anyway, given that I wasn't alive for any of the events, but the events

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-11497541332611634552008-10-17T12:21:00.000-07:002008-10-17T12:22:07.498-07:00

As many of you probably know, there is a new Oliver Stone movie out today. Another Stone movie named after a U.S. President, this time the one who currently occupies the White House (for another 94 days and some change, at least). I've just seen it, and I intend to include it in this series, but first I’d like to take a look at what Mr. Stone has had to say about two other Presidents.JFKRight

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-61134519035227973282008-10-14T22:59:00.000-07:002008-10-14T23:00:10.264-07:00

After two fictional presidents, it's time to talk about some real ones. I'm hoping to get to three more this week - all of them featured in films with a common director. *hint, hint* And all of those three (or at least two of them - I haven't seen the third yet, so I can't say with certainty) have a somewhat bleak and cynical view of our government. But today's movie is a slightly more

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-45141342933677172352008-10-13T09:40:00.000-07:002008-10-13T09:46:42.541-07:00

I first saw this movie the night of my senior prom. Coincidentally, my date's name was also David. :PDaveBefore Aaron Sorkin cornered the market on heart-tugging political sentiment (wow, that sounded harsh, except that I don't see anything wrong with political sentiment, especially Sorkin's), Gary Ross wrote a screenplay called Dave. The protagonist is Dave Kovic (Kevin Kline), a man who runs

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-82737561806253576942008-10-12T17:02:00.000-07:002008-10-12T17:05:05.819-07:00

Holy Filibuster! Today we savor the Capra-esque. :D Nearly seventy years later and it's still relevant. If you've gotten a sour taste in your mouth from all the nastiness of the presidential campaign nonsense (excuse my French :P), pop this in your DVD player or VCR or head over to Netflix and watch it online. You can't not love America after watching it.Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonThe

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-70541246067341297252008-10-08T12:43:00.000-07:002008-10-08T12:45:16.675-07:00

Senators McCain and Obama can only wish to be as virtuous and firm in their principles as Robert Bolt's version of Sir Thomas More. Sadly, there is not a politician alive in this country (or I suspect any other) who is worthy of the comparison. A true target of perfection (albeit fictional perfection) at which we all shoot in vain."More is a man of an angel's wit and singular learning. I know

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-38918487886672019592008-10-07T07:58:00.000-07:002008-10-07T07:59:57.972-07:00

Man, it's getting ugly in politics already this week, and I can only imagine what the debate will have in store for us. So how about something on the lighter side of politics for today?America RockAgain, not technically a movie, but Schoolhouse Rock: America Rock shaped a lot of young American minds - including my own - and gave them a base of historical and political knowledge on which to build

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-74906301059157179502008-10-06T17:42:00.000-07:002008-10-06T17:43:06.512-07:00

You may never have heard of this film before today. I certainly hadn't before I went seeking out films for this series. Oddly enough, just a day or two after I first read about this film and put it on the list of movies to possibly include here, Alan Alda (who wrote the screenplay and stars in it) appeared on the Today show to promote his new film (Flash of Genius) and this film came up.The

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-34843177610610128562008-10-06T11:17:00.000-07:002008-10-06T11:54:02.005-07:00

Strait-JacketRecently, I read part of a movie review from Ain't It Cool News critic Drew McWeeny (a.k.a. Moriarty) that I absolutely loved. The gist of it was that it's sad when people can only put filmmakers into two categories - brilliant auteur or Sucky McHackington. It reminded me of how a friend of mine once described some readers' response to fictional characters - they're either perfect

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-69513290499376115512008-10-06T10:58:00.000-07:002008-10-06T11:00:32.280-07:00

This whole country's just like my flock of sheep! Rednecks, crackers, hillbillies, hausfraus, shut-ins, pea-pickers - everybody that's got to jump when someone else blows a whistle! They don't know it yet, but they're all gonna be Fighters for Fuller! They're mine! I own 'em! They think like I do! [laughs] Only they're even more stupid than I am, so I gotta think for 'em.A Face in the

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-28685026221957337702008-10-04T18:41:00.000-07:002008-10-04T18:42:17.456-07:00

I wrote about this film a few years ago as part of my first series of movie posts, and I've always been reluctant to do repeats. But this movie, and especially the clip embedded below, has never been more poignant to me than it has become during this election cycle.The American PresidentEssentially, this film is a romantic comedy - a great one - and one of the reasons it's great is that is has a

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-3145651974122580182008-10-02T17:41:00.000-07:002008-10-02T17:45:40.368-07:00

In honor of tonight's Vice Presidential debate, as well as perhaps the last occasion in this election that most people think of either Biden or Palin as terribly important, I give you one of the few (very few) movies that center around a candidate for Vice President. (The only other one I can think of is the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate.) And this one is about a female candidate for

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-32176312548577905872008-10-01T15:21:00.000-07:002008-10-01T15:42:43.626-07:00

As the 2008 US Presidential (and Congressional) election draws nearer, I thought it would be fitting to take a look at how politics, especially American politics, has been portrayed on film. I'm going to try to do a post a day until Election Day, because there's more than enough to choose from, but that's not a promise. I hope this is something people will enjoy, no matter what their political

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-31128531469305196982008-03-29T19:55:00.000-07:002008-03-29T19:56:39.999-07:00

Several people in Nashville, where I live, have been trying to grow a real cinema culture in our town for several years. There have been lots of unique screenings at our local art house theater, and today's was perhaps the most unusual film that I've ever seen in a theater in Nashville - a rare slice of Czechoslovakia's short-lived "new wave" called Valerie and Her Week of Wonders. The movie is

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-76011998628500345112008-03-24T17:26:00.000-07:002008-03-24T17:30:36.721-07:00

Since Manitou turned out to be so bizarrely awesome, I was excited about this month's Final Girl film club movie, Scarecrows. There's lots of hit-and-miss with the scarecrow sub-genre - you've got great stuff like this movie and Dark Night of the Scarecrow and then you've got crap like ... well, pretty much everything that came out of the 1990s and later.Okay, so five robbers have ripped off a

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-81505931744641540112008-01-02T08:55:00.000-08:002008-01-02T09:42:05.369-08:00

I thought I'd take this opportunity to tell everyone what to think pull together some thoughts about the year in movies. I've limited myself to movies I actually saw in 2007, so while I enjoy 300 very much, I originally saw it in 2006, so it's a 2006 movie to me. Also, try as I might, I have not seen everything, and there are still quite a few notable movies that haven't opened in places I can

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-52891132531385302142007-12-23T20:30:00.000-08:002007-12-23T20:32:16.897-08:00

When a movie is this hyped for this long, and for well after people have begun to see it, there's a reason for it. I was quite displeased with much of Joe Wright's Pride and Prejudice, so I was wary going into this. But Atonement is a really gorgeous and intricate piece of art, an intimate epic, and a compelling mystery.I'm not sure how much to say about this without giving things away that

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-91484555744504030322007-12-20T08:28:00.000-08:002008-11-18T22:26:21.961-08:00

Yes, I realize other bloggers are writing about this today, but I'd like to add my two cents.Ten years ago today was the culmination of probably the first period of time in my life when I was obsessively waiting and anticipating the release of a movie. In recent years, I have spent long, impatient months awaiting the release of Harry Potter books and movies, Lord of the Rings movies, Pirates of

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-39123288238283529022007-12-19T12:46:00.000-08:002008-09-23T06:13:26.904-07:00

Let me get this out of the way first. People who are talking about this film's Oscar chances are probably wasting their breath. I see Depp possibly getting a Best Actor nod, but Sweeney Todd is not a "Best Picture" kind of movie - maybe at the Golden Globes, where it has already had a respectable showing among the list of the HFPA's darlings, but not the Oscars. That is not to say - AT ALL -

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-83592487991945858082007-12-19T12:38:00.000-08:002007-12-19T12:45:13.658-08:00

A Russian-made, Mongolian-language film, this is the first part of what is hoped to be an epic trilogy spanning the life of Genghis Khan. Mongol covers his early life and shows us the softer side of Genghis Khan - the son, the lover, the father, and the warrior.We first meet the man who would be Genghis Khan, known to us only as Temudgin, when he is nine years old and traveling with his father

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-6574591390194379842007-12-19T12:28:00.000-08:002007-12-19T12:38:02.311-08:00

Wow. It's been a while since I've updated this thing, but I'd like to dust off the cobwebs and make a fresh start, beginning with a few films I had the privilege of seeing a bit early at this year's "Butt-Numb-A-Thon" in Austin, TX.I was concerned, watching the previews for this and having never read the book, that the movie was glorifying what America did in Afghanistan and overlooking the fact

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-13029509528929133892006-10-15T17:56:00.000-07:002007-12-20T17:58:10.795-08:00

"Gooble gobble, gooble gobble. We accept her, we accept her."This is one of the greatest films of all time, in my opinion, and one that could never be made today. The stars of this film are not the traditional screen gods and goddesses, but actual deformed, "abnormal" human beings. There's a guy known as the Human Torso, who's missing his arms and legs; there's a half-man/half-woman; there are

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-86591737790164830782006-10-14T17:53:00.000-07:002007-12-20T17:55:08.874-08:00

This film was featured as an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but it's actually not that bad. It's a rather famous B-movie, and "I Was a Teenage..." became a kind of catch-phrase (I Was a Teenage Hairdresser, I Was a Teenage Stunt Man, I Was a Teenage Teenager... you get the idea). It's a rather well-made film, despite the B-movie acting, a fairly absurd premise, and some entended

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-44827749245882617452006-10-13T17:46:00.000-07:002007-12-20T17:50:01.096-08:00

Kevin Bacon claims his first movie was Diner, but there he is (two years eariler) in the white shirt, just waiting for an arrowhead through the neck.Blood, bad acting, and boobies. That's this movie in a nutshell. I said yesterday that Psycho was the invention of the "slasher" flick, but Friday the 13th is the movie that made the slasher stereotype that so many of us know and love. There's

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-41704556541359011472006-10-12T17:35:00.000-07:002007-12-20T17:39:35.548-08:00

Okay, first off, I don't generally think of this as a "horror" movie. In a strange way, I find it less like a horror movie than my previous Hitchcock selection, Rebecca. But it's undoubtedly - as I'm sure I don't need to tell you - one of the icons of screen scariness.Norman: "You eat like a bird."Marion: "And you'd know, of course."What can I say about this movie that hasn't been said dozens

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-57990396602967689222006-10-11T17:32:00.000-07:002007-12-20T17:35:25.240-08:00

Director John Carpenter made cinematic history four years before this film with Halloween. Carpenter's The Thing is roughly based on Howard Hawkes's The Thing From Another World, where researchers in a remote, icy region are attacked by an alien organism. This film has the added twist that the organism can replicate whatever it touches. This creates a great conflict between the characters, as

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1160501457226574162006-10-10T10:29:00.000-07:002006-10-10T10:30:57.243-07:00

Another great silver screen classic, this time with two legendary horror stars - Frankenstein and Dracula Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi.Satanism, torture, and necrophilia - oh my! And all in a movie made in 1941. Lugosi plays Dr. Vitus Verdegast, who is on his way to the place where he once served as a soldier. He shares a compartment with a honeymooning couple, Peter and Joan. While taking a

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1160415034628596312006-10-09T10:29:00.000-07:002006-10-09T10:30:34.640-07:00

For everyone who was picked on in high school. :P (Actually, I'm surprised there wasn't a sharp decrease in school bullying after this movie - or the book, for that matter.) The only film to deal with feminine products in an adult manner, and the movie that brought us the delightfully hilarious term "dirty pillows."I distinctly remember being in my fifth grade science class and hearing a

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1160347496918773032006-10-08T15:42:00.000-07:002006-10-08T15:44:57.040-07:00

*SPOILERS below, but I don't think they'll ruin the overall effect of the movie.*I'll see your Leatherface and raise you Girlfriend From Hell.There are some great things that have been happening in Asian cinema over the past few years, particularly in the genre of horror. These films have truly pushed the boundaries of how far into hell filmmakers are willing to take their audiences. And the

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1160231331383367122006-10-07T07:26:00.000-07:002006-10-07T07:28:51.406-07:00

Yes, this is a horror movie. This was Hitchcock's Best Picture winner of 1940, and incredibly creepy, especially for its time. And I think it's one that even horror un enthusiasts will enjoy - if they haven't seen it already, that is.Based on the Daphne DuMaurier novel of the same name, Rebecca centers around a young woman (Joan Fontaine) who meets the rich widower Maxim DeWinter (Laurence

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1160058326984907102006-10-05T07:24:00.000-07:002006-10-05T07:25:27.000-07:00

This movie came out when I was 9 years old, and all the kids my age were somehow getting to see it. I was, of course, too fraidy and too young and too, um, "minister's child" to see it, so I had to wait until we got cable to see what all the fuss was about. This was the first actual film made by New Line Pictures (which, incidentally, made the Oscar-winning trilogy of Lord of the Rings movies),

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1159977496686070572006-10-04T08:55:00.000-07:002006-10-04T08:58:16.733-07:00

And the moral of this story is ... never have two phone lines in the house.I'm sure that the "twist" of this movie is a surprise to almost no one - even people who haven't seen the film know the story as a kind of babysiting urban legend - but I'll try not to spoil it. A teenage girl (Carol Kane) is babysitting two kids. She is downstairs watching television or something while the kids are

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1159884893826949962006-10-03T07:13:00.000-07:002006-10-03T07:15:45.900-07:00

This movie will probably be better remembered as a marketing phenomenon than a movie. That's unfortunate, because it really is a unique and interesting film, but the background of how it was made and the publicity that made it such a hit are half of what made The Blair Witch Project so effective.[I was determined NOT to post that overused picture of Heather crying, with half her face out of

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1159801057633372502006-10-02T07:44:00.000-07:002006-10-02T08:36:47.510-07:00

Next up on my month-long tribute to all things creepy is the quintessential cult movie - a term which here means "movie about cults" - The Wicker Man. [*not-so-mild SPOILERS for film below*]The Wicker Man stars Edward Woodward as a police officer, Sgt. Howie, who is summoned to a remote village in the British Isles to find out what has happened to a young girl who has gone missing. From the

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1159739147839224542006-10-01T13:26:00.000-07:002006-10-01T14:45:47.936-07:00

In honor of October - the month that all the cable channels go apestuff running B-movie horror and lame sequels to the real horror classics - I'm going to do a post a day on some of my favorite horror movies. Actually, not all of them are what I technically categorize as horror, but they're all hella scary in their own unique ways.And I'm going to start at the top. The cream of the crop. The film

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1158702894018522992006-09-19T14:50:00.000-07:002006-09-19T14:54:54.033-07:00

[from September 8, 2006]Hollywoodland, to me, is about failures. It is so dark and bleak that at times it seems like something Charles Dickens would have written about Hollywood. There were moments when I wondered why I was still sitting there watching it.However, the more I sit and think about it (and I can't help thinking about it), the more impressive it is to me. It reminds me a lot of

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1158702608056049632006-09-19T14:48:00.000-07:002006-09-19T14:50:08.060-07:00

[from September 2, 2006]If you want to see The Wicker Man, I'd highly recommend seeing the original 1973 version with Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward instead (warning: lots of obligatory 1970s nekkidness). This new version is an interesting exercise in subverting the premise of the original. I loved the idea of making Summersisle a more matriarchal society, and the metaphor of the bees is

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1158702494892673502006-09-19T14:38:00.000-07:002006-09-19T14:48:15.536-07:00

[from September 2, 2006]This movie was quite enjoyable, despite not meeting my expectations. I won't go into any details because it's a highly spoilable movie, and even knowing nothing about it going into it, I was totally unsurprised by most of what happened. The setting and costumes are gorgeous - it's a great-looking movie - and the illusions are very impressive and entertaining. I was

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1158701858701573432006-09-19T14:36:00.000-07:002006-09-19T14:37:38.703-07:00

[from August 19, 2006]I didn't really like this one at first. The first 20-30 minutes plays like dozens of Quirky Indie Films that I've seen and am getting kind of bored with. The whole setup just seemed so contrivedly "offbeat" and I found myself rolling my eyes at some of it.But this is definitely one that grows on you. The real magic of the film naturally comes from Little Miss Sunshine

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1158701781876330212006-09-19T14:35:00.000-07:002006-09-19T14:36:21.876-07:00

[from August 18, 2006]This movie is awesome for what it is. It is, without a doubt, a B-movie. Perhaps C. It's bad, but it knows it's bad. Revels in it, even.If you are the kind of person who is intrigued/amused by the title Snakes On a Plane, you will probably enjoy this. This is the kind of movie where the filmmakers know their audience and are not afraid for their audience to be a step or

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1158701651186471452006-09-19T14:25:00.000-07:002006-09-19T14:34:11.196-07:00

[from July 16, 2006]I love storytelling. I love that it can be done in lots of mediums, but one of my favorite mediums (other than cinema, obviously) is oral tradition storytelling. The National Storytelling Convention happens every year in Jonesborough, TN, and my family tries to go regularly (though not successfully for a few years). I love listening to these professional storytellers spin

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1158701071816370782006-09-19T14:21:00.000-07:002006-09-19T14:25:00.130-07:00

[from July 1, 2006]Except for about 15 minutes in the middle, I quite enjoyed this film. Fluffy, without being sentimental, and lots of GREAT fashion eye candy. And I *loved* that not one female in the movie had a "get the guy" subplot. I can't tell you how refreshing it was to see a story dominated by women that wasn't even a little steeped in shipping. Yeah, the women in the movie had men

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1158700834095190552006-09-19T14:19:00.000-07:002006-09-19T14:21:09.533-07:00

[from June 28, 2006]Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Superman in general, I simply had to go to the 10:00 screening last night and see this with my nerds.I have my issues with Superman as a hero and as a franchise. To own the truth, I find Superman kind of boring and goody-goody. His big weakness is something he should only be faced with in a bizarre situation that seems to come up more

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1158700643452876162006-09-19T14:15:00.000-07:002006-09-19T14:17:23.456-07:00

[from June 12, 2003]I don't care what the critics say, The Break-Up is a unique and outstanding "romantic" comedy. I used the quotation marks because this is so far-removed from your average rom-com that it doesn't really belong in that category. I've read a few good reviews of this, mostly on AICN, but the stuffier crowd (even Roger Ebert, who isn't stuffy but who shares the stuffy opinion) is

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1158700507115997882006-09-19T14:14:00.000-07:002006-09-19T14:18:07.333-07:00

[from May 19, 2006]Let me preface this by saying that I have not read the novel on which it is based. I have no intention of getting into the contents of the story or the attending controversy. What follows is simply my view of the film itself.The Da Vinci CodeMeh, whatever. As a film, it's rather unimpressive and dull. In serving the intricate plot, the director, writer, and actors all but

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1158699887902683392006-09-19T14:00:00.000-07:002006-09-19T14:10:24.960-07:00

[from April 21, 2006]With a little less excitement and tickets to far fewer flicks than last year, I joined several hundred other Nashvillians last night for the beginning of our local film festival. I was a bit surprised when I got to the Will Call desk and they couldn't find either of the tickets I had reserved. But the event staff were very, very nice and just gave me replacement tickets,

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1145308260369886702006-04-17T14:09:00.000-07:002006-04-17T14:11:00.373-07:00

I had never heard of this movie before seeing Bravo's "100 Scariest Movie Moments." Olvia Hussey - who stars as Jess - told a story about meeting Steve Martin and him telling her that Black Christmas was his favorite film and he saw it 27 times. After seeing a few highlights, I was very curious to see it. It's been at the top of my Netflix queue for about 4 months. This is a true cult

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1145308160926636832006-04-17T14:05:00.000-07:002006-04-17T14:09:20.926-07:00

The first shot of this film always scares the bejoodles out of me. There's something so bone-chilling about that expression on Malcolm McDowell's face - head down, looking up. I've seen this flick a couple of times - once on the big screen in London when it was re-released there in 2000. Despite not being a horror movie, it's one of the scariest movies I've ever seen. I can't even hear the

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1145307880639575442006-04-17T14:02:00.000-07:002006-04-17T14:04:40.663-07:00

I wish this had been out where I could see it closer to Christmas, but it's powerful nonetheless. I'd heard the story about the cease fire between the German, English (actually Scottish, according to the film), and French troops on Christmas 1914, during World War I. The film elaborates quite a bit on the story, but it makes for a good movie. What struck me the most about this movie is how up

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1141669943618357932006-03-06T10:30:00.000-08:002006-03-06T10:32:23.640-08:00

Never can I remember the words "Oscar upset" being more accurate than they were at the end of last night's Oscars, and I think some things need to be said about it.First of all, I loved all five of the Best Picture nominees. I thought this was one of the strongest years in quite a while. I would have loved to have seen at least four of the five nominees take the "top" prize (Capote was the

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1141328428340462252006-03-02T11:36:00.000-08:002006-03-02T11:40:28.356-08:00

With all five of this year's Best Picture nominees being "issues" films and the fairly well-established frontrunner (Brokeback Mountain) being touted as "groundbreaking cinema," I found this article in USA Today to be particularly interesting.I've heard several people say "Oh, I hope Brokeback doesn't win." There seems to be an implicit assumption that if it does win, it will simply be because

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1139316492534034562006-02-07T04:45:00.000-08:002006-02-07T04:48:12.546-08:00

Basic premise: Mrs. Henderson (Judi Dench) has recently been widowed. She and her friend discuss what she's going to do now, and the friend points out that now that she's unmarried she can get away with buying things. While driving around town one day, Laura Henderson finds the perfect thing to buy - the Windmill Theatre.She knows nothing about show business, so she hires Vivian Van Damm (Bob

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1138724705038412132006-01-31T08:21:00.000-08:002006-01-31T08:25:05.053-08:00

This is not your father's Woody Allen flick. The main reason for this is that it's not particularly funny. It is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a comedy. It's far more Crimes and Misdemeanors than Annie Hall, and it's actually even less funny than the former. But it's easy to forget how well Allen can do drama. And this is just about the best thing he's ever done, as far as I'm

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1136845321259744652006-01-09T14:21:00.000-08:002006-01-11T07:50:13.363-08:00

I have an interesting relationship with horror movies. When I was a kid, I couldn't see that many, because a)our family didn't have a lot of money to go see any movies, and b)my dad was a preacher (and a decided un-fan of scary movies), so I was very rarely exposed to them. I'm kind of a wuss about them, even now. But I can't help being fascinated by them, and trying them out to see how far I

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135990714799760832005-12-30T16:57:00.000-08:002006-02-05T07:41:22.130-08:00

Brokeback Mountain will likely turn out to be the movie to beat when the Oscars roll around in March. A lot of people who wouldn't be caught dead in a screening of this movie might think this is pandering, simply because of the controversial subject matter. But I sat in one of only two theaters showing Brokeback Mountain in the capital city of my "red state" home, and both theaters were packed to

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135690262532989312005-12-27T05:28:00.000-08:002005-12-27T05:31:02.536-08:00

The Short Version:If you like Mel Brooks' movies, you'll like this movie. Probably love it. I personally loved it (most of the time). It's a lot of fun, and is very humorous and entertaining. If Brooks is not your cup of tea, you probably won't like it.The Longer Version:The Good* The classic Mel Brooks humor - the stuff that just makes you say "That is so RONG!" Bloom and his security

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135690011029740302005-12-27T05:25:00.000-08:002005-12-27T05:26:51.060-08:00

There's a reason why Steven Spielberg is one of the most respected directors in film, and anyone who's seen Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., or Schindler's List knows what that is. He's not a "do-no-wrong" director - who is, really? - but even his failures can be interesting. I don't think all of his well-received films are necessarily good - I can't

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135217693977409402005-12-21T18:12:00.000-08:002005-12-21T18:15:23.026-08:00

Jeff Daniels is Bernard, a novelist who has enjoyed great success in the past, but now finds it hard to sell his work. He is the textbook definition of an intellectual snob. His character is pretty much summed up in one of his first lines. After his son tells him that they're supposed to read Nicholas Nickleby in class, he responds with a flippant shrug, saying "Minor Dickens." He seems

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135003284491243712005-12-19T06:34:00.000-08:002005-12-19T06:46:39.710-08:00

This film required a second security check. So we went outside for roughly 20 minutes, during which some people took a smoke break and others tried to guess what the last film was. When we went back in, Harry told us that this screening almost didn't happen. He got a call from Warner Brothers a few weeks ago that he wasn't going to get it. But a few days before BNAT, he got another call from WB,

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135002786317786172005-12-19T06:30:00.000-08:002005-12-19T06:33:44.423-08:00

Every year at BNAT there is an entry that's known as the "Family Fun Hour" film. One film that completely messes with everyone's heads and makes them question their sanity and the sanity of the filmmaker. That makes them sit there for two hours with a face full of "WTF?!" Last year it was Toys Are Not For Children. The year before it was Teenage Mother. And at my first BNAT it was Night Warning

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135002609881742962005-12-19T06:28:00.000-08:002005-12-19T06:30:09.883-08:00

STUNT RAWKER!!!*ahem* Okay, that's out of my system. On with the post.Every year but my first BNAT we have seen the trailer for this movie. It is simply the most awesome movie trailer ever made and always gets huge cheers from the audience. I bought this movie over a year ago, but I had never sat down and watched it, because I was afraid it would never live up to the trailer. When the title

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135002462087641292005-12-19T06:26:00.000-08:002005-12-19T06:28:34.223-08:00

One of my complaints with this movie is that it takes longer than it should to really get going. But part of that is a bit of misdirection. You think this is going to be about Sarah and her overwhelming grief at losing her husband and daughter in a car crash. Then you think it's going to be a standard cabin-in-the-woods movie. But when these chicks drive out to a cave and the guidebook gets left

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135002338549814422005-12-19T06:18:00.000-08:002005-12-19T06:25:38.550-08:00

This is essentially a film about film geeks. It's written by a couple of guys from Ain't It Cool News - Drew "Moriarty" McWeeny and Scott "Obi" Swan. The main character runs a theater that screens obscure classics. He moonlights as a finder of highly rare film prints. He is hired by a creepily obsessive cinephile to find a print of a film called La Fin Absoleu du Monde ("the absolute end of the

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135001871236001442005-12-19T06:15:00.000-08:002005-12-19T06:17:51.236-08:00

This movie will inevitably be compared to Ong-Bak, and deservedly so. This movie has the same extreme high energy, but it has a *little* more story. It's kind of a cross between Ong-Bak and Escape From New York. It's set five years in the future, in the Paris ghettos. The government has put up a huge wall around District 13, a particularly problematic section of town due to gang violence and

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135001739786052902005-12-19T06:14:00.000-08:002005-12-19T06:15:39.786-08:00

The overture to this film is on one of my favorite CDs, "The Wild West Essentials". So if this is an obscure western, it was one that I had at least heard of. It stars Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Woody Strode as four guys who are hired by Ralph Bellamy's character to go and get back his wife (Claudia Cardinale) who has been kidnapped by a Mexican revolutionary (Jack Palance). Yes,

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135001621484467392005-12-19T06:03:00.000-08:002005-12-19T06:13:41.500-08:00

Chan Wook Park has made three movies now that deal with revenge of some sort. They're not your basic "you done me wrong and I'm gonna get you" movies. They're very complex and painful and brilliant. The first was Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, which I caught for the first time this year. The next was Oldboy, which played at BNAT 5 and was a huge favorite. Now he's capped off his trilogy with

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135000841552776012005-12-19T05:58:00.000-08:002005-12-19T06:02:11.576-08:00

There are lots of reasons why I don't have premium cable. But I hate that not having those channels means I'm missing a lot of good stuff. Like Showtime's Masters of Horror series, in which great horror directors like Tobe Hooper and Dario Argento (and 11 others) have been invited to each make an hour-long movie to air on the network. We got to see two of these movies at BNAT this year, and "Sick

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1135000653680106872005-12-19T05:53:00.000-08:002005-12-19T05:57:33.693-08:00

This movie is about when sound pictures were starting to take over and people weren't going to live theater anymore. They used to put on "prologues" before movies - short musicals that were connected to the story of the movie in some way. James Cagney (*LOVES*) plays the guy who has to come up with all of the ideas for musicals. The "cat" number is hilarious.This is a great, great musical, and

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1134752281663953882005-12-16T08:54:00.000-08:002005-12-16T08:59:02.796-08:00

I almost hesitate to say this, but in a lot of ways, as a film, it's even better than Lord of the Rings. Of course, those two stories are vastly different. But, even more so than with LOTR, I think, you can really ... really ... see Jackson's love for the source material bleeding all over the screen. It wouldn't be fair to compare it to the original - after all, if there were no 1933 King Kong

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1134751997678085422005-12-16T08:48:00.000-08:002005-12-16T08:53:17.680-08:00

This was produced by Merian C. Cooper - who produced the 1933 King Kong - and featured Fay Wray - who played Ann Darrow in that film. It stars Joel McCrea and tells the story of the lone survivor of a shipwreck who conveniently happens upon the castle of an eccentric count, who is also hosting a few survivors of another shipwreck. The count, like the movie's protagonist, is an avid hunter. But he

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1134751648846747402005-12-16T08:32:00.000-08:002005-12-16T08:48:24.320-08:00

For four years now, I've been attending an event every December called Butt-Numb-A-Thon. It's a 24-hour film marathon held in Austin, TX at the Alamo Drafthouse theater. On the outside it looks like a hole-in-the-wall, smushed in between a couple of nightclubs at the corner of 4th and Colorado. Inside, it's a real, honest-to-goodness old-school movie theater. Every other row of seats has been

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1132463311461426432005-11-19T21:00:00.000-08:002005-11-19T21:08:31.480-08:00

Despite growing up in the home of country music, I've had to learn to love it. Johnny Cash was another acquired taste for me, but like other acquired tastes (e.g., my favorite musician ever, Bob Dylan), Cash is a taste worth acquiring. I knew very little about Cash's life, save the fact that he was married to June Carter and the two of them died within months of each other.This film will

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1131383914531859362005-11-07T09:12:00.000-08:002005-11-07T09:18:34.556-08:00

A friend of mine made a post on her blog about the decline of movie theaters. I've also seen several entertainment magazines, most notable Entertainment Weekly a few months ago, tackle this, and it's gotten me thinking about what's wrong with The Movies.The problem is, in my opinion, most certainly not the movies themselves. It's the moviegoing experience in general. A lot of this has to do

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1131372474159000902005-11-07T06:05:00.000-08:002005-11-07T06:07:54.176-08:00

(4th) Jarhead - From the British director who made the incredible films American Beauty AND Road to Perdition comes a look at American military life. I'm hoping this film will be every bit the work of art the other two were.(4th) The Matador - This sounds a bit like Brosnan's other major departure from James Bond, The Tailor of Panama (where he played alongside a very young Daniel Radcliffe, for

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1129737013135165922005-10-19T08:48:00.000-07:002005-10-19T08:50:13.143-07:00

Better late than never. :)(7th) Good Night, and Good Luck - He may be a pretty boy, but there's an impressive brain and artistic vision beneath George Clooney's salt-and-pepper locks. This is his second directing effort, and it's another true story. Black and white, this time. With Robert Downey, Jr.(7th) In Her Shoes - Curtis Hanson directing a "chick-flick"? *strokes chin thoughtfully*(7th)

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1129566240503348332005-10-17T09:22:00.000-07:002005-10-17T09:24:00.510-07:00

This is not really a movie for everyone. I'm not even sure it's a movie for me. But I'm sure it's a cinematic work of art. Critics who are into structure and formula will tell you that the movie is too long, that it drags in a lot of places and has several scenes that have no apparent point. But that's incidental, I think. Crowe's films - the great ones - are like symphonies, with various melodic

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1129157058286344902005-10-12T15:43:00.000-07:002005-10-12T15:44:18.286-07:00

I haven't seen the musical "Oliver!" in quite some time, and I've never read Dickens' novel, but I really enjoyed this movie. It has one of my favorite credit sequences - not that flashy, but it really makes you feel like you're walking into the pages of a Dickens novel. And Rachel Portman is one of my all-time favorite film composers. Her score for this film is not quite up there with Emma and

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1129156986091180982005-10-12T15:41:00.000-07:002005-10-12T19:04:23.383-07:00

I had high hopes for this movie, which is perhaps why I was so disappointed in it. The good part of it is that it makes you care about the main characters enough that you're really gutted by the way things turn out. But in a way it feels like a big cheat. Because from the moment of revelation onward, it feels like a completely different movie. There's no satisfying reversal or even a decent

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1129046306961874742005-10-11T08:57:00.000-07:002005-10-11T09:00:35.576-07:00

The writer builds the framework, the director sets up the shots, and the actors bring the story to life. But the people who quite possibly wield the most influence over the finished film are the editor and the film's composer/music supervisor. Just look at these three entries in a recent competition a post-production house organized in which assistant editors were challenged to "re-cut" trailers

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1128455087394495232005-10-04T11:28:00.000-07:002005-10-04T12:44:47.506-07:00

This is not a new film. The first I ever heard of it was when Harry Knowles listed it second only to Fellowship of the Ring as his favorite film of 2001. And this ten months after having seen it. Battle Royale is one of the most amazing, disturbing, and profound pieces of film you're ever likely to see.The premise alone is deeply unsettling. A group of 42 junior high students are taken to an

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1128043100380718932005-09-29T18:15:00.000-07:002005-09-29T18:19:05.826-07:00

I was lucky enough to catch a screening of Joss Whedon's Serenity last night. I'm definitely seeing it again this weekend, and I'll probably do another post about it then. But here are my initial thoughts. I'm not bothering to spare people for spoilers, but I'll try not to give anything too huge away (yes, there are huge things to be given away). Almost all of it is from the first few minutes of

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1127749611265644962005-09-26T08:46:00.000-07:002005-09-26T08:46:51.270-07:00

Jodie Foster is my favorite living actress. Period. She starred in my favorite movie of all time and she's had a very interesting career. She only does projects she really wants to do, because she values spending time with her kids much more highly. This is frustrating for a fan, though, because it means she only does a movie every once in a while.The plot is pretty solid thriller stuff. Woman

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1127749536225420822005-09-26T08:40:00.000-07:002005-09-26T08:45:36.240-07:00

This movie was delightful. This is the kind of story that stop-motion animation was meant for. I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have, though, and I don't think that's the movie's fault. I think all my years of debating fictional romances and overanalyzing made me think way to much about how the marriage plot was going to be resolved. Then again, I think it's Burton's intention to make the

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1127607635682826982005-09-24T16:57:00.000-07:002005-09-24T19:13:50.900-07:00

Having been consumed with the desire to see Joss Whedon's Serenity and observing an opportunity to see it a couple of days early and at a remarkable discount (read: free), I now find myself having to do a bit of singing for my supper. I had every intention of writing about this film after seeing it, but apparently my chances for seeing it early and freely will be significantly increased by

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1127262507973653152005-09-20T17:25:00.000-07:002005-09-20T17:29:47.710-07:00

A few so-called great films that I don't think are all that great:Saving Private RyanI do think this is mostly a good film, but it's status as a masterpiece is puzzling to me and I was pretty disapointed when I saw it. The main reason for this, I think, is that there's a pretty huge plot hole at the end. We find out that the man who's visiting Captain Miller's grave is, in fact, the eponymous

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1127149505480490552005-09-19T09:59:00.000-07:002005-09-19T10:07:26.813-07:00

When you think of Elia Kazan movies, there are a few landmarks - On the Waterfront, Streetcar Named Desire, Gentleman's Agreement, etc. But my favorites of his are some of the less heralded films, especially Splendor in the Grass and A Face in the Crowd. There's some really great eye candy in Splendor in the Grass (for guys and gals) in the persons of Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood. And it's

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1126724499252478122005-09-14T11:55:00.000-07:002005-09-14T12:01:39.263-07:00

I enjoy the South Park television show... when I get a chance to watch it, which is rarely. But it's not one of my favorites. Some of the early episodes were iconic for myself and my friends in college - the "pink eye" episode, the one with Starvin' Marvin', the first one with Mr. Hanky. I loved that there was actually a show on television that pushed the boundaries of what you could and couldn't

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1126480981114244992005-09-11T16:20:00.000-07:002005-09-11T16:23:01.123-07:00

This movie is not The Exorcist. That is neither a criticism nor a compliment. Just a fact. Having said that, I think The Exorcist is superior to The Exorcism of Emily Rose. I wanted to like Emily Rose, and parts of it were good, but it was ultimately unsatisfying.The story goes thusly. Emily dies after an ill-fated exorcism. Father Moore, who performed the ritual, is put on trial for

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14871013.post-1125973723909183982005-09-05T19:26:00.000-07:002005-09-05T19:28:43.916-07:00

In short, this is the best movie I've seen this year. It won't get any Oscar recognition because it's a very small film, but it's as good or better than anything out there. This movie is a poem, a work of art, a love song to humanity, and an absolute joy. Hyperbole? I don't think so.First, let me get this out of the way, because if you look into it at all, you'll come across this bull from the

P. K. Nailhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00286042203186668113noreply@blogger.com3