Tokyo Drifter (Seijun Suzuki, 1966)

Suzuki's Tokyo Drifter  is one of the finest artistic middle fingers ever made, an absurdist take on the yakuza film that makes delibera...

Shanghai Express (Josef von Sternberg, 1932)

[This is my first post for my Blind Spots 2012 choices] Previously familiar with the legendary pair of Josef von Sternberg and muse Marlene ...

The Front Line (Jang Hun, 2011)

Jang Hun's The Front Line  liberally takes from Saving Private Ryan , but then so does every modern war movie about a past conflict (and...

50 Book Pledge #3: Martin Amis — Money

Like a Bret Easton Ellis novel as written by John Kennedy Toole, Martin Amis' Money  is a savage gutting of the Reagan era as seen throu...

50 Book Pledge #2: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — A Study in Scarlet

BBC's simply fantastic Sherlock  series inspired me to revisit the Sherlock Holmes stories, and I was happy to stumble across some great...

50 Book Pledge #1: Vladimir Nabokov — Pale Fire

Nabokov's Pale Fire  may be even better than his Lolita . A total put-on of a work—consisting of a poem by one "John Shade" an...

Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol (Brad Bird, 2011)

The trait that links all four Mission: Impossible  movies, each helmed by a different director of wildly differing stylistic sensibilities, ...

I'm on Episode 50 of the Matineecast

So, last week, Ryan McNeil of The Matinee asked me to do a podcast with him on War Horse  and Steven Spielberg in general. I happily agreed...

El Sicario, Room 164 (Gianfranco Rosi, 2011)

In an age where "FAKE!" greets even the most honest video, the almost-too-consistent dramatic ups and downs of this extended talki...

Criminally Underrated: Jackie Brown

Jackie Brown  is one of my favorite movies, and I've been meaning to write a full post on it forever. I wrote a brief piece for my love...

Jennifer Egan — A Visit from the Goon Squad

Jennifer Egan's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel/short story collection/who-cares A Visit from the Goon Squad  has racked up enough accolade...

Capsule Reviews: Weekend, Tuesday After Christmas, Into the Abyss, Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Weekend (Andrew Haigh, 2011) Occasionally a bit precious in its cinematography (one too many woozy shots and obvious visual cues), Andrew Ha...

Blind Spots 2012

So,  various bloggers I read and like have decided to address various, wait for it, blind spots in their movie viewing in 2012. I conside...