Wes Anderson transposes his quirky family dramas and characters, and that wonderful eye for details into an undersea adventure that pays homage to, and pokes fun at, the ocean adventure films that rose to popularity with the works of Jacques Cousteau. Bill Murray stars as the titular Steve Zissou, a Cousteau wannabe who, aboard his…
Tag: lighting
Barbarian (2022) – Zach Cregger
Wow. Writer/director Zach Cregger blew me away with this one, completely subverting my expectations while playing with the traditional horror rules in this fantastic thriller of a film. From his framing to camera movement to casting to the way he doles out the story, Cregger plays with an increasingly film-savvy and educated horror audience and…
Fringe (2010) – Brown Betty, and Northwest Passage
Peter (Joshua Jackson) is in the wind somewhere, and Walter (John Noble) is attempting to deal with things in his own way, he smokes up on some Brown Betty and gets insanely high. All of this wouldn’t be too bad if Olivia (Anna Torv) didn’t show up with her niece, Ella (Lily Pilblad) in the…
Nightmare Alley (2021) – Guillermo del Toro
Based on the novel of the same name del Toro’s latest is a lush, shining example of the noir genre, and features strong performances and visuals. I loved how faithful it was to the spirit of the novel, there were a few necessary changes, but none that change any of the overall arcs for any…
Dagon (2001) – Stuart Gordon
So I figured I would take a look at another Lovecraft adaptation, and despite the title of the film, the story is more in line with The Shadow Over Innsmouth, with a slight lean towards Dagon. And while I appreciate what Gordon set out to do, he’s hampered by horrible lighting and photography, and terrible…
Dick Tracy (1990) – Warren Beatty
It’s been a long time since I sat down to watch this film, it may be since it first came out, or at least when it first hit video. I remember wanting to really get into this one when it first came out, I wanted it to be the next big summer blockbuster. So did…
DC Comics Cover Art (2020) – Nick Jones
Neal Adams. Jack Kirby. George Perez. Alex Ross. Dave Gibbons. Amanda Conner. Jim Lee. John Byrne. The tip of the iceberg on a long list of distinguished and exceptional artists who have created iconic images through the years for DC Comics, aiding in the transition of the medium from being seen as ‘just for kids’…
To Live and Die In L.A. (1985) – William Friedkin
I don’t know how it happens, but between the watching and the re-watching, I constantly forget how awesome To Live and Die In L.A. is. I know it’s good, I love this movie, but I seem to be consistently stunned every time I settle in for this one. Amazingly I didn’t see this film upon…
Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) – Robert Florey
Bela Lugosi, with the horrible addition of a unibrow, terrorises unsuspecting Paris in the next stop in the Monstrous Apes chapter of DK Canada’s brilliant Monsters in the Movies book. Based on the classic short story by Edgar Allen Poe, the tale focuses on an evolution obsessed mad scientist, Dr. Mirakle (Lugosi) and the object…
Toronto After Dark 2019: Contracts (2019) – Alex Chung
Tonight’s entry in the Toronto After Dark film festival is the one film in this year’s lineup that I find a little dubious. I love that the festival embraces genre films from all over the world, and that they showcase some fantastic films, but Contracts seems like a bit of misstep. In a post-John Wick…
The Mind Reels 