Here we have an Italian visual effects-driven cat-and-mouse caper film that hinges on a female antihero pulling one over on a highly respected and famously successful male master detective. Filibus outwits the tests of time at every twist.
There might only be one way to read the thing, but it all adds up as a sharply edged commentary on the gross inexplicitly of the past five years. Saber’s allure may be all empty calories, quick fixes, and endorphin rushes, but Red Rocket blasts audiences with a thoroughly magnetic romp with a ridiculously unshakable main character.
Ultimately, you don't have to care about the royals to care about Spencer. This is just intoxicating filmmaking, masterful acting, and a Jonny Greenwood score that should be awarded on Oscar night.
This time, we have two films from studio utilitarian director Joseph Pevney (who’d go on to direct some of the great classic Star Trek episodes), and one by sci-fi/horror favorite director Jack Arnold. How do these titles rate as bona fide Film Noir?
The place is Manila. The race is the first-ever Manila 1000- an event that’s exactly what it sounds like: a 1000-mile tear across the rough open roads of an unsuspecting Manila.
Mostly, The Super Bob Einstein Movie functions as star-powered one-stop shopping for all the subject’s greatest hits, presented with all the fat cut out.
It’s both Air Force propaganda and a failed Howard Hughes vanity piece. It’s the final released film of legendary fallen director Josef von Sternberg. It began at one major studio and ended up at another. It’s got a redressed, drab, muddy Western set doubling for Russia in the film’s second half. It might be silly at times, but it’s never dull. There’s so, so, so much red meat here for a film historian to chew on.
Licorice Pizza comes together by never really coming together. Not unlike driving backwards, it eventually reaches its destination, albeit memorably unconventionally, and a little precariously. It’s coming-of-age meander- stunted, naive, or otherwise- is entirely the delicious point.
What is The Matrix Resurrections? You actually do have to see it for yourself in order to truly comprehend the layers and levels of lore, exposition, and uneasy lobs at no less than Warner Bros. But doing so is philosophically unnecessary. The choice, as they say, is yours.
For all of the grandeur, detail, and enormity of 1482 Paris depicted in this prestigious undertaking, this is, first and last, Lon Chaney’s show. It’s his presence and his 110-percent devotion to portraying Quasimodo that fuels this version of Hunchback to culturally persist when so many subsequent adaptations have been forgotten.
Jim co-founded ZekeFilm in 2011. He's been writing about films since 2003 for outlets such as ScreenAnarchy. He is the current President of the St. Louis Film Critics Association, and an adjunct instructor of film studies at Webster University. He's also worked as video editor and Art Director for professional film and video productions. He also co-hosted the long-running comedy podcast, The Wonder Show. He is a life-long St. Louisian living with his wife and four children.
