“In 2009, Nicolas Cage Made An Insane Yet Thoughtful Thriller”

AKA, The Parable Of The Lucky Crack Pipe. Continue reading →

Review: Theo Who Lived, 2016, dir. David Schisgall

If you don’t know Theo Padnos, then you probably don’t know Peter Theo Curtis, which is fine: He’s probably okay with not being “known” at this point in his life, because his life, in recent years, has been kinda rough, in which “rough” means “non-existent.” Curtis was kidnapped by Jabhat al-Nusra and kept prisoner between 2012 … Continue reading →

Review: Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World, dir. Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog made a documentary about the Internet, specifically regarding our increasing reliance on it in our daily lives and on global bases, and about the strides being made in the robotics field. It is terrifying. It’s also inspiring and even reassuring, but Herzog looks at the scariest existential shit you can think of without … Continue reading →

Review: Cave of Forgotten Dreams, 2011, dir. Werner Herzog

Leave it to the incomparable Werner Herzog to take the experience of filming chicken-scratch paintings on the walls of a long-sealed cave in the mountains of southern France and turn it into a rumination on the aspirations of humanity and an examination of art’s purpose throughout the history of our species. Herzog, the eccentric and … Continue reading →

Review: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, 2009, dir. Werner Herzog

Werner Herzog possesses an understandable, if somewhat inaccurate, reputation as a director of compelling documentaries that focus on stories that are told outside of the eye of the mainstream and often even the fringe. 2005’s Grizzly Man covered the bizarre, troubled life and grim end of Timothy Treadwell, an activist with a wildlife obsession that … Continue reading →

The Cinematic Decade: My Top 25 of the 2000s (pt. 3)

Third verse, same as the first, Jackie is a punk, Judy is a runt. Entries 15-11, let’s go: 15. Up: The aughts have been pretty good years for Pixar– the studio has put out seven films in ten years, and of those films only one has displayed a poverty of creativity and wit (Cars), while … Continue reading →