2011 Ten Best Movies

And we wrap up 2011 with another list, this one for the Herald. Read the story here. The actual lists of best (and worst!) are arranged as a slideshow, so you have to do a lot of clicking. I know – ugh. Sorry! I will shortly post the list here in simple-to-read order. In the interests [...]

Movie Diary 12/28/2011

Hey all: the seventh annual Critics Wrap, held at the Frye Art Museum on December 15, is now online, in an abridged form; it will be broadcast on the Seattle Channel on Dec. 29 and 30 at 9 p.m. both days; and again on Dec. 31 at 1 a.m. and 11 p.m. At What a [...]

Movie Diary 12/26/2011

Gunga Din (George Stevens, 1939). Best wishes for the holidays. And as an aside: “Kill in the name of killing! Kill in the name of Kali! Kill! Kill! Kill!” But I hope everybody had a merry Christmas. Brother Orchid (Lloyd Bacon, 1940). I wonder why I never watched this in the days when the local indie [...]

Tinker, Dragon, Method, Horse (Weekly Links)

Links to reviews I wrote for the Herald this week, and etc. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. “True to le Carré’s world but spellbinding in its own stripped-down fashion.” A Dangerous Method. “Brilliant people walking and talking can be a scintillating movie spectacle.” The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. “All those frosty landscapes and IKEA products [...]

Movie Diary 12/20/2011

The Grey (Joe Carnahan, 2011). Carnahan’s yakety-yak plus Liam Neeson’s authority plus survival in the snow plus an actor named Frank Grillo – plus wolves. And holy cats, people, you’ve got yourselves an action picture – not without its absurdities, but not without its grace notes, either. (full review 1/20) At What a Feeling!, the [...]

Movie Diary 12/19/2011

Berth Marks (Lewis R. Foster, 1929). And a few other Laurel and Hardy films from the new ten-disc box set. This is one of the funniest: close quarters on a train, especially in the upper bunk, where the comedy is golden for being confined. Some of the jokes in these movies may show their age, [...]

Mission: Impossible II (The Cornfield #53)

I haven’t seen the new one yet. Instead, a 2000 Film.com review of the second installment. The rap on the first Mission: Impossible movie was that nobody could understand the plot. Still, the picture was a worldwide blockbuster, so the problems of lucidity couldn’t have been that troubling, right? At least that’s the attitude seemingly [...]

Outrage Shadows (Weekly Links)

Links to reviews I wrote for the Herald this week, and etc. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. “Either I’ve surrendered to the idea of a Sherlock Holmes story as an action picture, or this one’s just a better, cleaner movie overall.” Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. “One of the really unexpected [...]

Movie Diary 12/15/2011

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher, 2011). There is no mistaking this for anything other than a Fincher film, all sharp cold edges and crisp scenes. There sure is a sense of deja vu about the whole thing. (full review 12/21) At What a Feeling!, check a vintage review of Morgan Stewart’s Coming [...]

Movie Diary 12/14/2011

Pariah (Dee Rees, 2011). Black lesbian teen in Brooklyn, navigating the shoals. It might not be super-complicated, but what’s here is very good. (full review 1/6) A Separation (Asghar Farhadi, 2011). One of those Iranian films with an incredibly strong central situation, in this case a thorny ethical thicket from which no one, not even [...]