This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
"Three years into the war, my mother died, and the next year, my father and I left Tokyo."
Hayao Miyazaki might genuinely be the best to ever do it.
Even if this doesn't end up being Miyazaki's final film, it certainly feels like a farewell of sorts. The Boy and the Heron (or if you prefer its original title, How Do You Live?) is a wonder of a film, jam-packed with ideas that the director has gone back to multiple…
"As a matter of fact, Christmas has always smelled like oranges to me."
I was lucky enough to catch this on the big screen with my fiancée. It was my second time seeing it and her first (and she loved it, thankfully). It's just a flawless movie. No notes whatsoever. One of my favorite Letterboxd reviews for the film calls it the Great American Novel and they're 1000% correct.
There's such extraordinary filmmaking on display here, from the directing to…
"You're my little Ang Lee."
The "entered high school in the fall of 2008" representation... chilling!
I really enjoyed Sean Wang's Oscar-nominated documentary short Nai Nai & Wài Pó, but it's amazing how assured his direction is in Dìdi. Wang's script is as incisive, as personal, and as funny as the best teen coming-of-age films, but Dìdi gets an extra boost from its two extraordinary central performances: Izaac Wang, as the "younger brother" of the title, gives an uncannily confident performance,…
I know Gints Zilbalodis has gone on the record to insist that the cat in Flow is gray, but as the father of a little black cat, I can't accept that.
Before Tilly, I wasn't a cat person. I was scared of them, actually -- I had a bad experience with one as a preteen and it put me off of them for over a decade. But I love my guy more than I can say. He's a rude little…
Man, Anne Bancroft is something in this, isn't she?
Her performance can truly only be described as something of a tour-de-force. It's an outstanding testament to her skill, her focus as an actor. The dedication to physicality, the rich inner turmoil, the clarity and pain in her eyes. It's really tremendous. Pinter gives her an enormous challenge with the role but she succeeds beautifully. Opposite her is a strong Peter Finch, but make no mistake: it's Bancroft's world and we're just living in it.
Joshua Logan once said that his use of color filters in this film was the worst decision he made in his filmmaking career. And you know what? He was absolutely correct. This nonsense is unwatchable.
South Pacific is a musical that I hold a lot of fondness for. It's a fantastic score paired with a very well-intentioned script that aims to condemn racism (and the way Rodgers and Hammerstein use their romantic leading lady as the racist who has to…
