film

Essays, comments, and asides (as well as witty one-liners) about film or cinema.

Powerful May Reading, Viewing: 2022 edition

May reading and viewing of Ashley Vaught in 2022. Best of: "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia, "Dubliners", and "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" by Ryusuke Hamaguchi

2022-06-02
Monthly Reading, Viewing Report

Narcoleptically Read & Watched: April 2022

How do you read and watch narcoleptically? Binging series and reading sparingly, here and there.

2022-05-04
Monthly Reading, Viewing Report

“Night Hunter” (2018) is no “Night of the Hunter” (1955)

"Night Hunter" (2018), a weak serial killer thriller, is no "Night of the Hunter" (1955), a film next to "Citizen Kane" (1940) in the pantheon of film history.

2022-03-23
On Film, Movies, Cinema

Stanley Kubrick’s “The Killing” (1956): Misanthropy Run Amok

"The Killing" makes murder a spectacle, something beautiful, peopled with a group of ne’er-do-wells whose destruction we will undoubtedly enjoy.

2022-02-22
On Film, Movies, Cinema Viewing Journal

Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies” (2010): Seeking Expiation

In Denis Villeneuve’s 2010 film "Incendies" siblings seek a brother and father never known to deliver letters from their recently deceased mother.

2021-10-17
On Film, Movies, Cinema Viewing Journal

René Clément’s “Forbidden Games” (1952): Mourning as Indifference

"Forbidden Games" (1952) tells a story of how children, uninitiated in the rituals of mourning, recognize the loss of those dearest through substitution.

2021-09-20
On Film, Movies, Cinema Viewing Journal

Ain’t it cool?!: “John Wick” (2014)

The culture of the exotic, fascinating underworld thrills us in “John Wick,” not merely the well-choreographed gun-fu.

2021-07-26
On Film, Movies, Cinema Confessions of a Bad Movie Watcher

“Collateral” (2004): Notes on Michael Mann and Modern Urban Space

Notes on the debt to “Miami Vice,” the treatment of urban space, and stylistic gunplay in Michael Mann’s 2004 film “Collateral,” which stars Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise.

2021-06-27
On Film, Movies, Cinema Viewing Journal

Joseph Losey’s “Accident” (1967): Elliptical yet fascinating

“Accident” narrates the sexual and professional tensions between an Oxford philosophy professor, his colleague, and his students, in events leading to the title event.

2021-04-11
Viewing Journal On Film, Movies, Cinema

“Marauders” (on Netflix now) is Sooooo Bad

The 2016 film “Marauders” is a gunplay and bank robbery story that is not so bad that it’s good.

2020-12-04
On Film, Movies, Cinema Confessions of a Bad Movie Watcher

“Sudden Fear” (1952): Neither sudden nor fearful

“Sudden Fear” tells the tale of a playwright that married the wrong man and was almost written out of the script.

2020-11-26
On Film, Movies, Cinema Confessions of a Bad Movie Watcher

The Genius of Ozu’s “Good Morning” (1959)

Children in Good Morning protest social mores because they fail to appreciate the rules governing the relations of families and neighbors.

2020-07-14
Faves On Film, Movies, Cinema Viewing Journal

Is Writing About Bad Movies a Waste?

In which I performatively answer the question with reference to an episode of The Mandalorian, whether one should write about bad movies/televisions shows.

2020-06-20
On Film, Movies, Cinema Confessions of a Bad Movie Watcher

Joanna Hogg’s “Unrelated” (2007): The Desire to Belong

Reflections on an early film by the British film director Joanna Hogg, which I viewed in preparation for seeing The Souvenir (2019).

2020-04-05
On Film, Movies, Cinema Viewing Journal

Does Philosophy Do Film?

“Clearly you are not a bowler”: Can film do philosophy? Can philosophy do film?

2019-12-31
On Ideas, Concepts, Intuitions On Film, Movies, Cinema Reading Journal

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film

Powerful May Reading, Viewing: 2022 edition

Narcoleptically Read & Watched: April 2022

“Night Hunter” (2018) is no “Night of the Hunter” (1955)

Stanley Kubrick’s “The Killing” (1956): Misanthropy Run Amok

Denis Villeneuve’s “Incendies” (2010): Seeking Expiation

René Clément’s “Forbidden Games” (1952): Mourning as Indifference

Ain’t it cool?!: “John Wick” (2014)

“Collateral” (2004): Notes on Michael Mann and Modern Urban Space

Joseph Losey’s “Accident” (1967): Elliptical yet fascinating

“Marauders” (on Netflix now) is Sooooo Bad

“Sudden Fear” (1952): Neither sudden nor fearful

The Genius of Ozu’s “Good Morning” (1959)

Is Writing About Bad Movies a Waste?

Joanna Hogg’s “Unrelated” (2007): The Desire to Belong

Does Philosophy Do Film?