The best books and films of 2022, some description thereof, as well as a few of the worst.
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Essays, comments, and asides (as well as witty one-liners) about film or cinema.
Realism Lite: “Midnight Run” (1988)
Realism lite, how film and television suggest serious violence without actually including it, is exemplified in the 1988 buddy film “Midnight Run.”
Continue reading...Female Friends: Ryūsuke Hamaguchi’s "Happy Hour" (2015)
Three curiosities about the lovely 2015 Ryusuke Hamaguchi film about female friendship, "Happy Hour"
Continue reading...Peter Weir’s “The Plumber” (1979) Leaves Uncertain
In 1979 one of Peter Weir’s early films, "The Plumber," saw theatrical release. Little indicated his future.
Continue reading...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
Continue reading...Narcoleptically Read & Watched: April 2022
How do you read and watch narcoleptically? Binging series and reading sparingly, here and there.
Continue reading...“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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...“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.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...“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.
Continue reading...“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.
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