The Stream
The Stream | The Accidental Tourist
My senior year of high school, I discovered Lawrence Kasdan’s film The Accidental Tourist and loved it immediately. Considering that was eight years ago, I decided it was time to revisit the film. Upon re-watching it I realized that not only did it hold up, but it was even more poignant and rewarding than before. The understated and brilliant, William Hurt plays Macon, a travel writer whose books tell how to travel without leaving your comfort zone. After the sudden and tragic death of his child, he and his wife (Kathleen Turner) drift apart and he finds himself struggling to get back into the groove of life. However, he soon meets Muriel (Geena Davis) who dares him to break out of his mundane safe life and take a chance. Letting go and starting over are themes that have been around forever, but Kasdan breathes life into his piece by introducing unique characters whose quirks and oddities show flawed human beings. With every line of dialogue and character action, the audience is presented with individuals who struggle with who they are and show their ability to change. This alone marks The Accidental Tourist as a well crafted ensemble character piece, and certainly worth your time. Highly recommended and available on Netflix watch instantly.
The Stream | Lumet, Anderson, and Maddin
The Stream is back once again, and in this edition I discuss three very different films from three very different filmmakers. The late cinematic great Sidney Lumet, brooding genre filmmaker Brad Anderson, and experimental auteur Guy Maddin are all featured. Remember all films presented here are on Netflix watch instantly and I recommend checking them out. Read the rest of this entry »
The Stream | Exit Through the Gift Shop & Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Two of my favorite films of the past year, Exit Through the Gift Shop and Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, are both available on Netflix Watch Instantly and must be seen by film fans. Both are 2010 documentaries exploring ideas and themes that are endlessly fascinating to me. One explores the deconstruction of art and the other the nature of being a celebrity. Although they are very different films, the one thing they have in common is… they are excellent. Read the rest of this entry »
Under the Radar/The Stream | Michael Mann’s “The Keep”
THEY WERE ALL DRAWN TO THE KEEP. The soldiers who brought death. The father and daughter fighting for life. The people who have always feared it. And the one man who knows its secret… THE KEEP Tonight, they will all face the evil.
For film fans there is often no greater treasure than viewing a movie you had no idea existed, or in the case of Michael Mann‘s 1983 gothic horror film The Keep, re-discovering a film that has been forgotten by it’s studio. The Keep was always the hole in Mann’s filmography that I had hoped to someday fill, although doing so would involve tracking down a crummy VHS pan and scan version of a movie that was shot in 70mm (the IMAX of it’s time). For me, any knowledge of the picture was limited to it’s IMDB page and the synopsis posted there.
Nazis guard a citadel that harbors a dangerous force that starts wreaking havoc and death upon them, forcing an uneasy alliance with a Jewish professional who can stop it.
Intriguing no? I for one love WWII stories and anytime Mann steps out of the urban landscape and into a period piece is worth seeing.
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The Stream | Vol. IV
The Stream is a new column that acts as a venue for Filmdogs writers to post shorter reviews of movies they have watched on streaming video services such as Netflix, Hulu, or even YouTube. Let’s get started.
Black Narcissus (1947)
Written and directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, Black Narcissus is a film so spectacular, I am saddened that it has taken me this long to watch it. Deborah Kerr plays Sister Clodagh, the head nun in charge of leading a group of her fellow sisters to a palace in the Himalayas and setting up a school. Black Narcissus has heavily influenced both Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, and in Scorsese’s Shutter Island there is a fantastic reference to this film. In 1947, the flashback scenes of Kerr’s character were banned by the Catholic Legion of Decency, and I am still amazed that this film was made at all. Watching these nuns questioning their faith and sanity is quite unnerving and the tension drips in every scene. Deborah Kerr and Kathleen Byron as Sister Ruth are exceptionally great as rivals of good and evil. This is an amazingly haunting film.
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The Stream | Vol. 3
The Stream is a new column that acts a venue for Filmdogs writers to post shorter reviews of movies they have watched on streaming video services such as Netflix, Hulu, or even YouTube. Let’s get started.
Black Dynamite
Where do I begin with Black Dynamite? It’s a modern update of a classic Blaxploitation film, except it’s still set in the 70s. It’s also really funny, but it’s not a spoof. The movie stars martial artist Michael Jai White (Spawn, The Dark Knight) as the title character, Black Dynamite, a guy who makes Shaft look like Urkle. The Plot? Well, it’s weird. However, it starts simply enough with Black Dynamite bustin heads in search of his brotha’s killer. He kills tons of thugs and sleeps with all the women. Plus, there is some great Kung Fu on display. What more could you want?
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The Stream | Neo-noir Edition
The Stream is a new column that acts a venue for Filmdogs writers to post shorter reviews of movies they have watched on streaming video services such as Netflix, Hulu, or even YouTube. Let’s get started.
This time around I will be reviewing three excellent modern noir films. All are available on Netflix watch instantly. First up the is the best of the bunch, John Dahl’s Red Rock West.
Red Rock West (1993)
Michael (Nicolas Cage) is a down and out drifter who arrives in Red Rock, Wyoming looking for work. What transpires is an amazingly (and at times hilarious) complicated turn of events, where everyone is playing each other and nothing is what it seems. This movie is fantastic. John Dahl uses his locations to absolute perfection, making the setting yet another great character. The scenery is amazing to look at, and the prefect place for Cage to get stranded. It is a treat to watch him struggle to leave Red Rock. I, on the other hand, didn’t want to leave. I could watch this film everyday.
Also, the late Dennis Hopper gives a crazy as hell performance like only he could. Read the rest of this entry »
The Stream | Vol. 2
The Stream is a new column that acts a venue for Filmdogs writers to post shorter reviews of movies they have watched on streaming video services such as Netflix, Hulu, or even YouTube. Let’s get started.
Goodbye Solo
Two men form an unlikely friendship that will change both of their lives forever.
Sometimes a film is so much more than it’s synopsis, such is the case with the indie masterpiece Goodbye Solo. The story, which takes place in Winston-Salem NC is simple. An old and weathered man named William pays a cab driver from Senegal named Solo to pick him on up a certain date and take him to a mountain peak outside of town. Yet, he never mentions being driven on a trip home. This fact immediately bothers the curious and friendly Solo who begins to take an interest in William’s life. William warms to Solo and his family, and you can see he harbors some great pain, but can he be saved? Read the rest of this entry »
New Column | The Stream
The Stream is a new column that will act a venue for filmdogs writers to post shorter reviews of movies they have watched on streaming video services such as Netflix, Hulu, or even YouTube. Hopefully, these more concise wrap-ups of said films will help you, the readers, to come to some conclusions about the ever growing library of steaming content on the web. Either that or you’ll at least you’ll know that Princess of Mars isn’t that new Andrew Stanton movie.
First up, Oren Moverman’s moving drama The Messenger. Read the rest of this entry »
