Letterboxd — Your life in film

The Dark Knight Rises represents an ambitious, sometimes muddled but completely engaging cinematic entertainment that not only helps to flesh out the mythology and philosophy of the trilogy but also stands on its own as a muscular, stakes-driven war film whose spectacle does not compromise on the pathos of its characters and universe.

I think the thing I like the most about the film was the fact that while watching it I felt like there was a feeling of purpose…

Um, yeah, "Drive" really isn't for me... I dont care that it is going after the style and feel of films like Michael Mann's "Thief" or that Gosling harnesses Steve McQueen's cool in "Bullitt"... Everything about this just feels so fucking off... The obtrusive soundtrack, the awkward silences between Driver and Irene, Driver's incessant mumbling- it is all too achingly self aware and that affected my engagement negatively with this film. None of it feels like any fun and you…

Yes! Saw it for the third time last night. Skyfall is my favorite franchise film of 2012 so far- first Bond film that is beautiful and feels like a real artistic exercise despite its pulpy spy story origins. DP Roger Deakins continues to produce amazing work with this film, making it easily the most visually sumptuous Bond film ever. It isn't perfect though- the derivative pulling of story/tonal elements were a bit distracting while watching it but I give it…

This ambitious film represents for me a perfect storm of certain elements coming together:
1) Wally Pfister's cinematography: the widescreen formatting and the use of the IMAX camera creates a new sense of cinematic engagement on the big screen- Gotham feels tangible and the action feels epic.

2) It's an entertaining pop culture study into the psychology of evil: The construction of the Joker character is a revelation- the writers had the good sense to jettison a pathetic backstory for…

So "Prometheus" has finally landed.  It seems the hardest critics of this film will inevitably be fans of Ridley Scott's 1979 "Alien" and even 1982's "Blade Runner" which also favored conflict between creators and the created.  However, it was "Alien" that solidified the subgenre of Sci-fi horror for mainstream audiences by masterfully combining the elements of production design, score, groundbreaking special/practical effects, and character work to create a haunted house creature-feature in space -featuring, it should be noted, a creature…

Mild spoilers: Aside from just being a whole hell of a lot of fun to watch, "The Cabin in the Woods" makes a pretty cogent argument that there are still areas of metanarrative and mythology to explore and mine creatively in the horror genre. While the Scream film franchise of the late 90s, 2000s, and even 2010s concerned itself with the the "HOW?", or the mechanics underlying the traditions and evolution of slasher film franchises (aka The Rules).  Goddard and…

Just completely lacking in interest from me from beginning to end which is mostly because this blockbuster has absolutely no conviction in terms of what it is or knows how to honestly convey a sense of visual wonder and earnestness in its own story and characters.

I went into this thing with pretty low expectations, with my main problem being that from everything that I had seen in the trailers and such that this superhero just didn't need another reboot…

Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan transposes the sometimes impenetrable story of the Tchaikovsky ballet “Swan Lake” to the story of Nina Sayers, a ballerina with a fractured psyche who struggles with her darker side to catalyze an artistic breakthrough and her own self-discovery.  You have heard the hype and Natalie Portman really is as amazing as the critics claim.  She rightly deserves the accolades: she trained hard for almost a year, cultivating a dancer’s discipline and physique and while I am…