Sam Williams

Sam Williams Pro

Favorite films

  • Through a Glass Darkly
  • Paris, Texas
  • True Romance
  • Rear Window

Recent activity

All
  • Murders in the Zoo

    ★★★

  • Strawberry Mansion

    ★★★½

  • Rich and Strange

    ★★½

  • Cal State Long Beach, CA, January 2020

    ★★★

Pinned reviews

More
  • Through a Glass Darkly

    Through a Glass Darkly

    ★★★★★

    This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

    "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." - 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)

    In his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul speaks of life as a veil and the afterlife as a revealing of the world beyond our world, one that we can now only glimpse. It's a similar metaphor to the one used by Plato in…

  • Red Rocket

    Red Rocket

    ★★★★

    The schemer is a classic film archetype. Whether it's "Honest" John from Pinocchio, Moses Pray from Paper Moon, Howard Ratner from Uncut Gems or any of the countless other examples, there's something beguiling about a con man, a character who you love to hate. Mikey, the protagonist of Red Rocket, undoubtedly belongs in that group. He's a despicable person, but he's magnetic and somehow still likeable. You're rooting for him to fail and rooting for him to succeed at the…

Recent reviews

More
  • Murders in the Zoo

    Murders in the Zoo

    ★★★

    Murders in the Zoo reminded me of The Greatest Show on Earth in the sense that the setting is partly there for the story but partly there just to show fun stuff on screen. Though Murders in the Zoo isn't half infomercial, not set at a real, named zoo, sadly. It's a mildly diverting 60 minutes, though the opening scene is the best part by far.

  • Strawberry Mansion

    Strawberry Mansion

    ★★★½

    Sort of a cross between Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and They Live, but with a colorful, low-budget aesthetic. I would probably have appreciated it more if I hadn't seen the former (along with Charlie Kaufman's other films), but I still appreciate it. The soundtrack is by friend of a friend Dan Deacon and and the lead actor looks like my friend Danny, so that's two more things going for it.

Popular reviews

More
  • The Reader

    The Reader

    ★★½

    If you want me to sympathize with a Nazi, having her sleep with a 16-year-old in her 40s isn't the way to do it.

  • Night Ride

    Night Ride

    ★★

    Very superficial, even for a short. And it makes light of a serious subject while furthering negative stereotypes.