Awards! (2019)

Twenty years of this now. That's probably enough.   Winners in bold, of course.   The Tommy Lee Jones Screentime Award (For amassing the most screentime of the year): - Nicolas Cage (Grand Isle; Kill Chain; Primal; A Score To Settle) - Adam Driver (The Dead Don't Die; The Man Who Killed Don Quixote; Marriage...

Awards! (2018)

Winners and nominees all in one post this year, saving us all time. Winners are in bold, of course.   The Tommy Lee Jones Screentime Award (For amassing the most screentime of the year): - Josh Brolin (Deadpool 2, Avengers: Infinity War, The Legacy Of A Whitetail Deer Hunter, Sicario: Day Of The Soldado) -...

Farewell Filmstruck

The Final Countdown Filmstruck ends and my Deep Vein Thrombosis begins as I spend the entire final day of the streaming service using the streaming service, to varying effect. Which was always the point of Filmstruck, for all the assurances it might have given about being curated and all that, it was curated by humans...

The Awful Truth

November 28, 2018 The Awful Truth was nominated for five Oscars. It won one: Leo McCarey for Best Director. Accepting the award, he said, “Thanks, but you gave it to the wrong picture.” He was referring the other movie he directed in 1937, Make Way For Tomorrow, best known now for allegedly inspiring Ozu’s Tokyo...

Toby Dammit

November 28, 2018 Filmstruck isn’t the only one making a big deal over the 50th anniversary of everything supposedly great that happened in 1968 as if that was the pinnacle of human civilization (when obviously it was 1998, duh), in fact, as just another label of packaging what it’s got at its disposal, saying “these...

Dead Ringer

November 27, 2018 In 1962, What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? revived Bette Davis’ career, but she was still in her late fifties and there wasn’t a whole lot left for her to achieve, so any lead role would still be surprise. And a risk. That she was put into a dual role, playing twins...

Deux Hommes Dans Manhattan

November 26, 2018 I don’t actually know a lot about Jean-Pierre Melville nor the French New Wave. But even without such knowledge I still feel fairly confident this is a perfect blend of the two. The low key mystery lends it more standard plot than what I think French New Wave movies typically have but...

History Is Made At Night

November 25, 2018 I had a notion this was about the Titanic, but couldn’t be sure, and it certainly didn’t seem like it was going to turn out that way after the Into The Night type opening. Then it tosses out a Hindenburg reference as if it knew the exact state of mind I was...

Walkabout

November 24, 2018   On the way out, Filmstruck shows us how prophetic it can be by posting its Director of the Week, Nicholas Roeg, the day before he dies. I’ve seen The Man Who Fell To Earth and Performance and didn’t think either of them worthy of the cult status they’ve since achieved. So...

Room For One More

November 23, 2018 Caught Filmstruck lying again. This is in the brand new Holiday Collection because of two Christmas scenes near the end that serve to set up the climax which takes place on New Year’s Eve. I guess. During the New Year’s Prom anyway. Wherein they countdown the New Year with high school kids,...