The Last Hero in China: My Favorite Yuen Woo-ping Films
I look back fondly at my Letterboxd review of the late Chor Yuen’s The Lizard (1972), which kicked off my Yuen Woo-ping action retrospective in January. Specifically, I have to […]
Tag Archives: comedy
Sullivan’s Travels by Preston Sturges
A message movie disguised as a frothy comedy when it isn’t a frothy comedy disguised as a message movie, Sullivan’s Travels (1941) is an inside-baseball satire on Hollywood’s self-importance and […]
Double Feature: Murder by Death and Clue
Detective stories were among Hollywood’s very first franchises, offering durable structures and just enough variation to keep people wanting more. For the most part, these films were based on popular […]
The Felliniesque Century
Consistently regarded as one of the world’s very greatest filmmakers, Federico Fellini is a daunting subject. Developing a bombastic and playful style, he is one of the few who can […]
Double Feature: The Big Lebowski and The Beach Bum
“Sometimes there’s a man — well, he’s the man for his time and place. He fits right in there.” Thus the voiceover narration in the Coen brothers’ The Big Lebowski […]
Hamlet on Film: Letterboxd Reviews
I’ve gotten to know this play pretty well over the last couple weeks, having as of this writing seen sixteen of the twenty-seven renditions I’ve lined up for this retrospective. […]
Uh … 3 ½? — Get Out
The Introduction One of the true cinematic success stories of this decade, both popularly and critically, is Jordan Peele’s Get Out, an original movie in an age of franchises that managed […]
Double Feature: The Heartbreak Kid and Modern Romance
In outline form, The Heartbreak Kid (1972) and Modern Romance (1981) would best be described as romantic comedies. They have the right structure, working their way through humorous incidents to the ultimate […]
“FLAAAAA-CCID!” — The Stunt and Body Doubles of Death Becomes Her
Of all the modern American directors, none has shown a more comprehensive interest in the advancement of special effects than Robert Zemeckis. Most of his movies, regardless of genre, seem […]
It Isn’t Funny If It Doesn’t Break: Crimes and Misdemeanors
As soothing as “separating the art from the artist” can be, sometimes the more useful course is to dive right into an artist’s output in the context of the allegations […]
Geppetto's Clocks 