Aladdin Pt 2: Manic Magical Improv, Sight Gags, and "Prince Ali"

In Part 1 of our re-watch of Disney's Aladdin (the proper one, from 1992, not the live-action thing coming out this weekend) Ben got us through the introductions to good-hearted "street rat" Aladdin, frustrated princess Jasmine, and up to the mouth of the Cave of Wonders. We enter as Aladdin takes his first step into a whole new world…

Part 2 by Tim Brayton

0:28:04 – Let's take just a minute to appreciate the atmospheric concision of this descent into the cave. First, we had a shot of Aladdin stepping over the tiger-god's teeth, dissolving into this beautiful wide shot of him (below) at the top of an impossible flight of stairs, a tiny bright dot in the overall gloom that shifts from cold blue to hot, threatening red as our eye glides down the lines of the composition.

Then another dissolve takes us to the foot of stairs, with Aladdin about to step into the heart of the cave. It's a swift, visually-driven way of taking us down into… Hell? It's hard to say just yet, but it creates a terrific sense of mystery, both promising and foreboding...

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The New Classics - Collateral

Michael Cusumano here to take us back to the Summer of 2004 for the latest film to join the ranks of The New Classics.

Scene: Jazz Club
While Collateral has both feet down in the realistic, that trademark Michael Mann style is just intoxicating enough to make my mind wander to the mystical. I can't help but view Mann’s thriller as a modern retelling of Bergman's The Seventh Seal. Tom Cruise’s Vincent is the Grim Reaper and Jamie Foxx’s Max is von Sydow’s knight, granted a temporary reprieve because he has piqued Death’s interest...

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"The Garden Left Behind" is a Must-See Festival Hit

Part 3 of 3 by Nathaniel R

"The Garden Left Behind" is a festival hit

The 5th annual Bentonville Film Festival deserved more than three posts but we do what we can with our time (ICYMI - parts one and two). At any rate we will have an opportunity to revisit a few of the films when they arrive in movie theaters. But herewith the wrap up via our "Best of Fest" winner. Don't miss it when it hits a festival near you (it'll be on the circuit for at least a few more months) or your local arthouse movie theater a bit later.

THE GARDEN LEFT BEHIND
This first time feature, a trans drama from gay Brazilian director Flavio Alves, picked up its second festival Audience Award at Bentonville. The first was at SXSW. Alves is still talking with distributors and the film has sparked interest but at this writing nothing is quite nailed down yet. Given that trans stories are increasingly popular with audiences, someone really ought to bite, as there's surely an arthouse market for it...

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Watch at Home: Killing Sacred Deers in Moonlit Hidden Worlds

The heads up on what's newly available right now to screen at home.

New on DVD/Blu-Ray
• How to Train Your Dragon The Hidden World - do we think this has a shot at the Oscar or was the conversation too muted? The series hasn't yet won the gold.
• Isn't It Romantic  If you can't get enough Rebel Wilson in movie theaters with The Hustle, you can try her romantic comedy from earlier in the year. We haven't actually caught this yet. If you have do let us know what you thought in the comments as we're curious about it.
• The Upside Bryan Cranston and Kevin Hart led this unexpected hit based on the French blockbuster The Intouchables.

New to streaming titles and iTunes deals on the ultra cheap are after the jump...

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Review: John Wick 3: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

By Lynn Lee

“Guns.  Lots of guns.”

That line is only one of several of John Wick 3’s nods to its spiritual predecessor, The Matrix, albeit the most overt one.  With the right audience, it draws appreciative laughs.  It also embodies everything that’s both most effective and most lacking in Keanu Reeves’ latest blockbuster franchise.  The action pyrotechnics are dazzling, the callouts to his last blockbuster franchise amusing, but once the last gun stops firing, there’s nothing left.  Nothing to feel, think about, or care about, even as the story ends on yet another cliffhanger that practically ensures the next installment we all knew was coming and was sealed by the movie’s gargantuan opening box office haul.

It wasn’t always this way.  The first John Wick had a simplicity of premise that made for a sharp and clean, if fundamentally goofy, revenge narrative...

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