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Sunday
Jul282019

Review: Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

This review was originally published in Nathaniel's column at Towleroad...

We want you... to see this movie so we can talk about it.

[Spoiler-free review] Here’s the best way to know that you’re inside an auteur’s movie. It’s impossible to imagine it having been made by anyone else. Quentin Tarantino’s 10th feature film (creatively referred to as his 9th, presumably to give him a retirement out after his various “I’ll quit after 10 films!” proclamations) is a fable about Hollywood. The movie begins in 1968 and ends in the summer of 1969 when the very pregnant actress Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski’s new wife, and her house guests were all brutally murdered by the Manson family. Any number of filmmakers could have made a movie about that infamous year in California, but only Tarantino could have made Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood

Historical events, real ones at least, have never been as sacred to Tarantino as the history of the movies. Whenever he’s dipped into “history” -- Django Unchained, Inglourious Basterds-- it’s been as emotionally loaded prefab worlds from which to spin his own idiosyncratic yarns.  In this regard Once Upon a Time is no exception. To this viewer, though, his latest movie feels closer in spirit to Pulp Fiction...

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Friday
Jul262019

Oscar Hopefuls from The Netherlands

by Nathaniel R

Romy's Salon is one of nine finalists to be the Dutch Oscar submission

Dutch films have been on our brains since Rutger Hauer passed away, so here's a timely bit of news. The NOSC (Nederlandse Oscar Selectie Commissie) will choose the Dutch Oscar submission in early September. Nine finalists are reportedly up for the honor...

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Friday
Jul262019

on the pages of a blueboy magazine...

Remember when Gus Van Sant made Keanu Reeves into a living softcore magazine cover in My Own Private Idaho? Good times. 

(Thanks to Canadian filmmaker Bruce La Bruce for this memory jog

Thursday
Jul252019

Venice Lineup Announced

by Nathaniel R

Hirokazu Kore-eda is back quickly after "Shoplifters" with "The Truth" starring Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, and Ethan Hawke

Since we never get to go to Venice *sniffle* we can't grant them as much time as we do TIFF each year but here's a quick check in with their lineup of films. The festival kicks off on Wednesday August 28th and wraps on Saturday September 7th, just as TIFF's first weekend is in full swing. Telluride happens during all that, too --it's a busy time for cinephiles, critics, stars, and filmmakers... 

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Thursday
Jul252019

Review: The Lion King (2019)

by Tim Brayton

The refrain echoing through many of the negative reviews of Disney's new remake of The Lion King – and even a few of the not-as-enthusiastic positive reviews – has been that the film is "pointless." Which, yeah, it is: a scene-by-scene, line-by-line, and frequently shot-by-shot remake of the 1994 classic that is weaker on essentially every possible point of comparison. The only reason to watch the new film while the 1994 film exists is because the new one is in theaters and thus is bigger.

So let's not belabor that. Instead, let's try, as much as possible, to take the film on its on terms. Let's pretend, if we possibly can, that this is a brand new story told using cutting-edge technology, and freed from the shackles of memory and nostalgia. Sad to say, even if that might mean that The Lion King isn't pointless, it's still not very good...

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