film

Amazon has a lot of money. I wish this was a paid advertisement for their newest series: The Romanoffs. But it’s not. This is an honest review. First off, it’s really good on every level. The acting, the originality of the writing, the filming, their thematic choices, the pacing, and the choice of a constant stream … Read more

There haven’t been a lot of movies I’ve seen in the past year or so that I thought were great. Last month I saw Darren Aronofsky’s Mother!, and it was awesome. Now, I’m not going to spoil the more disturbing things in this movie, so I don’t think I need a “trigger warning” for this … Read more

A series in which I oversimplify one concept from a work of literature to make you a better writer. When I came up with the idea to do a romance for this series, I was tempted to pick a modern romance novel, but thousands come out each year. Even looking at some “best of” lists, … Read more

A series in which I oversimplify one concept from a work of literature to make you a better writer. Time Travel Time travel sucks as a genre. It’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine. Yes, the whole genre. Everyone knows about the grandfather paradox: if you travel back in time and kill your … Read more

Warning 1: Whatever my opinion of Arrival, I warn you to not read this post before seeing it. I’m warning you. There are major spoilers, and these are the types of spoilers that don’t merely reveal some plot twist. These reveals will irrevocably alter the way you experience the movie to an extent where you … Read more

Ellen is the key to understanding Synecdoche, New York. This article makes a thorough case for who she is and argues for one clear meaning to the movie.

I’ve been a longtime fan of Joe Swanberg going all the way back to his first mumblecore film Kissing on the Mouth. He just came out with a new Netflix series, Easy, so I had to check it out. The show doesn’t follow the conventions we’ve come to expect from Netflix. Each episode focuses on … Read more

Steven Pressfield wrote a book called The War of Art back in 2002. Since then, it has risen to cult classic status in various art circles. The book spends some time defining something called the Resistance, and then it turns into a drill sergeant to push you through the Resistance. I want to argue that … Read more

I rewatched Inland Empire recently and was surprised to find that it wasn’t as confusing as I initially thought. I hadn’t watched it in probably eight years, but I remember my initial reaction: this is nonsense. I loved Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, so I was no stranger to Lynch’s style and bizarre narrative structures. … Read more

Last night I watched Upstream Color, the new Shane Carruth movie, for the third time. It is a pretty difficult and abstract film. I’m not sure when I’m next going to watch it. I want to record some half-formed ideas I have about it, so I can refresh my memory in the future if I … Read more