Tag: film
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Iron Man
I think us moviegoers have caught on to the whole Superhero Movie thing. We’ve learned that comic book superheroes are born out of a freak radioactive experiment gone wrong, or out of childhood anger, yadda yadda yadda. We know that evil villains will eventually be outsmarted and killed due to excessive monologuing. We’ve caught on…
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Macho, Macho Men: Vulnerability in ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘The Bourne Identity’
Originally published in the North Central Chronicle on April 25, 2008. John McClane, Rambo, the Terminator. They are the American Action Hero: muscular, terse, a killing machine. They favor spouting clever catchphrases and blowing stuff up over expressing emotion. To them, women are hors d’oeuvres best enjoyed while they serve cold dishes of revenge to…
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The Oscars — ‘Once’ Wins!
I got two of my Oscar picks wrong – not bad. I don’t remember why I didn’t pick Diablo Cody to win, but I’m glad she did. Yay for Once! It was pretty lame that Marketa Irglova got cut off, but pretty awesome that Jon Stewart gave her time later. The only reason why the…
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12 Angry Men
Published in the North Central Chronicle on Feb. 22, 2008, as part of a series called “Chad Picks Classic Flicks.” I was about 7 years old when O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder. I’ve seen the highlights—the slow-speed chase, O.J. struggling with the glove—but I don’t remember the sensational media coverage or the racial debates…
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Listen Up, Academy…
My 2007 ACADEMY AWARD PICKS: Best Picture Who will win: No Country for Old Men Who should win: No Country for Old Men Best Director Who will win: The Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men Who should win: The Coen Brothers Best Actor Who will win: Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood…
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Lord of the Rings
The Turner Classic Movies channel is showing Academy Award winning films all day every day this month in a series called “31 Days of Oscar.” I watched Lord of the Rings: Return of the King last night and realized something. I would remember that trilogy for the rest of my life. I hadn’t read the…
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Standing Tall: Comparing ‘High Noon’ and ‘On The Waterfront’
Published in the North Central Chronicle on Jan. 25, 2008 “I have here in my hand…” said Senator Joseph McCarthy in February 1950, effectively hoodwinking the country into a hysterical anti-Communism era known as the Red Scare. McCarthy claimed the list identified 200 Communists within the American government, so he and the House Committee on…
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Some Like It Hot
Published in the North Central Chronicle on November 2, 2007, as part of a series called “Chad Picks Classic Flicks.” After tackling a few different genres—film noir, thriller, crime drama—all of which can take a heavy toll on your senses, I thought it best to visit a genre much older than the film medium and…
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Taxi Driver
Originally published in the North Central Chronicle on October 19, 2007, as part of a series called “Chad Picks Classic Flicks.” In this edition of “Chad Picks Classic Flicks,” I’m skipping over the 1960s in favor of tackling the wide array of great movies in the 1970s. I will return to the decade of sex,…
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Rear Window
Published in the North Central Chronicle on October 5, 2007, as part of a series called “Chad Picks Classic Flicks.” Today we’re going to visit the 1950s, a time when television shows delivered the least objectionable content, when the president of the United States was roundly respected, and when rock stars needed only to shake…
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First Love Birds: Notes on ‘The Notebook’
I watched The Notebook again recently. I still really like it, but now I have some reasons for it. (Though I’m still searching for more.) There is a bird motif. Birds of some kind appear in 3 obvious time: in the very beginning, when old Allie overlooks a boater we assume is Noah/Duke; on the…
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The Third Man
Originally published in the NCC Chronicle on September 21, 2007, as part of the “Chad Picks Classic Flicks” series. With the parade of loathsome summer threequels having turned the corner, and with Oscar season nearing full bloom, I can finally take refuge in some good cinema. But with my schoolboy-like excitement for new good movies…
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Quinceañera
Our protagonist, Magdalena (newcomer Emily Rios), is on the verge of her own quinceañera, the Latino equivalent of a bar mitzvah/Sweet Sixteen for girls. But she first has to take part in her friend’s quinceañera, which is way more decked out than hers will be, and she knows it. Coveting her friend’s wealth notwithstanding, she…
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and the oscar goes to…
Ahhh, the Oscars. Such a glorious time. I guessed 11 correctly which is pretty good for me. Things I’m pumped about: –The Departed winning 4 awards including Best Picture, Best Screenplay, and a much deserved Best Director for Martin Scorsese (finally!) -Alan Arkin blowing everyone away and upsetting Eddie Murphy for Best Supporting Actor –Pan’s…
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you’re coming alive to me
I love it when music and movies come alive. Recently I listened to Copeland’s new album, Eat, Sleep, Repeat. That album, as well as Jack’s Mannequin’s Everything In Transit, somehow opened up a new gateway into music and life for me. When I listened to them, everything else I had ever heard before that seemed…
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The Prestige
The Prestige is a film about magicians and their illusions, but it is also an illusion itself. In the film and in magic, we are first shown the Pledge; a seemingly ordinary scenario that we will assume is probably not so ordinary. Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman) two rival magicians who…