Swashbuckling adventure and thrills like they used to make ‘em! It’s a popcorn blockbuster - but so well crafted. I do appreciate all the pre-code throwbacks to great 1930's cinema - but mostly it's fun to watch all attractive and charming people escape ridiculous, Egyptian danger.

Bonus points for having a Passover plague reference during the holiday.

More movies like this! Looking forward to the (latest) sequel!

Pretty sure when men say they think about the Roman Empire “all the time”, they really just mean Ben-Hur.

It’s not just the spectacle, but the deeply felt human drama and presence of the divine that pervades this film.

Truly the spirit of love and kindness has outlasted all great princely powers.

Love that Charlton Heston has the same Jewish mother in this and the Ten Commandments.

The most honest film about "the big issue" that I've ever seen. It's deeply human and romantic without ever judging the characters the way they judge each other. The fact that it comes in a real and true romantic comedy, with actual movie stars? Cinematic bliss.

People will say this film treats love and violence and emotions and redemption and sin with too much glibness. That ITS NOT SERIOUS ENOUGH. But After a decade of message movies that told and told and told and told and told and told some more - without ever showing us a thing, The Drama is refreshingly honest.

Zendaya and Robert Pattinson give career best (that's right) performances. This is a classic with layers waiting to be revealed. So much better than expected.

Movies!!!

Time and memory are not nearly as linear or logical as we perceive. There are fleeting moments in waking life or dreams when the past can be touched, tasted and felt. This film feels a hell of a lot closer to that truth than most.

Starsky and Hutch, Swedish edition! In all seriousness this is a pretty great neo-noir that has a ton of French Connection and New Hollywood touches. Love realist, gritty vibe of this whole thing, down to the disgusting “native” fast food the main detectives dine on.

The main plot is fairly convoluted and the political points are pretty ham handed - but who cares? It’s got great car chases and great performances throughout.

Another amazing find from Radiance.

It’s said that prophecy comes in dreams. Dream logic pervades this incredible exploration of religion, humanism, sin and blessings. It’s easy to see how this discomfited the religious powers that be — now and then.  

Like all great works of prophecy it can appear heretical, or satirical or mean spirited. But this is a work as infused with spirituality as one can find in cinema. What more do we want from prophecy?

An unexpected find for the Passover/Easter break, and one of the greatest last screams in movie history.

I wouldn't play a video game based on this movie.

Benny Sadfie! What are you doing here?!?!

Luis Bunuel and I both share a deep and abiding fear of being stuck at a terrible party. This has a lot to say about class and politics and inhumanity - but it’s mostly fun as a claustrophobic horror film. Think Rules of the Game in the Twilight Zone. 

Does not go quite as hard as Virdania (although it goes pretty far!) but yeah - the Bourgeoise remains paralyzed by inaction and weakness.

These old school anarchist/surrealist filmmakers would’ve loved the 2020s

A smoldering burn that becomes a raging inferno. The feudal history of Japan went right over my head, but I’d rather watch this than 14 hours of Shogun any day.

Incredible fight choreography and swordsmanship. Makes you want to play every Samurai video game.

Must check out the better known remake, but this was a massive treat.

It wasn’t until I visited the Foundation Prada in Milan that I truly understood Wes Anderson’s commitment to the modern artists who tried to reconcile the 20th century with the beauty and charm and romance of the 19th.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is his strongest statement on and most explicit commitment to that sensibility. But the Fantastic Mr. Fox might be one his works that lives it most successfully.

I hope he makes these layered, inte films forever.

Trying to find redemption or salvation in other people is a foolish and dangerous delusion. Sometimes people are just terrible, and your own goodness does not rest on their behavior.

Brilliantly deep satire. Not at all what I was expecting.

Always a sucker for heist gone wrong. The Cat is way better than it should be throughout. Unhinged triggermen, a cool but dangerous mastermind, hostages, a femme fatale! 

What more does one want from the movies?

Gordie and Vern and Chris and Teddy are eternally on the cusp of manhood. They dodge trains and smoke cigarettes and tell stories just as they always have. It was good to spend time with old friends.

Movies and literature are the only forms of time travel we have available.

Seeing this tonight on the big screen, with my own children felt like opening an old and faded photo album. It's a great film that stands on its own -- performances, script, set pieces, barf-o-rama. 40 years-on, this film that so expertly captures youthful nostalgia, now feels like a memory of my own.

All that for a few diamonds? Suzuki’s imagery rocks (as always) and I love the strength and moxie of Akiko. The convoluted plot and half baked villains, keep this from elevating into something more
than a really fun b-movie.

Diane Keaton is so luminous in this film, that you can almost forget her steely resolve as Kay in the Godfather, or her wounded school teacher in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, or the determination of Louise May in Reds. Her range was so great, her filmography so stacked with all-time classics - that it almost feels trite to discuss her career.

But we were extremely lucky to have her, for as long as we had her. And much like Alvy Singer learns at the end of this film -- we can be happy and melancholy and sad and inspired by her all at the same time.

*Screened by the Cognitive Film Society at the Hewlett Woodmere Public Library.

Under fascism there is no real loyalty. There is no trust and the pervasive lack of morality affects everyone within its grasp. Weak Spot takes the classic Hitchcock “wrong man” trope and turns it inside out.

This a sweaty, sticky film that underscores the animal desires for power and domination that are the real fuel for a fascist regime. While it has some pacing issues, the constant twists and turns keep the intensity burning.

A real and true “found classic” remastered perfectly on Blu-ray by Radiance.

Ryland Grace can’t seem to relate to any humans and isn’t much interested in saving humanity. The one creature he does care for, is a bizarrely sycophantic alien, who speaks like a chatbot given voice. Rocky reminded me far more of ChatGpt or Claude than E.T. or Spock.

While this is technically very well made, it’s also deeply dull, where literally nothing happens for long stretches of the film, save for conversations with Gosling and his weird friendly Alien Intelligence.

Embrace AI instead of other people is certainly a message I guess.

There are some nice visuals, but they’re extremely derivative of 2001, Interstellar and Star Trek. There’s nothing you haven’t seen yet in far better films, with far better scripts and much more defined characters.

A lot of people love the book, and the movie is clearly resonating with huge audiences. I had to fight dozing off multiple times.

Opera! No seriously. This is Boorman’s Wagnerian fever dream of English myth, literally set to the score of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, The Ring, and Parsifal. The soundstages and set pieces look ripped straight from Bayreuth! 

Obviously none of this mattered to me the zillions of times I watched this film on HBO growing up. And it’s still one of the great 1980s fantasies. The cast is packed with Gabriel Byrne, Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson all showing up as hardcore knights. And Helen Mirren would be iconic as Morgana - if she wasn’t subsequently iconic in tons of films for 40 more years and counting.

It’s got magic. It’s got bloody sword fights. It’s got Meeeeerrlin! It looks amazing! And if you grab the Arrow 4K - it’s never ever been higher quality. 

Such fun!

Arrogance is the greatest expression of the evil inclination, and this film is rife with its expression. Using actual human beings as toys or objects - is bound to invite a righteous punishment.

Rare to see the face of an avenging Angel on screen, but Turffaut embues Franca’s final expression with all the power of a Valkyrie.

Redemption - but only for the audience.

How much are you willing to sacrifice for your obsessions? Your time? Your focus? Your health? Your soul? When those obsessions feel important? Or reveal some hidden, critical, essential truth?

Chronovisor creeps into you by immersing you in the very personal nature of discovery and the satisfactions that come with an unresolved quest. The score - like a Wagnerian opera - rises and swells but never resolves. The grainy 16mm film stock feels like a grungy, half forgotten memory.

Like Red Rooms - another film steeped in obsession and screens — this is a work that likely requires multiple viewings to reveal its deeper pleasures. But even on first watch - the Chronovisor and its implications are obviously real - even if the device remains a myth?

A brilliant feature debut. By far the best new movie I've seen this year. Can't wait to see it again.