The Burial
SimilarAlmost Famous (2000), Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Anna and the King (1999), Apollo 13 (1995),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Brubaker (1980), Donnie Brasco (1997), Erin Brockovich (2000), Freedom Writers (2007), Gandhi (1982), GoodFellas (1990), Gridiron Gang (2006), Manhattan (1979), Mississippi Burning (1988), Monster (2003), Schindler's List (1993), The Elephant Man (1980), The Last Emperor (1987), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), The Straight Story (1999), Titanic (1997),
Watch afterBarbie (2023) Killers of the Flower Moon (2023), Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023), The Equalizer 3 (2023), The Killer (2023),
StarringAlan Ruck,
Whenever a crowd pleasing movie hits theaters or streaming, people lament, “They don’t make ‘em like they used to.” Often, these people refer to middle-of-the-road movies from the 80s and 90s, the type of film that would play on cable television in the middle of a Sunday afternoon, something that people watch over and over again, simply because it makes them feel lighter. The Burial, the new courtroom drama from writer/director Maggie Betts, falls firmly into this category. It’s dad-fare, set in 1995 when it also likely would’ve had mainstream success in popular culture. Continue Reading →
High-Rise
This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movies being covered here wouldn't exist. Continue Reading →
Air
SimilarAnna and the King (1999), Brubaker (1980), Freedom Writers (2007), I Stand Alone (1998), Mississippi Burning (1988), Raging Bull (1980), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006),
Watch afterThe Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023),
What makes an object meaningful? The plans its creators had for it? The image that its consumers build into it? The purpose it serves? The one who wields it? Continue Reading →
Cocaine Bear
SimilarBring It On (2000), Brubaker (1980), Freedom Writers (2007), Mississippi Burning (1988), Night at the Museum (2006), The Holiday (2006),
Watch afterEvil Dead Rise (2023),
First, some music to set the mood, with thanks to Paul Thomas Anderson. If it's 1985 and you've got something to do—say, going for a hike, cutting class to paint a waterfall with a pal, or retrieving a shipment of cocaine that your terrifying crime lord dad's good-for-nothing pilot dumped before getting himself killed— and it's a quiet day out, then Georgia's Chattahoochee–Oconee National Forest would seem like the place to go. The trees are tall, the grass is green, and the Cocaine Bear is on a murderous rampage. Continue Reading →
Spoiler Alert
SimilarBrubaker (1980), Freedom Writers (2007), Mississippi Burning (1988), Rope (1948),
While they say that love is eternal, eventually, even the greatest of love stories come to an end. Marriage vows foretell the reality of “to death do us part.” It’s an inevitability rarely explored in cinema, and even then, only in schmaltzy melodramatic weepers. Fortunately, Michael Showalter’s Spoiler Alert is free of schmaltz. Instead, the film deftly explores the process of a couple dealing with a terminal illness amid all the usual messiness of a real relationship. Continue Reading →
Elvis
SimilarBrubaker (1980), Freedom Writers (2007), Mississippi Burning (1988), Raging Bull (1980), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006),
Watch afterThor: Love and Thunder (2022), Top Gun: Maverick (2022),
In the opening seconds of Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis, viewers are blasted with the sight of the Warner Bros. logo – a variant glowing in gold and crimson, practically exploding with flair and moving parts – accompanied on the soundtrack by a remix of “Suspicious Minds.” Within the first few minutes, sweeping shots of Las Vegas clash with Ocean’s 11-style split screens, and the editing juggles between slowmo and cranked-up fast motion, in classic Luhrmann fashion. Continue Reading →