It pains me to put any part of this film into the Mistakes Were Made category, especially because on paper The Big Picture has a lot going for it: – It’s the directorial debut of Christopher Guest, one of the sharpest improvisers out there. – It’s the story of a student filmmaker (Kevin Bacon) who makes a well received short film […]
The Candidate (dir. Michael Ritchie, 1972) “I ascribe to Mark Twain’s theory that the last person who should be President is the one who wants it the most. The one who should be picked is the one who should be dragged kicking and screaming into the White House.” – Bill Hicks Welcome to a special Election 2012 […]
Wake in Fright (Dir. Ted Kotcheff, 1971) “What happened?” – Waitress “Well… I got involved.”- John Grant Wake in Fright is a truly bizarre film. It’s a brutal, unflinching portrait of a rural culture steeped in alcohol, violence and sexual repression. The film is so affecting that Martin Scorsese, the same guy who routinely has his characters beaten to death, called […]
Blood In Blood Out (1993, Dir. Taylor Hackford) “Some want all the money, well, Some want all the honey, yeah…Some want all the power, They wanna be the man of the hour” – Albert King, We All Wanna Boogie For the past year I’ve been working with a guy named Tony. He’s a Hispanic guy, […]
So I’m adding a new feature to the Grain&Noise blog. It’s called Mistakes Were Made and it’ll function as a record of the worst things films have to offer. These can be individual scenes, performances, jokes, songs, sweaters, whatever. If I notice something and it makes me audibly groan, or put my palm to my […]
Angel Heart (dir. Alan Parker 1987) You ever watch one of those films that when it’s over your only question is “How the hell did this get made?”. Angel Heart is that film. It’s so visually overwhelming and blends so many different genres that you need more than one viewing just to take it all in. Needless […]
The Spanish Prisoner (dir. David Mamet 1997) “Beware of all enterprises which require new clothes” – George Lang (played by Ricky Jay) quoting Thoreau ( I was glad to hear this quote because now I have some validation for wearing the same ill-fitting t-shirts since eighth grade.) Man, the 90’s just keep looking better and better don’t […]
Carlos (dir. Olivier Assayas 2010) Six hours later I’m finally done with Carlos the miniseries! Man, it was a slog. And this is coming from a guy who loves Doctor Zhivago. But I had to do it. Carlos is, after all, the film that beat The Social Network in Film Comment’s list of ten best films […]
For A Few Dollars More (dir. Sergio Leone 1965) “You never give me your money. You only give me your funny faces.” – Paul One day, when I was nine years old, my father came home with a gift basket he’d won at an office raffle. In the basket were the usual raffle-style knick knacks: […]
So here’s my first semi-review gang. Enjoy. Or at least be slightly amused. The Naked Prey (dir. Cornel Wilde 1966) “Ain’t no need of even askin brah, the best women all reside in Africa, and that’s real.” – Ludacris, Pimpin’ All Over the World. (This quote doesn’t really have anything to do with The Naked Prey […]
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