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Notes on a Second Viewing – The Departed
(Note: SPOILERS AHEAD) – The impotent/viral dynamic between Colin (Damon) and Billy (DiCaprio)/Frank (Nicholson) is still the film’s funniest subtext, though I seem to have missed one of its key appearances. After Frank and Colin meet at Frank’s porn theater (where studly Frank waves a dildo at limp-dicked Colin), Colin is chased by Billy into…
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Shocker (1989): C
Shocker may not be scary, but it is educational. For instance, did you know that fathers and sons regularly share an impenetrable psychic bond that manifests itself in dreams? And believe it or not, when spirits possess the bodies of living others, the deceased’s original physical disabilities (like a limp) carry over to their new…
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Fatherhood 2.0
Why no recent blog posts? Well, because on Feb. 1st, Cathy and I welcomed our second daughter into the world: Julia Madeline Schager. As one might imagine, it’s made for a crazy past two weeks, though I’ve nonetheless managed to get a few reviews done – links to which can be found alongside the obligatory…
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SOMA, in Flannel
My second contribution to SOMA magazine is the cover story for February’s “Film Issue.” It’s a profile of Julianne Nicholson, current star of Law & Order: Criminal Intent and recent lead in Jeff Lipsky’s superbly acted relationship drama Flannel Pajamas. Because of how the magazine’s site is designed, the below link will simply get you…
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Notes on a Second Viewing – A History of Violence
• Though Cronenberg claims to have been unfamiliar with the film’s graphic novel source material, his compositions regularly invoke comic book panels – such as a Leone-esque shot from Tom Stall’s hip during his front lawn stand-off with Carl Fogarty (above), or a climactic master shot of the entranceway to Tom’s home in which Richie’s…
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Slow Week
Not much new stuff for this week’s link round-up – and certainly not much positive stuff. But I still recommend any of the below films over Smokin’ Aces (out today), which grows worse in my memory with each passing day… Today: Catch and Release (Slant magazine) Blood and Chocolate (Slant magazine) The Coming Weeks: The…
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Crank (2006): C+
Racist, xenophobic, homophobic and sexist – Crank has some intolerance for everyone. Hurtling forward like a nihilistic PCP addict on a bender, Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor’s action film about a hitman poisoned with a drug that’ll cause him to die if his heart rate drops too low – in other words, it’s Cardiac Speed…
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Babe (1995): A-
For all its sublime charms, Babe’s most endearing attribute may be its universality, which extends from its episodic tale’s lessons about tolerance to its Hoggett farm setting, a storybook locale that feels at once Midwestern American, rural English, and sleepy countryside Australian. Based on Dick King-Smith’s children’s book “The Sheep-Dog,” Chris Noonan’s film (co-written with…
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Maintaining Focus
With my beloved New Orleans Saints only one win away from their first-ever trip to the Super Bowl, it’s been tough focusing on non-football-related matters this week. Fortunately, a host of new review assignments kept me distracted from feverishly obsessing over this Sunday’s NFC Championship game, and the (largely negative) fruits of my labor can…
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The Last Boy Scout (1991): C+
No wonder screenwriter Shane Black’s career took a nosedive shortly after The Last Boy Scout – there was nowhere left to go but down after creating the apotheosis of the modern interracial-buddy action film genre he helped popularize with 1987’s Lethal Weapon. Jammed full of so many ludicrously cartoonish set pieces and hip one-liners that…
