Release: Friday, June 24, 2016 (Netflix) [Netflix] Written by: Rob Burnett Directed by: Rob Burnett A long time ago I made some comment to the effect of being frustrated by how easily I'm tricked into watching movies starring Paul Rudd. This knee-jerk reaction was inspired by a viewing of the terrible 2012 comedy Wanderlust which paired him with Jennifer Aniston. … Continue reading The Fundamentals of Caring
#goodmovie
The Lady in the Van
Release: Friday, December 4, 2015 (limited) [Theater] Written by: Alan Bennett Directed by: Nicholas Hytner The Lady in the Van is really good if you like watching movies about the elderly, the homeless and the incontinent. (Spoiler alert: I don't mind them.) Maggie Smith, who is the lady in the van, is a real piece of work in … Continue reading The Lady in the Van
Creep
Release: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 [Netflix] Written by: Patrick Brice; Mark Duplass Directed by: Patrick Brice Creep is Brice's directorial debut, pairing the writer-director with master of strange Mark Duplass of mostly independent film fame. As with his sophomore effort The Overnight the less I mumble on, the higher Creep's potential to surprise becomes. And if I'm not just … Continue reading Creep
It Follows
Release: Friday, March 13, 2015 [Theater] Written by: David Robert Mitchell Directed by: David Robert Mitchell Subtly unsettling and certainly spooky the unseen, inexplicable threat at the heart of It Follows is not likely to strike you right away, but if you let it that paranoid feeling will eventually find you. David Robert Mitchell has come up with a … Continue reading It Follows
The Judge
Release: Friday, October 10, 2014 [Theater] Written by: Nick Schenk; Bill Dubuque Directed by: David Dobkin The honorable David Dobkin, who's responsible for giving the world Wedding Crashers, presides over his very first drama and makes a relatively strong case for his continued exploration outside his comfort zone. Despite narrative clutter and a doggedly long runtime (almost two and a half hours), … Continue reading The Judge
Belle
Release: Friday, May 2, 2014 (limited) [Theater] Period dramas are like unicorns when it comes to this blog. In fact, I believe them to be such a rarity that this is the very first time one dared rear its head here. But it only seems fair. After all, I did make a promise to switch things up … Continue reading Belle
TBT: Twister (1996)
So today the stars have aligned, and it being the tenth of the month both TBT and The Franco Files have merged on the same day! Given the performance I decided to highlight with July's installment of TFF, and the fact it involves a pretty ridiculous tornado, I started thinking about movies featuring similarly whacky weather. … Continue reading TBT: Twister (1996)
Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
Release: Friday, June 6, 2014 (limited) [Theater] Shep Gordon. To not know him is to not live. Or love. Possibly both. The name's iconic in at least the music and film industries, after the would-be social worker established his reputation as an idiosyncratic, freewheeling talent manager who stumbled into the gig thanks to a comical encounter involving Janis … Continue reading Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
The Grand Seduction
Release: Friday, May 30, 2014 (limited) [Theater] The theater where I went to see this film didn't serve nearly the appropriate amount of my favorite lager. They also failed to carry appropriate beer-drinking mugs. So, making do with what I had, I found myself toasting the events on screen with a luke-warm plastic cup filled with a … Continue reading The Grand Seduction
Night Moves
Release: Friday, May 30, 2014 (limited) [Theater] You can feel it creeping in on you like a cold, dense fog. There's a chill in the air, and although that's just the air conditioner in the theater you're noticing it more, for whatever reason. Your inability to sit without fidgeting in your seat for longer than a moment's notice … Continue reading Night Moves
