Ephemera of Vision
This is my place for ramblings about sequences of images that exploit the human visual limitation know as persistence of vision.
-
Move over, Die Hard, we have a new stupid Christmas film! Move over, Red Dawn, we have a new king of jingoism. Move over, Transformers, we have MORE EXPLOSIONS!
-
This is a bloated mess, there’s just too much of everything, except interest. It’s pure LA, there’s too many known actors everywhere, it’s the high concept, big budget, no ideas.
-
A biopic of a more interesting version of Navalny, more artiste than power-hungry Lenin wannabe. Some batshit insane sequences, suck it Eisenstein, what do you know about montage?
-
This is highly symbolic, just filled to the brim with metaphors, implied senses, dutch angles. But it’s also a rabid anti religion screed, up the wazoo, I love it.
-
This realistic Cyrano adaptation from the woman’s perspective starts off as very awkward rom com that gets darker, and darker, and darker. It’s better than Obsession.
-
Not another one! This is the fashionista episode. This was after I was born, so Bronson was really old and decrepit, back in New York.
-
This is the war on drugs episode. The one where the coroner lifts the shrouds on drug victims, and it’s all children. Boys who got shot robbing liquor stores, 13 years old girl prostituting themselves on the street, the works.
-
That’s a Refn film all right. A near dialogue-free opera filled with neon, rhinestones, and leather jackets.
-
This is a genre now: If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Die My Love, Vivarium. This is slightly less indie since it’s bankrolled by Larry Ellison’s cool kid, but Amy Adams is even more perfect for the role.
-
This came out years before The Odyssey and Nolan still learned nothing from it. All that alleged attention to detail, wasted on incidental crap.
-
This is a simpler Prisoners, or Mystic River by the Sea. The protagonist steps back from the brink miraculously, the actual outcome might as well be anything else.
-
This is a very funny quick and cheap thing, but you see all the weird names in the credits, and the Legendary logo, it’s not an indie thing, it’s IP. The Toxic Avenger is IP now, Jesus Christ.
-
Curious, this is another earlier strain of Contagion, but bloated with a shitload of unrelated films mixed in. Like Andromeda Strain, but good, not infected with Crichton crap.
-
This had a lot going against it: Sydney Sweeney et al doing German accents, Ron Howard directing, Hans Zimmer. But very strong performances elevate this above mere survivalist gruel, it’s an actual feast.
-
This The Blair Witch Project with extra budget is pretty nice, but it’s narrated by TJ Miller, you know how is goes. It grates your ears, and he only dies at the end, unlike Lizzie Caplan who doesn’t have time to soar. At least it’s only 70 minutes.
Browse the Archives