Tuesday 31 December 2013
Big Sur (2013)
“It's hard to explain and best thing to do is not be false.”― Jack Kerouac, Big SurThe publication of On ... http://p.ost.im/Rq39NQ
Monday 30 December 2013
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
Assume I were to drop dead right now. And for argument's sake, lets also assume that there is indeed a heaven and ... http://p.ost.im/RqvCLW
Sunday 29 December 2013
Shut Up and Play the Hits (2012)
We defend our musical tastes like a loved one. We have a sentimental bond with songs we heard during pivotal mome ... http://p.ost.im/Rq7gN6
Saturday 28 December 2013
The Mabuse Trilogy, Part III: The Thousand Eyes of Dr. Mabuse (1960)
This is the third in a three part series of essays concerning Fritz Lang's Mabuse Trilogy. For parts I II see Th ... http://p.ost.im/RQ9h8X
Friday 27 December 2013
Ministry of Fear (1944) Has Nothing To Be Afraid Of
Ministry of Fear. What a great title! What a mediocre film.I was very excited to screen this Fritz Lang offer ... http://p.ost.im/RVnXGH
Thursday 26 December 2013
Wednesday 25 December 2013
Holiday Favorite: White Christmas (1954)
Merry Christmas Everyone! White Christmas is one of my all-time favorite holiday films. It’s a sophisticated ... http://p.ost.im/Rq2KgC
You Only Live Once
One of my favorite films from 2013 (my second favorite in fact) was David Lowery’s Ain’t Them Bodies Saints ... http://p.ost.im/RqUJKk
Tuesday 24 December 2013
Five Alternative Christmas Films
Christmas is almost upon us again, and to many it is a joyous time to eat drink and constantly be merry. But for ... http://p.ost.im/R4hG2F
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (1933)
In the past few years, a new term has emerged in popular cinema - the franchise reboot. While I object to any ide ... http://p.ost.im/Rqg4VF
Monday 23 December 2013
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011)
Race in America has long been a topic of boundless discussion, yet one often handled with kid gloves. Amidst news ... http://p.ost.im/RV7RE2
Sunday 22 December 2013
Jared Bratt's Fav Holiday Movies
Well it's that merry-Ol' time of the year again -- It's list making season! And besides the obvious very broad (a ... http://p.ost.im/RVp6Uc
Saturday 21 December 2013
Peace On Earth (1939)
Around this time of year, there is an assortment of ready-made phrases which bypass the brain and spring to our l ... http://p.ost.im/RqPXat
Friday 20 December 2013
Control (2007)
An artist never dies, the saying goes. A mystique is inevitably built around that person and their work, but whet ... http://p.ost.im/Rb8MF6
Fritz Lang's Western Flirtations
Fritz Lang is most well known for his early German Expressionist work, his contribution to film noir, and his dev ... http://p.ost.im/RVVXNn
Thursday 19 December 2013
Nicky's Family (2011)
In 1938, just before the outbreak of World War II, thousands of regufees from central Europe sought asylum from t ... http://p.ost.im/R4f2Tv
Spies (1928)
Two of Fritz Lang’s most heralded masterpieces, and the films he’s best known for, Metropolis, and M, were ma ... http://p.ost.im/RVn9kv
Wednesday 18 December 2013
Erté’s Hollywood
The It boy of the Art Deco movement, Erté was brought to Hollywood by MGM in 1925 to design the sets and costum ... http://p.ost.im/Rqh9cW
A Gallery of Images from Fritz Lang's Spione (1928)
Spione (or Spies, in the United States) is a German silent espionage thriller written and directed by ... http://p.ost.im/RVbBVu
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler and the Weimar Era
He's the great unknown man. He causes the stock markets to panic and the crowds to rise up and attack the police. ... http://p.ost.im/Rxuhtx
Tuesday 17 December 2013
New and Oldboy
In 2003, South Korean Director Park Chan-wook adapted a Japanese manga into the film Oldboy, which has gone on to ... http://p.ost.im/RxPWD5
A Gallery of Images from Fritz Lang's Der müde Tod (1921)
Browse a gallery of startling images from Fritz Lang's German Expressionist masterpiece Der müde Tod (1921). ... http://p.ost.im/RVeNc6
Watch Fritz Lang's Der müde Tod (1921)
Der müde Tod, translates literally to "Weary Death." Originally released in the U.S. as Behind the Wall, it is ... http://p.ost.im/RxCY6r
Saving Mr. Banks
An odd event occurred at the showing of Saving Mr. Banks (my second attempt with the Mary Poppins making of film) ... http://p.ost.im/RqP6Gc
Monday 16 December 2013
Five Great Moments From Films Directed By Alfonso Cuaron
It's that time of year again where all the potential award films start creeping their way into cinemas, and one t ... http://p.ost.im/RQnAAg
Images from Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen Saga
Siegfried, son of King Sigmund, hears of the beautiful sister of Gunter, King of Worms, Kriemhild. On his way to ... http://p.ost.im/R4q7bG
Watch Fritz Lang's Die Nibelungen Saga
Hey the holidays are coming, so there should be plenty of time to cozy up to your favorite screen and watch Fritz ... http://p.ost.im/R4C566
Rooftops (1989)
It'’s a generally accepted strategy to play to your strengths. Like if I was Robert Wise, the Academy Award win ... http://p.ost.im/R4R2gv
Sunday 15 December 2013
Images from Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
Browse a gallery of images from Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler, directed by the master of German Expressionism Fritz Lan ... http://p.ost.im/RVyeHC
Watch Fritz Lang's Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
If you haven't seen Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler then today is your lucky day.You can watch the complete film onli ... http://p.ost.im/RVvSbX
Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922)
I took a class at Ryerson called “Hollywood and Society” last semester. On the first day, we learned about th ... http://p.ost.im/RVc3ne
Saturday 14 December 2013
Holiday Gift Guide for Movie Lovers
Do you have cinephiles on your holiday shopping list? Are you pretty sure they've already seen the movie, bought ... http://p.ost.im/R4PBCQ
The Short Films of David Lynch
Released on DVD in 2002, The Short Films of David Lynch is a collection of lesser known projects from the man res ... http://p.ost.im/RqQTdB
Friday 13 December 2013
Fritz Lang's M (1931)
"Who knows what it's like to be me?" A simple line of dialogue uttered by a man on trial for murder -- a ma ... http://p.ost.im/RVsXgq
Thursday 12 December 2013
Overlooked Gems: A Period of Adjustment (1962)
Tennessee Williams would not be a writer most would consider especially accomplished in the art of comedy. Man ... http://p.ost.im/RQUp3j
Thanatomorphose (2012)
I was in good company this past weekend. In having my short film, Streamer, make its Canadian premier at the 2013 ... http://p.ost.im/RVtUbh
Wednesday 11 December 2013
Screen Style: Louise Brooks
What is there left to be said, that hasn’t been said already? The enigmatic Louise Brooks had a style all her o ... http://p.ost.im/RxhyDL
Fury (1936)
In 1911, mother and son, Laura and Lawrence Nelson, were accused of and jailed for the murder of a local Oklahoma ... http://p.ost.im/R4kttN
Jared Bratt on Sound on Sight Podcast
Hey now, our very own Jared Bratt did a little guest spot on the excellent Sound on Sight podcast. If you're no ... http://p.ost.im/RQ8wbh
Tuesday 10 December 2013
Overlooked Gems: It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
Being a female of a certain age, I have very fond and specific memories of a little movie called The Parent Trap. ... http://p.ost.im/RxBPYA
Contempt (1963), Fritz Lang Retrospective
It’s always interesting when a film director is cast in a film. It is a very intentional element to the film ... http://p.ost.im/RVTpPC
Tuesday 10 September 2013
Movie Review: Meet Me In St. Louis
Meet Me in St. Louis -- one of those big, bold musicals from MGM that, to this day, remains a classic example of how to incorporate song and dance when weaving together a story. The picture itself is a slice of life -- one y...
TIFF 13 Review: Rock the Casbah
Rock the Casbah operates squarely within a couple of familiar categories: national cinema and narratives about troubled family dynamics. Both can, of course, be rich grounds for exploration of identity and relations between ...
TIFF13 Review: Tim's Vermeer (2013)
For years, controversy has smoldered in the art world regarding Johannes Vermeer and his hyper realistic paintings of middle class Dutch life. To be specific, x-ray examination of Vermeer's paintings reveal that there were no sketch marks beneath the...
Monday 9 September 2013
Review: Generation Um (2012)
Not knowing how to start this review off per-say, I'm choosing to express these very exact dizzying thoughts of indecisive-uncertainty and thereby establish this annoyingly abstract introduction into discussing Mark Mann's New York/soul-searchers sto...
TIFF13 Review: Thou Gildst the Even (2013)
Turkish writer-director Onur Ünlü’s kicks off his mysterious Thou Gilds't the Even with an epigram from Euripides: Man is created from anxiety. Indeed, our protaganist Cemal is a man of anxieties, which we know right away by...
TIFF13 Review: Kill Your Darlings (2013)
Kill Your Darlings, the debut feature from filmmaker John Krokidas, is a love poem to the Beats before they were the Beats. Set in and around the Columbia University campus in the mid-1940's, the film details both the curiou...
TIFF13 Trends: Cumberbatch v. Radcliffe
It happens every year. Some pretty face emerges as the "It" guy or gal of the festival. Oh, how I pine for 2011, when it was the Year of the Gosling and all the local Toronto lady news anchors were dispatched to the red carpet, to giggle their way th...
Sunday 8 September 2013
TIFF13 Review: MARY Queen of Scots
Occasionally, a film so affecting comes along that even a wordsmith like myself can only manage to babble out a few descriptors in lieu of an actual, full sentence. Stunning! Poetic! Mesmerizing! Perfect! Now, an attempt at a real sentence: Swiss fil...
TIFF13 Review: McCanick (2013)
When an aging narcotics cop Eugene McCanick (David Morse) learns that Simon Weeks (Cory Monteith), a kid he helped put away seven years ago, is back out on the streets, he quickly unravels in a mess of violence and paranoia. Taking place over the cou...
Indie Watch: The Greyness of Autumn
Despite their predominant popularity as Muppet-style children’s entertainment, puppets are often used for more subversive purposes on television and in the movies. From Peter Jackson’s outrageously offensive Meet the Feebles to the sewn-up ser...
TIFF13 Review: Giraffada (2013)
Giraffada, from filmmaker Rani Massalha, is both an entertaining adventure story about young boys and giraffes and a nuanced meditation on the absurdities of life behind the Separation Wall in the West Bank. Plus, it has gir...
Saturday 7 September 2013
Top 3 Reasons To Watch The Searchers
The Searchers stands as not only one of the greatest Westerns in cinema history, but as one of the greatest films in cinema history. Everyone loves John Wayne, and, more than that, people love a good Western. Not only is
TIFF13 Review: Under the Starry Sky
Dyana Gaye's debut feature Under the Starry Sky is a rich, textured exploration of African diaspora and the fragile hopes of those looking for a new life or revisiting an old one. The drama tracks three separate but intercon...
Four Seasons of Silly Symphonies
There is a season, turn turn turn – Or so the song goes. The changing seasons have always been a source of inspiration for artists, from Antonio Vivaldi to Walter Disney. In 1929 the Disney Studio began a series of cartoons called
TIFF13 Review: Borgman (2013)
The home invasion sub-genre has caught flame recently -think The Purge, You're Next, The Agression Scale - which I assume has something to do with the latent fear of terrorists. In all fairness, I'm an American so I think all trending movie ...
Friday 6 September 2013
The Netflix Queue: In Time (2011)
In Time is available for streaming on Netflix. Drinking game rules outlined below.
Aren’t we all glad, on some level, that Justin Timberlake went back to singing? However you feel about his musical output, at least it’s kep...
Aren’t we all glad, on some level, that Justin Timberlake went back to singing? However you feel about his musical output, at least it’s kep...
TIFF13: A Grand Canal
In Wim Wenders’ lyrical 1980 film, Lightning over Water, the German director engages in an extended grieving process over the loss of his friend, Hollywood auteur Nicholas Ray. As the film nimbly jumps between its documentary and fictional ele...
TIFF13 Review: Hi-Ho Mistahey!
Alanis Obomsawin has made quite a body of work centered around the rights of Canada's native people and she returns in form with Hi-Ho Mistahey!, a look at the deep disparities in the Attawapiskat First Nation's public educa...
TIFF13 Trends: Everything Old is New Again
There is a film in this year's TIFF programme that I will DIE if I don't get to see - Yurusarezarumono, which is Japanese for Unforgiven. YES! A Japanese remake of Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven
Thursday 5 September 2013
Review: Escape From New York (1981)
Escape from New York airs Friday, September 6 on TCM. Check local listings for times.
In 1981, the idea of retro-fitting New York as a prison unto itself seemed far out, but believable. In fact, thanks to director Neil Bl...
In 1981, the idea of retro-fitting New York as a prison unto itself seemed far out, but believable. In fact, thanks to director Neil Bl...
TIFF13 Review: Parkland (2013)
It's an old question (pretty much 50 years old to be precise): Where were you when J.F.K. was shot? In his new star-studded docudrama Parkland, first time feature director Peter Landesman poses this question. Again. While
TIFF13 Trends: The Toronto International Franco Festival
Here's how I launch TIFF-mas - I sit down with the full programme and I read each and every description of each and every film. And then I make a "short" list of the movies I most hope to see. Then I make complicated graphs, and diagrams, and gantt c...
Wednesday 4 September 2013
Scarlett’s Gowns: Gone With The Wind Costume Restoration
Everything about Margaret Mitchell’s novel and David O. Selznick’s film Gone With The Wind is iconic. Walter Plunkett’s costumes for Vivien Leigh’s character, Scarlett O’Hara, are no exception. In 2010, the Harry Ransom Cent...
TIFF13 Review: Burt's Buzz
Burt's Buzz, from director Jody Shapiro, ends up as the slickest corporate video ever (and only slightly more exciting). The doc tells the tale of Burt Shavitz, former photojournalist (oh, he took that photo of Alle...
Tuesday 3 September 2013
TIFF13: For Those Who Can Tell No Tales
For Those Who Can Tell No Tales, from director Jasmila Zbanic, tracks the summer holiday of Australian tourist Kym as she treks about Bosnia-Herzegovina. The film is a light, sweet travelouge that follows Kym from souvenir s...
Monday 2 September 2013
La Maison de la Radio
Radio is an easy medium to take for granted. Even if you're not discussing radio as a delivery means for something else--news, music, opinion, etc--there's always a 'with' or a 'while' involved. It is a beloved accompaniment, something enjoyed while ...
TIFF13 Review: Finding Vivian Maier
In 2007, in an effort to find photos for a book of local history, John Maloof bought a box of photo negatives at a storage auction. There were no photos suitable for his book, but there was a mystery to solve. The box belonged to Vivian Maier, a nann...
TIFF13 Review: La última película
Sigh. Here's the part where a film review is supposed to provide a brief, yet tantalizing synopsis. For the first time (is this my last review?), I'll just give you the one-line summary helpfully provided by the press kit: "A famous American filmmake...
Sunday 1 September 2013
Indie Watch: Mario the Magician: Building Magic
Let’s face it, despite their best intentions, most human interest stories are boring, predictable pieces of manipulative feel-goodery. The genre, which mostly finds its home on television fluff-piece segments reminiscent of Bart’s People, is easily o...
Overlooked Gems: Annette (1958)
There are many, many stories in popular culture of “the new kid.” After all, even if you never were that, it certainly did tap into our childhood insecurities of being different. But one you probably haven’t seen or heard of is the second and final...
Saturday 31 August 2013
The Netflix Queue: Batman: The Movie (1966)
Batman: The Movie is now available for streaming on Netflix.
With the announcement last week that Ben Affleck would be donning the cowl in 2015’s Batman Vs. Superman, the Internet reacted as the In...
With the announcement last week that Ben Affleck would be donning the cowl in 2015’s Batman Vs. Superman, the Internet reacted as the In...
The Complete Merrie Melodies of Foxy and Roxy
Following the international success of Mickey Mouse in the late 1920s, many major Hollywood studios were eager to carve out a lucrative piece of toonto...
Friday 30 August 2013
TIFF13 Review: Devil's Knot (2013)
Back in 1993, three eight-year-old boys, Steve Branch, Michael Moore, and Christopher Byers, were found brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas. The crime, which was widely considered to be the work of a satanic cult, stirred West Memphis’ police...
Overlooked Gems: The Adventures of Spin and Marty (1955)
In the transition from summer to fall, freedom to school, I wanted to take a closer look at some images of childhood and teenage life we don't know of. While the two I've picked aren't "films" I thought for an example of an "overlooked gem," the fou...
Thursday 29 August 2013
Top 5 Tiki Movies
Having spent the past weekend in a drunken stupor at Tiki Oasis, a once-a-year conflagration of Tiki culture enthusiasts that descend upon San Diego, California; I am currently trying to dry out after four days of Mai Tais, Monsoons, Hurricanes, asso...
Documentary: T.V. Junkie (2006)
An impromptu watch this past week, I laid eyes on the extremely engrossing, unexpectedly heart-wrenching documentary, T.V. Junkie (2006) from directors Michael Cain and Matt Radecki. I have to admit, I initially had zero clue as to what I was jump...
Wednesday 28 August 2013
5 Films Set Over a Weekend or Less
Time is something often played with in films. Some are epics that stretch over years and years, some can document an entire life and some sci-fi's even travel back and forth through time. However, they're sometimes at their most successful when they ...
Adrian: The Women (1939)
The Women is a film all about men and fashion. There isn’t a man in sight, but the fashion is a feast for the eyes! It was adapted by screenwriting veterans Anita Loos and Jane Murfin, from the play by Clare Boothe Luce. The...
Overlooked Gem: Meatballs (1979)
Summer is on its way out the door, but before it completely says good-bye, I wanted to make sure and include a couple of summer recommendations. With that in mind, I’m suggesting a slightly more popular film than usual (but not that mainstream) beca...
Review: Don Jon
The irrepressibly charming Joseph Gordon-Levitt makes his writing/directing debut in Don Jon, a dark and cynical romantic comedy...
Tuesday 27 August 2013
Get a Free Month at MUBI!
Do you MUBI? If you like to hang around Pretty Clever Films, we know you'll adore MUBI!
What's a MUBI, you ask? MUBI is the best movie streaming service going. Here's the deal - each day MUBI offers up one carefully curated great movie and it's av...
What's a MUBI, you ask? MUBI is the best movie streaming service going. Here's the deal - each day MUBI offers up one carefully curated great movie and it's av...
Cult Classics: Greetings (1968)
Do jokes have plots? Does a set-up and a punchline constitute a plot? Like here's something that sounds like a joke; a white man walks into a bar in Harlem, shouts "which one of you n-----s is man enough to take me on?" and is promptly beaten up. Thi...
Monday 26 August 2013
An Open Letter to the Director of Blue Jasmin
Dear Mr. Allen:
Let me start by saying I am one of your biggest fans. (I used to be your biggest fan, but then you made September.) I watch your early, funny films with joyful glee. I sit in rapt attention and awe, basking in the glow of ...
Let me start by saying I am one of your biggest fans. (I used to be your biggest fan, but then you made September.) I watch your early, funny films with joyful glee. I sit in rapt attention and awe, basking in the glow of ...
Movie Review: Men on the Bridge
Men on the Bridge is a poignant and affecting documentary/fiction hybrid from the frontier of contemporary cinema currently being highlighted by TIFF Cinematheque - Turkish women directors. Despite the partial ficitonalizing...
TIFF, Epic Giveaways, and Special Stuff from MUBI
Hey friend, neighbors, and pretty clever film fans,
Your intrepid editor - who is not what you would call "outdoorsy" - just spent 6 days in the Canadian wilds. How wild is it, you ask? Well, there's no internet access and we all know if you didn'...
Your intrepid editor - who is not what you would call "outdoorsy" - just spent 6 days in the Canadian wilds. How wild is it, you ask? Well, there's no internet access and we all know if you didn'...
The Brother from Another Planet (1984)
The Brother from another Planet is a breath of fresh interstellar air. It’s the post-Blaxploitation era response to the rising social issues and growing changes within inner city communities in the 1980s. Written, directed a...
Saturday 24 August 2013
Movie Review: Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Sometimes you just have to go back and revisit a classic, if only to remind yourself of what made you fall in love with the film in the first place. I've been a fan of Singin' in the Rain for a few years now, but that doesn'...
Friday 23 August 2013
Movie Review: Beginnings (2013)
The Armenian genocide of 1915 continues to be source of contention between present day Armenia and Turkey. As a matter of fact, the term genocide is still controversial. Enter the "Speaking to One Another" project, a project designed to bring togethe...
The Netflix Queue: Rubber (2010)
Sometimes, the Foreign section of Netflix introduces you to genuinely beautiful, well-made, well-scripted and well-acted movies you may have otherwise missed out on.
And sometimes it brings you Rubber.
A 2010 French film (though e...
And sometimes it brings you Rubber.
A 2010 French film (though e...
Thursday 22 August 2013
Top 6 Iconic Roles That Almost Went To Different Actors
We've all heard the one about how Tom Selleck was originally pegged for the role of Indiana Jones. You can't help but try to imagine the mustachioed star cracking that whip but, try as you might, it's undeniable that Harrison Ford was destined to don...
Overlooked Gems: Take This Waltz (2011)
There is something about Sarah Polley’s films. They are precious without being pretentious, sweet but never saccharine, and profound but never preachy. It might be that her films all seem to come from the heart, a special place of inspiration which...
Wednesday 21 August 2013
Marilyn Monroe and Her "Sisters"
The phenomenon that was Marilyn Monroe hit Hollywood in the 1950’s like a rocket and the era of the blonde bombshell was born. With television taking away box-office receipts, every studio needed to cash in with their own version of Marilyn. Some of ...
Movie Review: Present Tense (2013)
In Belmin Soylemez's feature debut Present Tense, recent divorcee Mina (Sanem Oge) harbors one dream: to move to America. After struggling to find a job, Mina takes a position at Istanbul's Galaxy Cafe reading fortunes in co...
Tuesday 20 August 2013
3 Reasons Why Inherit The Wind Continues to Resonate
There are certain films that resonate with the period of a certain time in its criticism of society of that time. The satire is rich and informative. For Inherit The Wind, while it was about the Scopes Trial in the '20s, it ...
The Netflix Queue: The Lady Vanishes (1938)
The Lady Vanishes is available for Netflix Instant Streaming.
The Lady Vanishes is a strange film. I was a bit thrown off when I started watching the comedy thriller directed by the master of sus...
The Lady Vanishes is a strange film. I was a bit thrown off when I started watching the comedy thriller directed by the master of sus...
Monday 19 August 2013
TIFF Cinematheque Presents Rebel Yell: A New Generation of Turkish Women Filmmakers
It's not a big secret that Turkey is mostly male dominated society and thus no surprise that Turkish cinema is a mostly male dominated sphere. But a new retrospective from TIFF Cinematheque, Rebel Yell: A New Generation of Turkish Women F...
