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...
Saturday 31 August 2013
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...
Sunday 18 August 2013
Indie Watch: Ismail
Sometimes, seemingly small moments in a person’s life can have an enormous impact on their future actions. This is the crux of Ismail, the new short film from Palestinian filmmaker Nora Alsharif. The film documents one day in ...
Saturday 17 August 2013
Cult Classics: Sharknado (2013)
Sure, this SyFy Network hysterical creature feature is barely born, but I'm here to say that in 20 years your children will line-up at some crunky old rep theater (the one that's left?) at midnight to see Sharknado. There wi...
Looney Tunes' First Movement: Bosko and Honey
In the years before they launched Looney Tunes at the Warner Brothers Studio, Rudoph Isling and Hugh Harman had been working with Ub I...
Friday 16 August 2013
The Netflix Queue: Stake Land (2010)
Full disclosure here, I love speculative fiction. Dystopian, utopian, post-apocalyptic, all of it fascinates me. I love watching how society reforms after a worldwide catastrophe, or adapts to an entirely new reality.
In that capacity, Stake...
In that capacity, Stake...
Thursday 15 August 2013
Top 10 Domestic* Box Office Hits
* Editor's note: By domestic, we mean North America. As North Americans, we pretty sure that's all that really counts. BD
We’re into the second half of the summer movie season, so it seems fitting to take a look back at the biggest box of...
We’re into the second half of the summer movie season, so it seems fitting to take a look back at the biggest box of...
How Jared Bratt Stopped Hating Film Studies
In my articles, I have gleefully taken a few opportunities to rail/bash against my 'Film Studies' education/upbringing, so now I figure it's about time I backtrack a bit, clarify where my heart stands and pay my respect where respect is due. When I w...
Wednesday 14 August 2013
Orry-Kelly: Les Girls (1957)
They're the most vivacious...vexacious...flirtatious personalities in gay Paree! shouts the films tagline and it’s no exaggeration. Kay Kendall, Mitzi Gaynor, and Taina Elg are Les Girls...
6 Greatest Cinematic Falls
Since it's conception, cinema has been filled with pivotal moments of characters falling in love, falling out of love, and falling in line to the beat of their own drums. But there are epic falls that have been featured in films that should be given ...
Tuesday 13 August 2013
5 British Films You Must See
Initially, this was going to be a "Top 5 British Films" post, but that title is both too generic and too subjective, at least in my case. When it comes to British cinema, I am biased. Partly because I am an American that identifies as an Anglophile. ...
Overlooked Gems: Lili (1953)
It is unfortunate that Audrey Hepburn’s massive popularity and iconic status came about at the same time as Leslie Caron’s rise to fame. For while they have an obvious similarity in appearance and appealed to the same audiences, she has her own qual...
Monday 12 August 2013
Top 5 Rock Songs Used in Movies
Sometimes, a song just fits a movie so well that you forget about the story, even just for a little bit. I, personally, find myself getting lost in rock songs in films - be it indie or classic. Rock will never die, even if film is the only thing that...
Sunday 11 August 2013
Under the Bed: QA with director Steven C. Miller
Who knew that scaring could be so much fun? Steven C. Miller was able to talk to Pretty Clever Films about the enthralling and fun atmosphere behind the gory and gruesome Under the Bed.
Pretty Clever Films: What was the inspiration...
Pretty Clever Films: What was the inspiration...
Movie Review: Under the Bed (2013)
Slenderman is scarier than the monster under the bed.
A quick study of this statement can be done with the film aptly named Under the Bed. The film and the webseries "Marble Hornets," featuring the elusive Slenderman, on YouTube have some...
A quick study of this statement can be done with the film aptly named Under the Bed. The film and the webseries "Marble Hornets," featuring the elusive Slenderman, on YouTube have some...
Saturday 10 August 2013
Indie Watch: The Truth About Romance
James G. Wall’s debut feature film, The Truth About Romance, is a low-budget romantic comedy that meets and often exceeds the well-worn criteria of its genre. The film tells the story of Josh (Jordan Greenhough), a luckless an...
The Silly Symphonies of Ub Iwerks
He may not have his name on a theme park in Japan or on a Frank Gehry designed concert hall in Los Angeles, but without the creative ideas of animator Ub Iwerks there would be no Magic Kingdom and no Mickey Mouse.
Because Walt's n...
Because Walt's n...
Friday 9 August 2013
Movie Review: Mister Roberts (1955)
Mister Roberts airs August 11th on TCM as part of the Summer Under the Stars Celebration: Spotlight on Henry Fonda.
I’m surprised sometimes at the films I liked as a kid. Not because they no longer hold the appeal of my a...
I’m surprised sometimes at the films I liked as a kid. Not because they no longer hold the appeal of my a...
Henry Jaglom and Orson Welles, On Screen: A Safe Place and Someone to Love
Henry Jaglom directed Orson Welles in two films, his debut, 1971’s A Safe Place, and Someone to Love, Welles’s last screen appearance. They’re essentially bookends to the friendship of the two men. In addition to showing J...
Book Review: James Dean: The Mutant King
He was Hollywood's original rebel; the trailblazing actor who opened doors for up-and-coming actors and became the voice of a lost generation.
After the Second World War shook the very foundations of society to the core, the youth growing up in th...
After the Second World War shook the very foundations of society to the core, the youth growing up in th...
Thursday 8 August 2013
Documentary: Blackfish (2013)
The fact that Orcas are commonly referred to as 'killer whales' should give some sort of clue that they are not the ideal species to be getting up close and personal with. Yet, theme parks such as Seaworld rake in millions each year from shows based ...
The MUBI Cinematheque: Scarlet Street (1945)
Scarlett Street (1945) is one of the better known of director Fritz Lang's American offerings. It's also a well loved one, though at the time of it's release it was viewed as mostly lame follow-up to Lang's The Woman in the ...
Wednesday 7 August 2013
Cinematic Style: Evelyn Brent
Unless you’re a devotee of Josef von Sternberg’s films of the late 1920’s you probably haven’t heard of Evelyn Brent. More than likely you’ve seen images of her, for she was a striking beauty, but you just can’t seem to place her or ...
Documentary: Into the Abyss (2011)
Here’s a conversation that happened in my home while I was watching Werner Herzog’s 2011 documentary Into the Abyss and a largely impartial third party wandered into the room during the brief bit where Herzog is...
Tuesday 6 August 2013
Movie Review: The Edukators (2004)
I realized recently that there exists a part of me that kind of likes to procrastinate until this sense of urgency arises. It is this exact sense of urgency that then provides me with the necessary fuel/fire to get done whatever it is I need to get d...
Movie Review: Don't Look Now (1973)
For all of it's impressive cinematography, excellent acting, and nuanced writing, when Nicholas Roeg's 1973 suspense masterpiece Don't Look Now is brought up, it's often in the context of whether or not the film's sex scenes...
Monday 5 August 2013
Blu-ray Review: To the Wonder
To the Wonder, the new film from Texan auteur Terrence Malick, is the first release from the director since his 2011 Palme D’or-winning and Oscar-nominated philosophical tract, Tree of Life. Tree of Life and
Overlooked Gems: Roadie (2011)
It's a little strange to me that actor Ron Eldard never made the leap to being a major star in Hollywood. There were more than a few times in the 1990s that he seemed right on the edge. He's had leading roles in films like True Love and
Sunday 4 August 2013
Indie Watch: The Telltale Heart (2010)
Cinema’s love affair with Edgar Allan Poe began early and recurred often. Jean Epstein’s surrealist 1928 adaptation of The Fall of the House of Usher, Roger Corman’s X-Rated 1961 version of The Pit and the Pendulum, and last year’s repr...
Movie Review: Jobs (2013)
Jobs hits the big screen on Friday, August 16, 2013.
It’s funny to sit in a theater to watch a biopic about Steve Jobs with a bunch of bloggers and media types: almost all of us had at least one Apple device on us, or wou...
It’s funny to sit in a theater to watch a biopic about Steve Jobs with a bunch of bloggers and media types: almost all of us had at least one Apple device on us, or wou...
Saturday 3 August 2013
Midnight Maddness: Naqoyqatsi (2002)
Director Godfrey Reggio's Koyaanisqatsi made a big splash in the art house world, amazing audiences with its beautiful imagery and dynamic score. Quite frankly, there was nothing else like this when it debuted in 1982. It's sequel, Powaq...
The Degenerate Opus of Walter Ruttmann
While endeavoring to redefine who was and wasn’t considered a human being, the cultural policies of Adolph Hitler’s government also sought to redefine what was and wasn’t considered art. Starting in the mid-1930s the German government...
Friday 2 August 2013
Review: Murder, He Says (1945)
Murder, He Says airs Wednesday, August 7th on TCM. Check local listings for times.
Not to be confused with, but an homage to the Miss Marple Mystery Murder, She Said, this little gem is really worth a watch. ...
Not to be confused with, but an homage to the Miss Marple Mystery Murder, She Said, this little gem is really worth a watch. ...
Lomography Sale on Now
Look, we all like images here at Pretty Clever Films. We like to look at them, especially when they move. We like to think about them. We like to talk about them (and write about them!). But I'm guessing, like me, many of you like to make 'em as well...
Movie Review: Julia Misbehaves (1948)
It was the rare Hollywood film that featured a female lead who abandoned her husband and baby to pursue a career as a music hall performer. But thus is the premise of the MGM comedy, Julia Misbehaves. After completing a seri...
Blu-ray Review: Trance
“No life is worth a piece of art.” This statement is repeated numerous times at the beginning of Danny Boyle’s new psychological thriller, Trance (which is coming out on Blu-ray this Tuesday). As the film progresses, this stat...
Thursday 1 August 2013
Top 6 Natalie Portman Moments
Jerusalem born Natalie Portman has been acting since she was eleven years old, and since her early days in Leon she's taken on a huge range of roles, from large Blockbusters (Thor) to small indie roles (Hesher), dramas (Brothers...
Blu-ray Review: Olympus Has Fallen
When Olympus Has Fallen hit the multiplex screens, it fell faster than the White House. I'm a sucker for a one man on a rampage action story, so I was mildly interested in seeing it. But the most reliable source of movie rec...
MUBI Cinematheque: Turkish Passport (2011)
Turkish Passport is currently available for streaming on MUBI. Sign up for a free trial and watch it today.
It’s amazing how many movies have been produced over ...
It’s amazing how many movies have been produced over ...
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