"September 21st, 1945. That was the night I died."
So begins the opening of Grave of the Fireflies, a Japanese animated film concerning a teenage boy, Seita, and his young sister, Setsuko, adjusting to the wartime atrocit...
Saturday, 29 June 2013
Friday, 28 June 2013
Italian Contemporary Film Festival 2013: The Lost World Cup (2011)
Question: Does one have to be a fan of soccer to be able to enjoy a story about soccer in the 1940s? Not necessarily. If a filmmaker is adept at telling a story in an interesting way, which I assert has been done in this case, then even if one has ze...
Review: Byzantium (2013)
Byzantium is the story of a vampire aptly named Eleanor Webb. Even though she is over 200 years old, Eleanor’s personality still seems stuck in her petulant teenage years - a disposition which compliments her high-school appearance. Ele...
Movie Review: Kill, Baby. . .Kill! (1966)
Much like the town in which it is set, Mario Bava’s Kill, Baby. . .Kill! (1966) is a movie that is and is not hiding something. Dr. Paul Eswai (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart) is summoned to the late 19th century town of Car...
Thursday, 27 June 2013
Italian Contemporary Film Festival 2013: Shun Li and the Poet (2011)
Documentary filmmaker Andrea Segre jumps from the real to fiction filmmaking with a touching portrait of dispossessed souls in Shun Li and the Poet (Io Sono Li). Despite a certain surface tranquility, this story of Venice em...
Italian Contemporary Film Festival 2013: Thermae Romae (2012)
The hero of Hideki Takeuchi's Thermae Romae is Lucius (Hiroshi Abe), a bath house architect in ancient Rome who takes his designs very seriously, but is in need of some inspiration. One day, Lucius becomes submerged in the b...
Movie Review: The Battleship Potemkin (1925)
My introduction to The Battleship Potemkin was in film school. As an undergrad, learning about director Sergei Eisenstein and his association with the Kuleshov School of film theory was imperative, elementary knowledge. The Kuleshov eff...
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Style Evolution: Doris Day - Part 1 (1948-1960)
Doris Day is our conception of the perfect girl next door. Spunky, beautiful, endearing, talented, and boy can she put over a song! Her style evolution over her twenty-five year career is fascinating and, much like the stars...
Keanu Reeves, Vampire Hunter
Lukecool is the title for a film you cannot see. It's the title for a film you cannot discover, download, search-for, rent, stream, or import -- It flat-out doesn't exist... wait, wait, let me clarify this -- It exists but the onl...
Movie Review: Harper (1966)
Harper airs Saturday, June 29 on TCM. Check local listings for time.
Some actors were born to play roles. And some roles could only be played by one actor. Bogart as Rick Blaine and Gable as Rhett Butler come readily to mind. So does Paul...
Some actors were born to play roles. And some roles could only be played by one actor. Bogart as Rick Blaine and Gable as Rhett Butler come readily to mind. So does Paul...
Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Films in Bitter/Sweet: The Joyous Cinema of Jacques Demy to Screen at TIFF Cinematheque
Jacques Demy may be the most overlooked auteur who can also be fairly characterized as part of the "French New Wave." Not nearly as experimental as Alain Resnais, nor nearly as political as Jean-Luc Godard, nor nearly as arty as Francois Truffaut, De...
Book Review: Peter Lawford: The Man Who Kept the Secrets
It's easy to become immersed in a book that highlights the dark underbelly of Old Hollywood. All the glitter and glam was nothing more than an illusion and many celebrities lost themselves to the pressures that came with being famous. Much like they ...
Italian Contemporary Film Festival 2013: Benvenuto presidente!
Outside looking in, Italian politics seem pretty surreal. From Silvio Berlusconi's "Bunga Bunga" parties to porn star politician Cicciolina, the non-Italian mind boggles. New film farce Benvenuto presidente!,
Monday, 24 June 2013
Top 3 Western Sheriffs in Classic Movies
The sheriffs in classic movies almost always gets the short end of the stick. They're bullied, they're bruised, and they're always the ones that get shot or blamed. But these sheriffs in classic movies stand above the rest and proved to the wild West...
Movie Review: FOXED!
FOXED! is a 3D, stop-motion animated short film that immediately draws the viewer into a frightening and unforgiving world, where foxes keep a young girl, Emily, as their prisoner. Toronto-based director James Stewart wastes...
Movie Review: Storm Surfers 3D
Storm Surfers 3D, directed by Justin McMillan and Christopher Nelius, is a sports documentary that is a window into the adrenaline-filled world of big-wave surfing. Tom Carroll, along with his best friend, Ross Clarke-Jones,...
Saturday, 22 June 2013
Need a Cartoon Fix?
So for this week's column I'm gonna do something a little different. Instead of yammering on about what animated feature film to watch I'm going to supply you with links to some of my favorite Youtube channels, all showcasing cartoons. These channels...
Friday, 21 June 2013
Review: Stoker (2013)
After Richard Stoker (Dermot Mulroney) dies in a car accident, his mysterious brother Charlie (Matthew Goode) turns up at the stylish family estate now occupied only by Richard's widow Evelyn (Nicole Kidman) and his daughter India (Mia Wasikowska). T...
Thursday, 20 June 2013
My Top 5 Guilty Pleasure Movies
Supposedly what makes you feel guilty about a “guilty pleasure” is despite your enjoyment of it, your fear of discovery of liking/loving said “lowbrow,” “embarrassing” or “campy” material, makes you keep it under wraps. Well, a good friend of mine sa...
Top 10 Movie Scenes That Will Make You Hungry
When it comes to the debate about movies being a cerebral, worthy, meaningful art-form, in defense of film, there's always (thankfully) going to be that appropriately zealous someone to stand up and shout to the heavens: "The cinematic medium is a po...
Top 5 Classic Opening Credit Sequences
There's nothing more engaging than a film that has a memorable opening credit sequence. What better way to immediately grab an audience than to draw them in right from the start? Whether it simply utilizes its iconic score sans image or scrolls throu...
Wednesday, 19 June 2013
Ginger Rogers: The Infamous Feather Gown
Heaven, I’m in Heaven / And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak / And I seem to find the happiness I seek / When we’re out together dancing, cheek to cheek
Reduced to...
Feathers, I hate feathers / And I hate them so that I c...
Reduced to...
Feathers, I hate feathers / And I hate them so that I c...
Top 5 Bizarre Movies of the 2000's
Everyone has their own perception of what bizarre movies are. Some people find the films of the Coen brothers to be weird. Others prefer a Lynchian vibe for a film to be classified as "bizarre." Well, as someone who actively seeks out these bizarre a...
Review: The Wind Is Whistling Under Their Feet (1976)
The vast plains thunder with hoof beats and violence. An outlaw returns from prison seeking vengeance upon those who betrayed him and enters into a psychological duel with the morally ambiguous lawman who brought him to justice the first time. The la...
Review: That Guy...Who Was in That Thing (2012)
That Guy...Who Was in That Thing features interviews with 16 of Hollywood’s most recognizable character actors. The title of the film is very apt as each actor is, at once, both recognizable, but un-nameable, therefore becom...
Tuesday, 18 June 2013
Top 6 Chance Relationships in Film
Sometimes people meet because they're in a class together or they happen to work together. Other times, the meet-cute is a little bit more out there, like finding a princess fast asleep on a park bench in Italy. No matter how the two meet, these are ...
Overlooked Gems: Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962)
Before The Great Outdoors, National Lampoons Vacation, or Summer Rental, there was the original summer vacation comedy, 1962’s Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation. And to watch it today, with a few minor exceptions,...
Top 5 Lost Films
Cinephiles the world over heave a collective sigh at the startling number of lost films. What exactly are lost films anyway? A film is considered lost if it isn’t known to exist in any studio, public archive or private collection. Roughly be...
Review: Leni Riefenstahl: Her Dream of Africa
The synopsis on Mubi for Leni Riefenstahl: Her Dream of Africa reads as follows:
“As an actress, photographer, and official filmmaker for the Nazi party, Leni Riefenstahl is a controv...
“As an actress, photographer, and official filmmaker for the Nazi party, Leni Riefenstahl is a controv...
Monday, 17 June 2013
Top 10 Silent Comedians You've Never Heard Of
While reading Steve Massa's fantastic Lame Brains and Lunatics: The Good, The Bad, and The Forgotten of Silent Comedy, I started to feel like film's silent comedians were clowns packed into a tiny circus car. Just when I thought there couldn...
Top 5 Movie Lolitas
Stoker, the latest offering from critically acclaimed filmmaker Park Chan-wook, director of the now classic Oldboy, features one of cinema's favorite tropes - a Lolita. Named for Vladimir Nabovkov's tit...
Book Review: Lame Brains and Lunatics
Silent film fanatics know all about the Holy Trinity of Slapstick Comedy, an entity I like to call Chaplinkeatonlloyd. Hell, even the casual silent movie observer has at least a glancing knowledge of Chaplinkeatonlloyd. But in the earliest years of t...
Saturday, 15 June 2013
Directing Superman: Cinematic approaches to the Man of Steel
It’s a very big year for the Man of Steel. On top of a highly anticipated summer blockbuster, 2013 marks seventy-fifth year since DC Comics published the first issue of Action Comics and, since then, the company has printed thousands of S...
A Town Called Panic (2009)
I'll say this right off the bat: this movie is absolutely bizarre. Not bizarre in a darkly surreal, lady-in-the-radiator kind of way. This is something different, something born of a different breed. Imagine a stripped down Pixar movie, with less fla...
Friday, 14 June 2013
Review: Mud (2012)
When Ellis and Neckbone, two bored youths living in riverboats on the Mississippi river, find themselves parched for an adventure their thirst is quenched. Promises of an abandoned boat stuck in a tree sends them up stream to a small deserted island ...
What Does it Take to Brew a Pretty Clever Beer?
What does it take to brew a Pretty Clever Beer, you ask? It takes a Friday afternoon, the fabulous guys at Lake of Bays Brewery and one keen (and maybe slightly drunken) film critic, that's w...
Thursday, 13 June 2013
Top 7 Underrated Film Noir Performances
Known for its German Expressionist-inspired visual style, film noir is a hybrid of gangster flick and detective mystery with an often pessimistic look at the greater social problems. Noirs are usually set in dark, crime-riddled cities -- places that ...
Dementia 13: A 50th Anniversary Worth Celebrating?
This year we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s first offering as a film director. In September 1963, American International and Roger Corman released Dementia 13, one of the most inauspicious debuts fr...
Review: The Purge (2013)
Although The Purge, written/directed by James Demonaco, had a concept that gave me shivers, the hype was unfortunately was not worthy of the film. The Purge is set in the USA in 2022, when an annual...
Review: Detroit Wild City (2011)
Detroit Wild City is a French made documentary feature film that examines the fall of a once great American city through the eyes of residents born and raised in Detroit, Michigan aka ‘Mo-town’. Interspersed between disconne...
Wednesday, 12 June 2013
How To Marry A Millionaire (1953)
What makes How To Marry A Millionaire a thoroughly enjoyable film? Is it because it stars the beautiful Betty Grable, Marilyn Monroe and Lauren Bacall in Technicolor? Maybe. Could it be that this was 20th Century-Fox’s first CinemaScope film...
The Dissolve
We're so on top of what's hot in the movie sites world here at Pretty Clever Films, we're going to tell you about a film website that doesn't even exist yet. Yeah... word to yo mama. Chicago based The Dissolve is set to laun...
Review: Before Midnight (2013)
"Before Midnight is so good, I could cry about it... I'll try to write a review instead." This was my first attempt at putting down some sort of immediate reaction, to the film, in written form via twitter. Since seeing the ...
Tuesday, 11 June 2013
Book Review: Songs My Mother Taught Me
"I can draw no conclusions from my life because it is a continually evolving and unfolding process."
- Marlon Brando, Songs My Mother Taught Me
It still seems strange that, back in 1994, Marlon Brando agreed to r...
- Marlon Brando, Songs My Mother Taught Me
It still seems strange that, back in 1994, Marlon Brando agreed to r...
Ben Model’s Accidentally Preserved, Volume 1
Our culture has been disposable for much longer than people realize. Before the era of cellphone upgrades, Ultra HD and other forms of planned obsolescence, there was disposable entertainment like comic books and movie advertisements ...
Monday, 10 June 2013
Top 6 Worst Benders in a Movie
Many people's quest to "have a good time at a party" is often thwarted due to a variety of reasons - either by unpleasant people they happen to run into, the party ends up being the ever-common term: lame, or, the most common, they indulge too much. ...
Review: Doctor X (1932)
In Doctor X, Newspaper man Lee Taylor (Lee Tracy) dogs the New York City police as they investigate the "Moon Killer Murders," a spate of serial killings that leave victims stabbed with a scalpel and cannibalized. When polic...
Saturday, 8 June 2013
Berkshire International Film Festival 2013: Frances Ha (2013)
Noah Baumbach seems to have tirelessly studied the "coming of age" genre, garnering both commercial attention and critical acclaim with his breakout feature The Squid and the Whale and his latest "dealing with age" film
And the Winners of the Cleopatra Blu-Ray Giveaway Are...
We're pleased to say that the two winners of the Cleopatra 50th Anniversary Blu-ray Edition Giveaway are...
<...
Sarah Fung of Edmonton, Alberta
and
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Wizards (1977)
For many animation fans, the name Ralph Bakshi can create mixed feelings. A pioneer in adult-oriented animation, Bakshi is most notable for bringing Robert Crumbs' promiscuous feline Fritz to the big screen in 1972 with Fritz the Cat
Friday, 7 June 2013
Top 10 Movie Cameo Appearances
Your movie’s rolling along, a character is reading a newspaper, and then, on the underside of the paper, you quickly catch a glimpse of the director, Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock is, of course, the most famous of cameos, appearing in some small way in...
Review: Much Ado About Nothing (2013)
Much Ado About Nothing... Is that the one that ends with a double wedding? Or is that As You Like It? Or is it A Midsummer Night’s Dream? Actually, all three comedies reach a finale with multiple brides and grooms. Like dir...
The Motion Pictures
Hold on to your socks people, 'cause the super fabulous The Motion Pictures is about to blow 'em off. Much like Movies Silently, this is a new discovery here at Pretty Clever Films, but wowza - how on earth did we m...
Celeste and Jesse Forever (2012)
Celeste and Jesse Forever from director Lee Toland Krieger is a sweet, but incredibly slow and sometimes pointless, story of a couple who divorce but try to remain best friends. Celeste (played by Rashida Jones) and Jesse (A...
Thursday, 6 June 2013
Top 5 Classic Hollywood Rivalries
Bette Davis once infamously told a reporter, "(Joan) Crawford's slept with every male star at MGM except Lassie." And that comment was arguably one of her lesser insults. There are few classic Hollywood rivalries as legendary as the one between Davis...
Overlooked Gem: Indiscreet (1958)
It would be hard to find film which is an easier watch than 1958’s Indiscreet. With its beautiful costumes by Dior, lavish sets, crisp and funny dialogue, and standout performances, it can only be described as an absolute de...
Rashomon Effect
Rashomon Effect makes a bold claim, right there in the site subhead. Namely, "The biggest, best, most comprehensive movie site in the universe." That's some big talk.
Does Rashomon Effect
Does Rashomon Effect
Jared Bratt Imagines Die Hard 6: Die Hardest
Flames splash across the screen and engulf the view. It is not so much an issue that we, the audience in this hypothetical movie-going scenario, don't really know what it is we are looking at... all that's necessary is that, yes,clearly we are watchi...
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
And the Winner of the Columbia Pictures Pre-Code Collection Giveaway Is...
We're just as pleased as punch to say that the winner of the Columbia Pictures Pre-Code Collection giveaway is Courtney Small of Mississauga, Ontario!
We want to thank everyone who entered. The response was amazing, so obviously y...
We want to thank everyone who entered. The response was amazing, so obviously y...
Max Rée: Costume Designer and Art Director
Who? Max Rée was an extremely talented Danish born costume designer, art director, and illustrator. His artwork graced the covers of The New Yorker magazine, his costumes draped the shoulders of Greta Garbo, Lillian Gish, Mary Astor, and Olivia De Ha...
The Hollywood Revue
The Hollywood Revue is... well, it's just really damn awesome, that's what it is. Brought to classic film addict Angela, you're going to find something to satisfy your classic movie sweet tooth on this film blog.
Angela's...
Angela's...
Arrested Development Season 4
Initially when Fox network ran the series "Arrested Development," the show had trouble staying afloat. It was a darling among critics, but most audiences were unaware of it's existence. My first introduction to the series was by chance after stumblin...
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Top 10 Movie Cats
Look, cats make the interwebs go round. And this movie list should in NO WAY be perceived as shameless pandering to capitalize on the internet glory of cats. No, no way! Cats are noble, graceful creatures who have played significant pivotal roles in ...
Berkshire International Film Festival 2013: Sister (2012)
Sister, a brutally affecting modern reinvention of the family drama from French-Swiss director Ursula Meier, intimately analyzes the relationship between the small brother-sister family unit of
Louise (Léa Seydoux) and Simo...
Louise (Léa Seydoux) and Simo...
Movies Silently
We've only discovered Movies Silently very recently here at PCF (and thanks to the wonderful Classic Movie Hub), which is a wee bit shocking. How did we miss this...
Review: Manderlay (2005)
I’ve only ever walked out of a movie once in my life. It was in the late 90s, and it was in Winnipeg at a matinee screening of one of The Matrix movies. I had walked out because there were a bunch of kids that were making noise, and were rui...
Monday, 3 June 2013
Top 5 Classic Film Stars in Rockin’ Swimsuits
Everyone rejoice – it’s swimsuit season! No matter if you can pull off a sweet summer suit or not, we all can appreciate at least some element of swimwear fashion. For some, it’s the piece itself, and respecting different fashion choices. For most of...
Berkshire International Film Festival 2013: 99% - The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film (2013)
The Occupy movement began in September of 2011 as a result of the global financial crisis caused, in part, by subprime mortgages doled out all too generously by Wall Street investment banks. Starting in New York City's Zuccotti Park, the protest occu...
Who is Hitch?: Hitchcock (2012) and The Girl (2012)
Films about filmmakers are a tricky proposition for studios and audiences alike. They are inherently self-indulgent, full of tiresome in-references and many have an unfortunate tendency towards valorizing the unscrupulous behaviour us...
Sunday, 2 June 2013
The Amazing Films of Lotte Reiniger
Today would be the 114th birthday of pioneering animator, Lotte Reiniger. To celebrate, BFI has posted several of her silhouette animations at Daily Motion. These are...
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