This week had me revisiting another David Lean classic before going slightly off the rails (yet again).
Reel Life
Reel Life #32: The Tree of Life, Paprika, and The Bridge on the River Kwai
Between the surreal aesthetics of The Tree of Life and Paprika and the grittiness of The Bridge on the River Kwai, this has been a week of contrasts, to say the least.
Reel Life #31: Downfall, In a Lonely Place, and The Age of Innocence
Three films watched this week and two of them have to do with men who, at the end of the day, are their own worst enemy.
Reel Life #30: A Simple Plan, The 39 Steps, and Fail Safe
The best laid schemes of mice and men make for interesting film plots apparently, as at least two of the ones I saw this week demonstrate.
Reel Life #29: The Royal Tenenbaums and sex, lies, and videotape
This week had me revisit the early efforts of directors who made it big in the indie circle before breaking into the mainstream.
Reel Life #28: It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, His Girl Friday, Charulata, and Close-Up
It’s the beginning of a new year, and I’ve decided to bring back an old feature on this site: Reel Life. For those of you who don’t know what this is, back in 2018, I would write these small, informal reviews every week to complement my game reviews. However, they eventually became more elaborate, so I ended up writing full reviews – my reasoning being that, because they generally aren’t as long as my film reviews, I could critique them after watching them. However, the film reviews became even longer – to the point where my longest one (The Last Jedi) is actually longer than some of my game reviews. I therefore stopped writing film reviews regularly in order to give myself some breathing room.
Plus, that proposition only works out if the film holds up in the long term; if it doesn’t, the review is then worthless. The opposite is true too, though a bit rarer given that I only ever tend to see acclaimed films. Much like how a middling Rotten Tomatoes score shouldn’t be taken at face value if the film in question postdates the site’s inception and has been retroactively vindicated in the years since its release (The Prestige being my go-to example of this occurring, being hailed as one of the best films of the 2000s despite possessing a fairly modest 76% on that site), I realized that reviewing a film immediately after seeing it is often a bad idea. With games, I usually know where I stand after I finish because they require far more investment of one’s time, and you’re regularly confronted with their objective qualities. Meanwhile, if a film successfully goes for a style-over-substance approach, it can be pretty difficult to look past that and realize that things aren’t adding up. It’s the reason I’m glad I didn’t formally review films such as District 9, The Last Jedi, Annihilation, Uncut Gems, and Knives Out immediately after seeing them because all five of those films would’ve undeservedly gotten passing grades had I done so.
While I still spoke of the films I watched at the end of each month, that proved a bit troublesome when I would often put off my thoughts on the film until I was typing up the monthly update. Therefore, I’m hoping that by making it a weekly update, that I can fall out of that bad habit and type up my quick takes immediately after seeing them and that my update posts will be less overstuffed.
These takes will be roughly as long as those in my update posts and whether or not I recommend it will be made clear at the end. These posts will also not contain any spoilers. As a result, some of my descriptions may be vague, but hey, if it’s a good film, then you’ll get to see why it’s good for yourself. So, with that introduction out of the way, let’s get started.
Reel Life #27: Apollo 11 and They Shall Not Grow Old
I used to write short reviews of films under a single post in a segment called Reel Life. I gave it up when I began writing full reviews instead. With this article, you could say I’m bringing it back, but with a different purpose. On occasion, I’ll see something that, for whatever reason, I don’t want to review using my usual metrics. In this case, I’ll be talking briefly about two different documentaries I’ve seen recently: one about the Apollo 11 mission and the other about the First World War. All I’ll say now is that both are worth watching, so if you wish to go into them blind, go ahead and see them first.
Reel Life #26: Halloween (2018), Kwaidan, and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Happy Halloween everybody! I’ve decided to celebrate the day with a Halloween-themed Reel Life segment. I got to see three horror films this week, and I can certainly say they took me on a strange journey. No dogs playing poker, however.
Reel Life #25: The Old Man & the Gun, The Cranes Are Flying, and Halloween (1978)
Hey, this week I’m actually talking about something relevant to October for once! About time, isn’t it?
Reel Life #24: First Man, The Hate U Give, and Giant
October seems to have completely defied the trends of the months that preceded it. While I struggled to see more than one film in theaters in both August and September, October has had so many interesting releases that I barely know where to start. This weekend, I managed to see two acclaimed films in theaters: First Man and The Hate U Give. At home, I watched the classic Western film Giant, which is popularly considered one of the best films of the fifties.