TIFF15 REVIEW: High-Rise [2016]

“I think he’s lost his focus” As soon as the voice of Tom Hiddleston‘s Dr. Robert Laing was heard speaking narration above his weathered and crazed visage manically moving from cluttered, dirty room to darkened feverish corner, my mind started racing. Terry Gilliam‘s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas popped into my consciousness and then his Brazil after a quick title card shoves us back in time to watch as Laing enters his new concrete behemoth of a housing structure oppressively standing above a vast and still parking lot. Add…

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INTERVIEW: Richard Ayoade, cowriter/director of The Double

I didn’t know who Richard Ayoade was until 2010 and boy was it the perfect time to find out. My introduction was courtesy of the brilliant British television show “The IT Crowd” and his fantastically drawn Maurice Moss. I had tried watching the show a couple years previously only to forget about it after the pilot. This time, however, I mainlined the first three series and eagerly awaited the fourth only to see co-star Chris O’Dowd journey to mainstream acclaim with Bridesmaids less than a year later. When would Ayoade’s…

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DVDS: Criterion Collection

My collection of DVDs from the venerable Criterion Collection, in order by spine number. (the package art is almost better than the films themselves) [fb-like-button]

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REVIEW: How to Get Ahead in Advertising [1989]

“If it hasn’t got a price tag, it isn’t worth having” It is fascinating that after viewing How to Get Ahead in Advertising I began to think of similarities to Terry Gilliam’s adaptation to Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Both are very much comedies, yet in a more cerebral, dialogue driven way than just a vehicle for cheap laughs. These movies are funny in a way that makes the audience think and see the satire that is laid out before them. The world we live in…

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Top 20 Films of 1998

(short and sweet and to the point; culled from watching 71 releases. constantly updated as i catch up to those i missed. click poster for review if applicable) #20: Very Bad Things directed by Peter Berg. #19: The Big Lebowski directed byJoel Coen & Ethan Coen #18: Following directed byChristopher Nolan #17: Shakespeare in Love directed by John Madden #16: Pi directed by Darren Aronofsky #15: Elizabeth directed by Shekhar Kapur #14: Rounders directed by John Dahl. #13: Fear and Loathingin Las Vegas directed by Terry Gilliam #12: Fallen directed…

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