Split Decision: I always wanted to be a Tenenbaum
In honor of Bottle Rocket’s 25th anniversary, who is your favorite character in any Wes Anderson movie?
Identifying Features
by Billy Russell, Staff Writer
Three migrant boys venture to the United States and all three go missing. Two ventured up to Arizona together on a bus, looking for work, to start their own lives. One had come to the States four years ago, never to be heard from since. All three are presumed dead.
Read MoreBeasts Clawing at Straws
Written and directed by Kim Yon-hoon
Starring Jeon Do-yeon, Jung Woo-sung and Bae Seong-woo
Running time: 1 hour and 48 minutes
by Billy Russell
Many of the press materials for Kim Yong-hoon’s new film, Beasts Clawing at Straws, compares it to last year’s Best Picture winner, Parasite, but aside from some superficial similarities (they’re both South Korean pictures with a twisted sense of humor dealing with class struggles), the two have very little in common. I get it, though. Parasite was a big deal, the first non-English-speaking film to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards in the United States. If there’s a passing similarity, it makes sense to hitch yourself to its wagon and try to get in on some of its success.
Read MoreBetter Late Than Never - The Enduring Classic, The Seven Samurai
by Billy Russell
I don’t like to think of myself as a film snob, because, ugh. I hate to be the person who can’t enjoy a fluffy, inconsequential, even predictable movie because there are so many great movies out there, and why would I waste my time with something so pedestrian? As though it’s impossible to enjoy Dumb and Dumber and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre in equal measure.
Read MoreEnd of the World Streams
by Billy Russell
Streaming TV and movies during the era of COVID-19 has me thinking of apocalyptic movies and, brother, I have run the gamut in tone all over the place during this crazy lockdown stuff. So join me on my tour of the entire spectrum of emotions as lensed through “end of the world” flicks.
Read MoreLake Mungo
LAKE MUNGO (2008)
Written and directed by Joel Anderson
Starring Rosie Traynor, David Pledger and Martin Sharpe
MPAA rating: R for a scene of sexuality, and brief gruesome images
Running time: 1 hour and 27 minutes
Streaming on: Amazon Prime and Tubi
by Billy Russell
As a horror fan, I have to admit that, despite myself, I’m a bit jaded. I don’t want to be, but it just sort of happens. You can only see so many zombies get disemboweled before the fear you once had, watching something like Night of the Living Dead for the first time just isn’t what it used to be.
Read MoreRemembering Brittany Murphy
by Billy Russell
Brittany Murphy’s death is one that still makes me sad all these years later. In her life, she was underappreciated as an actor. In her death, in all its mystery, was a sleazy, salacious tabloid entry and a battle between her parents. She never got a fair shake.
Read MoreThe Devil's Backbone
by Billy Russell
“What is a ghost?” ponders Dr. Casares (Federico Luppi), who runs an orphanage for children whose parents have abandoned them or died in the Spanish Civil War. “A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again? An instant of pain, perhaps. Something dead which still seems to be alive. An emotion suspended in time. Like a blurred photograph. Like an insect trapped in amber.”
Read MoreAdaptation.
Directed by Spike Jonze (2002)
by Billy Russell
Adaptation. is usually the first movie I bring up as a counter-argument whenever someone says Nicolas Cage is a shitty actor. Yes, he’s been shitty in shitty movies, but he’s also been great in great movies. He’s an actor that requires a good director and a good script, because even when he’s at his worst, he never lacks the manic energy that’s required of him.
Read MoreWho's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Directed by Mike Nichols (1966)
by Billy Russell
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is a movie to watch between the crisscrossed fingers clamped tight over your eyes to shield you from the awful awkwardness on display, peeking out only momentarily during the most intense scenes to hear George (Richard Burton) and Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) scream something deep and cutting at each other.
Read MoreShaun of the Dead
Directed by Edgar Wright (2004)
by Billy Russell
Upon its initial release, 2004’s Shaun of the Dead was described as a zombie parody that was a little bit more than just a zombie parody. It was also a romantic comedy, dubbed a Rom-Zom-Com (romantic zombie comedy), but really, it’s much more than that — it’s much more than some flashy descriptor or ultra-specific genre moniker. Shaun of the Dead is, at its core, a movie about friendship. It’s about friendship in all its forms.
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