A personal journal of film and documentary reviews, and reviews of anything else that intrigues me.
Reviews of films made in Canada and United States including all films made by Hollywood.
Todd Haynes, “Superstar: the Karen Carpenter Story” (1987) Using Barbie and Ken dolls to play the main characters in miniature sets specially made for this film…
Tad Lumpkin and Harold Uhl / The Provocateur Network “The American Dream” (2010?) This is a well-made animated documentary that tries to explain how the American people…
Errol Morris, “Tabloid” (2010) Errol Morris’s documentaries fall into two camps: a serious one (“Fog of War”) and one of portraits of eccentric individuals dominated by…
Stephen K Tsuchida, “A Ninja Pays Half my Rent” (2002) Hilarious student short about finding the perfect room-mate (which could be extended to include the perfect…
French and French-language Films, North American Films
Pierre Coffin, “Pings” (2 shorts, 1997) Ralph Eggleston, “For the Birds” (2000) Dony Permedi, “Kiwi!” (2006) All four films are about birds obviously but they’re also about…
British Films, French and French-language Films
Werner Herzog, “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” (2010) In 1994, three speleologists discovered and explored a cave in southern France and found prehistoric paintings apparently dating back…
Kenneth Anger, “Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome” (1954) A lush creation by famous underground avant-garde film-maker Kenneth Anger, this film of a celebratory religious ritual mixes…
Carl Byker, “The Meth Epidemic” (2011) Having seen and reviewed “Winter’s Bone” last year, I was intrigued to find out more about the methamphetamine addiction epidemic…
Sally Cruikshank, “Quasi at the Quackadero” (1975) Here’s a great little cartoon about a mismatched couple, Anita and Quasi, living in a science fantasy future and…
Larry and Andy Wachowski, “The Matrix” (1999) Strip “The Matrix” of its sci-fi trimmings, its computer FX and choreographed martial arts and gunfight scenes and what…