Sometimes A Great Notion (1971)

My mother had a couple of books about Paul Newman that I would leaf through growing up, so a lot of his movies would intrigue me and I’d remember the titles of. Sometimes A Great Notion (1971) was one I was keen to track down since Newman directed it himself and it was based on […]

35 Shots Of Rum (2008)

Of director Claire Denis’ film, 35 Shots Of Rum (2008; 35 Rhums), I’d mainly heard about the use of The Commodores song ‘Nightshift’, a melancholy early-1980s jam (about Marvin Gaye’s passing), in a dance sequence. While not used as electrifying or profoundly as the use of a certain dance track at the end of Beau […]

You, The Living (2007)

My first Roy Andersson movie was A Pigeon Sat On A Branch Reflecting On Existence, which I loved, though when I reflect upon it, I can think of certain moments and scenes but not the experience as a whole. Maybe that’s because of Andersson’s particular style, his movies consist of surreal, deadpan tableaus, one after […]

Inferno (1999)

In my quest to cover Jean-Claude Van Damme’s late 1990s period, and sift through the direct-to-video releases for any hidden gems, we ride into Inferno (1999), which works as Van Damme’s version of a modern western. He gets to rock a pair of jeans, wear a singlet, sport a straw hat, and wander through a […]

One From The Heart (1981)

I used to love Tom Waits. When I was younger, I bought up most of his discography. At some point, I grew a bit tired of the barroom drifter persona and the sound; I still like him and his music, but I think I moved on from it at a certain point. Even with his […]