Strange Days (dir. Kathryn Bigelow, 1995) There’s not a moment wasted on an establishing shot or exposition. All that can come later. Now, right now, there’s only this. Two men in the front seat of a car in motion. Someone off-screen says that they are recording. One of the men in front complains that he … Continue reading Strange Days (1995)

End of Days (dir. Peter Hyams, 1999) 1999. The end of the twentieth century. The Cold War was over, the threat of nuclear armaggedon at its lowest since before the Soviets got the bomb, but none of that put us at ease. The premillennial tension was palpable. Religious groups saw signs and wonders. Trials and … Continue reading End of Days (1999)

Assault on Precinct 13 (dir. Jean-François Richet, 2005) John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 was born of the director’s love of and respect for Howard Hawks, a paranoid seventies sensibility and staggering violent crime rate, and a budget that made a literal western an impossibility. One of the great siege films, Assault on Precinct 13 … Continue reading Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)

Snowpiercer (dir. Bong Joon-ho, 2013) Rumble rumble, rattle rattle... It will never die! What happens if the engine stops? We'd all freeze and die. But will it stop, will it stop? No! No! Can you tell us why? The Engine is eternal, The Engine is forever... Rumble rumble, rattle rattle... Who is the reason why? … Continue reading Snowpiercer (2013)

The Apartment (dir. Billy Wilder, 1960) Opening with population statistics—New York City holding steady at eight million, the insurance company Consolidated Life at just over thirty-one thousand—we know from the start how alone one man can be. Bud Baxter (Jack Lemmon), unmarried with no children, working an all-but-anonymous desk job, distinguished from the other office … Continue reading The Apartment (1960)

The Hudsucker Proxy (dir. Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, 1994) That's right. New York. It's 1958. Anyway, for a few more minutes it is. Come midnight, it's gonna be 1959. A whole other feeling. The New Year. The future. Yeah, old Daddy Earth's fixin' to start one more trip ‘round the sun. Everybody hopin' this … Continue reading The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)

The Hebrew Hammer (dir. Jonathan Kesselman, 2003) Mordecai Jefferson Carver (Adam Goldberg) is an Orthodox Jewish private investigator or—as he prefers it—a certified circumcised dick. He’s got a whole theme song that doesn’t infringe on Isaac Hayes’s copyright because parody is protected speech under the first amendment in the United States.  After a coup against … Continue reading The Hebrew Hammer (2003)

200 Cigarettes (dir. Risa Bramon Garcia, 1999) Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused (1993) was not the first of its kind. Robert Altman had his epic ensembles like MASH, Nashville, The Player and Short Cuts, released the same year as Linklater’s film. There had been numerous coming-of-age films, period pieces reflecting the filmmaker’s youth, and movies … Continue reading 200 Cigarettes (1999)