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Alphabetical Movie – Intolerable Cruelty

It’s been a slow week of blogging for me. I’ve got these shows coming up – perhaps you’ve heard of them?

So Intolerable Cruelty is about two people who are so much better looking than everyone else in the world, they could only be destined for each other. In fact, I think the title refers to the cruelty the Coen Brothers are inflicting on their audience by forcing them to remember they will never be as attractive as George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

I’m not talking sexy. I’m talking attractive.

July 18, 2012

Alphabetical Movie – Insomnia

I’m trying to be a good geek. Really. I love a good Super Hero film and Christopher Nolan has made two of the best already. I’m super jazzed for The Dark Knight Rises. I don’t know if it is going to be great but I want it to be great.

I have a lot of faith that Nolan can deliver.

So it is with almost a whisper I admit that I don’t think The Dark Knight is Nolan’s best film.

I think it’s Insomnia.

July 16, 2012

Alphabetical Movie – Inside Man

Inside Man is a heist movie that, like most Spike Lee movies, has an agenda. While it is possible to enjoy the movie as thriller and ignore all the deeper philosophy, I’m not going to do that.

Because one of the central philosophical issues the film asks us to consider is one of redemption.

July 16, 2012

Alphabetical Movie – Innerspace

Every generation has at least one comedian who ends up being popular in films in spite of the fact that they are almost universally despised. Or so it would seem.

Take Martin Short, who stars in Innerspace. At the time the film came out, he was a fairly popular comedian and most of the people I knew could never figure out why. His spastic characters grew tiresome very quickly and while he had the likable nerd thing going on, Rick Moranis did it way better.

July 11, 2012

Alphabetical Movie – Inglourious Basterds

I was at a panel about Tarantino films at CONvergence this weekend. Because the convention theme was Wonder Women, the panel was about Tarantino as a “feminist” filmmaker.

I’m not going to rehash the entire panel but the question of Tarantino as a feminist filmmaker is a complex one. Some of his films pass the Bechdel test but by no means all of them. Inglourious Basterds, for instance, does not.

July 3, 2012

Alphabetical Movie – Inherit the Wind

Inherit the Wind is one of my favorite movies of all time. Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly and, in fact, all of the main actors are amazing. I could write an essay about nothing but how much I love the film.

But I’m me. So I’m not going to do that.

Instead, I’m going to talk about how this movie impacted my thoughts on science and religion.

June 27, 2012

Alphabetical Movie – Indiscreet

Indiscreet is probably best characterized as a romantic comedy even though the first part of the film is more of a romance and the second is more of a comedy. They are sort of slapped together like one of those crackers that is a cracker on one side and a different kind of cracker on the other.

Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman are the stars and constitute the sole reason to watch the film. The movie isn’t bad but I can’t recall a single memorable bit of dialogue or particularly notable scene. And I just watched it.

June 21, 2012

Alphabetical movie – Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

I think all the folks who love and all the folks who hate Temple of Doom can agree on at least one point: Willie Scott is damned annoying.

Unlike Marion, who is brash and tough or Ilsa, who is, at least, Indy’s intellectual equal, Willie is pretty much whiny and useless.

June 20, 2012

Alphabetical Movie – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

While it is easily the second best Indiana Jones movie, Last Crusade is not without problems. In one aspect, however, it makes one of the best storytelling choices I’ve ever seen.

It’s a small choice but when I first saw the film, I was completely surprised by its simplicity. It is the sort of choice that must have been very easy to make and yet it was unusual enough to be a complete surprise.

June 19, 2012