Charlie Chaplin certainly made more popular pictures (The Great Dictator) and more critically acclaimed films (City Lights) than his 1928 feature “The Circus.” But arguably he never made a funnier one, as the latter is practically bursting with side-splitting gags, hilarious set pieces, and unforgettable comedic stunts. Our CineVerse homework was to head to the big top and revisit this 94-year-old laugher and assess what makes it timeless (to listen to a recording of our group discussion, click here).
Wednesday, September 21, 2022
Tuesday, September 20, 2022
Killer of Sheep on CineVerse!
Sunday, September 18, 2022
The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same...Unfortunately
Saturday, September 17, 2022
Discussing "About Elly" on the Cineverse Podcast
Where does the time keep going? I’ll be updating a series of links to discussions we’ve had about a great collection of films on the Cineverse podcast. This is an episode where we dive into the mystery “About Elly,” from Oscar-winning Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi. A group of friends goes on a vacation at a run-down resort…and one of them disappears. The tension, anger, and paranoia keep building and building in this outstanding sociocultural thriller.
https://www.cineversegroup.com/.../about-elly-is-about-as...
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
Find "The Lady Vanishes" on the Cineverse podcast!
Thursday, June 16, 2022
"Sing Street" on the Cineverse Podcast
Safety Last!
The silent comedy masterpiece with Harold Lloyd! I challenge anyone to watch this film and not laugh out loud or hang on the edge of their seat during the iconic building-climbing scene. And check out our discussion on the Cineverse podcast.
Sunday, June 5, 2022
"A Royal Affair" on the Cineverse Podcast
This is a link to another recent episode of the Cineverse podcast I took part in, where we discussed the historical love story, “A Royal Affair.” Interesting seeing favorite Hollywood villain Mads Mikkelsen and “The Man from UNCLE” film’s Alicia Vikander in this Danish drama based on a real love triangle between the mentally ill king Christian VII, his wife Caroline and his doctor Johann Struensee.
Saturday, June 4, 2022
"Ammonite" on the Cineverse podcast
Sunday, April 3, 2022
The Cineverse Podcasts: Breathless
For just over a month now, I had the pleasure of taking part in the weekly podcasts of the CineVerse film discussion group, run by Erik J. Martin who produces the superb Cineversary podcasts commemorating the anniversaries of major films that have had an impact on American and world cinema. I had been a guest on Erik's Cineversary podcasts before for the 50th anniversaries of "Easy Rider" and "The Last Picture Show." So I was definitely excited to join this group of film devotes to discuss an eclectic collection of films, both major blockbusters and small independent films, American films as well as films from around the world. I will be putting up a series of links to the various films we had analyzed recently.
In a bit of a backward order as I'm catching up on blogging, this is the link to our recent discussion of French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard's seminal 1960 film "Breathless," starring Jean-Paul Belmondo and Jean Seberg. The film is recognized as one of the major works giving rise to the French New Wave movement.
Check out the discussion and by all means watch "Breathless." The film is definitely a unique experience, and one I recommend to people and film students to see how they react. Truth be told, it's not a film I greatly enjoy viewing, yet one that needs to be understood and appreciated as an interesting artifact of a certain time and culture. Volumes had been written about "Breathless" and Godard, so suffice it to say here that the film is an odd, intellectual experience. It's very raison d'être is to break cinematic rules, to defy conventions. To that end, the film is full of jarring editing techniques, dialogue, and plot twists and turns that are designed to confuse and confound its viewers. There are moments where the story rushes along at a hyper-paced clip, using a series of off-putting jump cuts, and then there is a very, very long and slow, plodding scene of the two main characters are stuck in an apartment, reciting dialogue that is often confusing and meandering. Overall, the film is forcing its audience to engage with it, to think about what it wants to say about cinematic conventions, and how so many of the conventions we take for granted in films, especially Hollywood films, are artificial constructs.
Again, it's an odd and confounding film, but perhaps one that we can appreciate in an age when Hollywood cranks out little more than mindless superhero epics or preachy virtue-signaling award-bait films that leave little to the imagination and personal interpretation.
So listen to the podcast and give "Breathless" a try.