dsaos

What a special film. Surreal in the most classical of senses, it's rare to come by something that is so clearly a labor of love. UC's plotting is complex (although not as cold as Primer's, which scared me off), but its told in a dreamlike, intuitive way peppered with melancholy, clever ways of depicting a modern romance. It's something that you have to work for, but you're engrossed doing it.

90 _87%

Django Unchained (2012) - Rated 20 Feb 2013

It holds up as a spaghetti western, and manages to tackle a complex issue just as well as it does comedy and buckets of blood.

84 _61%

Bellflower (2011) - Rated 17 Nov 2012

By the late 20s crowd, for the late 20s crowd, and pretty original. Its romance is portrayed with such a great degree of honesty and minimalist touches that the nihilistic bombast of its ending cuts deep. Definitely worth a watch.

84 _61%

Ghostwatch (1992) - Rated 06 Nov 2012

Oh hey there, found-footage horror movie that predated Blair Witch Project by 7 years yet still manages to do more interesting things than more recent entries in the genre. This was a fun little horror movie that gave me a couple of chills.

91 _90%

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) - Rated 06 Nov 2012

Dat harmonica. There's some incredible blocking here, and the found-sound nature of the soundtrack harkens the production back to a simpler, slower time. Leone's direction reinforces that, focusing on a slow build of tension with bombastic yet sobering releases. Seriously, this is the most artfully crafted western.

80 _48%

We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists (2012) - Rated 06 Nov 2012

A well-crafted, if meandering, documentary on what is rightly framed as an entirely new form of protest. Not sure how much of that is coming from me being in on the ground floor of the movement, though.

74 _34%

Sinister (2012) - Rated 06 Nov 2012

94 _97%

Moonrise Kingdom (2012) - Rated 04 Oct 2012

Welp, this is an incredibly beautiful and wistful movie about childhood with which Anderson's style meshes perfectly. There's a tendency in the narrative to go to dark and vulnerable places, but the notably fantastic cast lighten the load with sincere (sometimes blunt) character quirks. By the end, you just feel more...well, human.

85 _66%

Die Hard (1988) - Rated 03 Oct 2012

82 _54%

The Dark Knight Rises (2012) - Rated 03 Oct 2012