janus

Austin is presented as an oasis in the middle of a red state, perfect for aimless but harmless weirdos, with the world outside related only in tales of mental hospitals, high-speed chases, hostage situations, conspiracies, and other unpleasantness. It's a utopian film; when the characters go out of their way to complain it's because they have no real problems, and when they speculate pointlessly it's because their lives are blissfully stagnant.

50 _20%

Squid Game (2021) - Rated 10 Oct 2021

I'd just like to use this space to extend my sincere thanks to everyone on Criticker. This is a site I've happily browsed and posted on for over a decade, and it has been important part of discovering my personal taste and cementing my love of film. As I've drifted away from other increasingly cliquey online spaces, I'm glad that we have kept it casual and friendly here for so long. I enjoy reading all your blurbs and I hope that mine are are positive part of your day too, in whatever small way.

75 _66%

Head (1968) - Rated 28 Jun 2009

Rewatched March 2018. "A manufactured image, with no philosophies" try to meaningfully apprehend the real world but are limited by the Newspeak of fiction. Resonant once again as an even more pop-culture-drenched generation struggles to understand their circumstances through the language of Harry Potter, The Simpsons, etc. Apart from the decently raucous "Circle Sky" and lovely "As We Go Along" the songs are not great. Could have stood to be less misogynistic.

55 _25%

Four Rooms (1995) - Rated 03 May 2016

Despite my contrarian tendencies I cannot root for the underdogs this time. Rodriguez and Tarantino show off all their strengths and trademarks in funny and fully developed crowd-pleasing one-scene wonders; Anders's and Rockwell's are incomplete doodles by comparison. Under AA and AR, Roth's "Ted the Bellhop" is an oblivious pixie given to twitching and bouts of muteness; QT & RR wisely limit this Mr. Beanism, and surprise! A memorable character, relatable and skillfully performed, emerges.

30 _5%

Where the Buffalo Roam (1980) - Rated 03 Aug 2015

The cults of personality surrounding Thompson and Murray are all that prop this frivolity up. Boyle as "Carl Lazlo" (Oscar Zeta Acosta whitewashed beyond meaningful recognition) is nevertheless the film's best asset only because he's possessed of a motivation and coherent personality befitting a character in a buddy comedy. Murray's Thompson comes off not as an eloquent American adventurer but merely an irresponsible bum concerned chiefly with cultivating a reputation as an eccentric.