204 posts categorized "Criterion Collection"

April 26, 2022

BAD TIMING — THE CRITERION COLLECTION

COLE SMITHEY

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon. Thanks a lot pal! Your generosity keeps the reviews coming!

Cole Smithey on Patreon

 

ColeSmithey.comNicolas Roeg is at his most inventive in this suspenseful erotic psychological drama.

The visionary filmmaker behind “Performance,” “Walkabout,” “Don’t Look Now,” and “The Man Who Fell To Earth” reached his peak of cinematic daring with “Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession.”

ColeSmithey

Art Garfunkel represents an unbalanced academic narcissist who exploits a romantic interlude with Milena, an ostensibly bi-polar adulterer (Theresa Russell) while visiting cold-war Vienna.

Jealousy and tortured distance are at the heart of the couple's dysfunctional relationship.

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Garfunkel's psychoanalyst Dr. Alex Linden would make an effective serial killer. Perhaps he's working up to it.

"Bad Timing" is twisted, in a good way.

Love, romance, and sex are overrated. 

Rated R. 123 mins.

5 StarsEpisode #92 — Brooklyn artist Valleire Trachsler came on the show to talk about one of Isabelle Huppert's favorite films included in the Criterion Collection, Nicolas Roeg's BAD TIMING: A SENSUAL OBSESSION. Bon appétit!

Bad-timing1

Cozy Cole

Cole Smithey on Patreon

April 25, 2022

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE — THE CRITERION COLLECTION

COLE SMITHEY

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon. Thanks a lot pal! Your generosity keeps the reviews coming!

Cole Smithey on Patreon

 

ColeSmithey.comCéline Sciamma's lesbian romantic fantasy almost works on its own terms, but falters during crucial elements.

18th century French portrait painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant) travels by boat to paint a wedding portrait of Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) at an idyllic seaside estate surrounded by a community that consists solely of women.

Héloïse is bereft over the recent loss of her sister, and angry about her arranged fate of marrying a man she doesn't know.

Screen Shot 2022-04-25 at 12.40.20 PM

Thus the table is set for a doomed lesbian tryst after Héloïse's mother leaves the women alone for a few days.

ColeSmithey.com

An abortion subplot, involving the mansion's servant, allows for a scene of artistically inspired exploitation that breaks the film.

"Portrait of a Lady on Fire" is Céline Sciamma's weakest film to date.

Rated R. 122 mins. 

2 StarsCozy Cole

Cole Smithey on Patreon

April 24, 2022

RUSHMORE — THE CRITERION COLLECTION

COLE SMITHEY

Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

This ad-free website is dedicated to Agnès Varda and to Luis Buñuel.

Get cool rewards when you click on the button to pledge your support through Patreon. Thanks a lot pal! Your generosity keeps the reviews coming!

Cole Smithey on Patreon

 

ColeSmithey.comBefore Wes Anderson became a pale imitation of himself, he made a splashy sophomore comedy with punch.

Anderson's attention to meta/micro details gets filtered through an up-tempo youthful comic tone that flies in the face of adult romance.

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Jason Schwartzman is Max Fischer, Anderson''s hilarious spoof on Dustin Hoffman's character in "The Graduate."

Bill Murray does an early version of the Bill Murray he would become, while indulging in laugh-inducing slap-stick bits.

Screen Shot 2022-04-24 at 12.13.15 AM

Precocious but not precious, "Rushmore" is heavy-hearted comedy with a light touch.

ColeSmithey.com

Here is an over-achiever's paradise.

Funny stuff.

Rated R. 93 mins.

4 Stars

Cozy Cole

Cole Smithey on Patreon

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